Five Hat Racks (Lidwell et al. 2010, 100-101) refers to the five methods that can be used to organize information: categorically, through time, through location, alphabetically, and through a continuum.
- Categorical organization refers to organization by clustering similarity. For example, cameras and laptops can be categorized under electronic appliances but if all laptops are being organized by category, Macbooks can be categorized under Apple Laptops while Chromebooks can be categorized under Google Laptops.
- Organization by time refers to grouping by chronological order. Timelines or television schedules follow this method of organization, which can be used for comparing events or showcasing a sequence of step-by-step procedures.
- Location-based categorization is organization by “geographical or spatial reference” and is used for emergency exit maps or travel guides. This method can effectively convey organized information if the exact location or orientation is important for the information to be communicated clearly.
- Alphabetical organization refers to objects that follow an alphabetical sequence. Dictionaries and encyclopedias are the most obvious examples.
- Organization by continuum refers to how things can be organized by magnitude such as highest to lowest or best to worst.
Example of Five Hat Racks from Universal principles of design:
Online examples of Five Hat Racks:
Since the iPhone XR is smaller than the iPhone XS Max but bigger than the iPhone XS, these devices were not organized by continuum but by category. The “XS” devices are clustered together. The link to this image can be found here: https://www.apple.com/lae/iphone/compare/
This image can be found here: https://bethdore.wordpress.com/evolution-of-nintendo-consoles/
This showcases the evolution of Nintendo consoles as well as the items need to save a game and follows the organization through time.
This brochure about Universal Studios’ Harry Potter World organizes the attractions through location. Theme Parks and malls often showcase a map on their directory.
This can be found online here: https://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/universal-studios-florida-harry-potter-diagon-alley/
Hollywood’s leading actors are displayed by shortest to tallest height using the categorization of continuum. This graphic can be found here: http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/hollywood-leading-men-height-graphic.html
An example of Five Hat Racks found in the wild:
This is a guidebook for a fancy train tour that my grandmother will attend in November. She will have to prepare outfits for “sightseeing,” “business-casual,” and “semi-formal.” The outfit examples are clustered and organized by category of the outfit type.
References:
Lidwell, William, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler. Universal principles of design, revised and updated: 125 ways to enhance usability, influence perception, increase appeal, make better design decisions, and teach through design. Rockport Pub, 2010.
I appreciate your detailed examples of Five Hat Racks, the only suggestion is I’d love to see a bit more detailed elaboration on how your listed examples follow the principles you described. I want to challenge you to think if these principles still hold true in other contexts (e.g., when information are delivered in an auditory and non-visual environment) and are there any specific hierarchies of best principles across these five, depending on the context. For instance, if we have to listen to our names being called by a roster, going from A-Z is going to take forever, but if we design a categorical->alphabetical design hierarchy, we can categorize A-N, O-Z so users can select to only attend to the information that’s salient to them. BTW: I hope your grandmother (whoever wrote the first principle) have a nice trip on the train, sounds like a lot of fun!