How to Create An Effective Taxonomy

A robust tagging structure—also known as a taxonomy—is the central element of an effective research repository. 

But what makes a taxonomy “good”? And how do you create a system that will work for your organization?

Sina Schreiber, UX Researcher & Content Strategist at Condens, and Roberta Dombrowski, VP of User Research at User Interviews, hosted a workshop to provide practical tips on how to create an effective taxonomy. 

Watch the session recording, view the slides, or download the worksheet below (Google Doc or PDF) to:

• Learn why good taxonomies are like organisms—living things that constantly shift and evolve—and how to set up a flexible tagging system.
• Hear from Sina and Roberta about how they’ve approached taxonomies in their own organizations, and the lessons they learned in the process.
• Get practical tips on creating collector tags, using multi-tags, and setting up a taxonomy that fits your org. 

Watch the live session recording

View the session slides

View the taxonomy worksheet

You can also download the worksheet as a PDF here.

Want to learn more?

About the presenters

Sina Schreiber is a UX Researcher and Content Strategist at Condens. In her role, she works with Condens’s own taxonomy and gets to see and discuss the different taxonomies of their customers.

Roberta Dombrowski is the VP of UX Research at User Interviews. In her free time, Roberta is an adjunct professor through Boise State University’s Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning (OPWL) program and mindfulness teacher.