The following article, published on SmashingMagazine.com, depicts the user experience of shopping for bed sheets.
Specifically, the authors searched for a set of 300-thread-count, white cotton sheets for a queen-sized bed from Macy's, Target and Amazon.com. Essentially, the authors walk the reader through their heuristic evaluation (a valuable tool for UX/IA [User Experience/Information Architecture] design projects).
A heuristic evaluation is a diagnostic method in which a usability expert takes on the role of a less experienced user in order to describe the potential problems that a user might encounter in a system or interface (Nielsen and Mack, 1994). For this evaluation, the authors take the reader, click by click, through the foreseeable problems in purchasing bed sheets online.
Whether you are new to user experience projects or a long-term advocate of usability and enjoyable experiences, this article is a fast but informative read.
Articles:
Usability Study: Shopping For Bedsheets – How Hard Could It Be?
Glossary of Information Architecture and User Experience Terms
Reference: Heuristic Evaluation, in Usability Inspection Methods, edited by J. Nielsen and R. Mack, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1994, pages 25-62.