What Bed Linen Can Teach Us About Usability | Hacker News Reader

What Bed Linen Can Teach Us About Usability

incomparable.design

26 pointsPaulVanOijen50 comments

> The Nordic readers amongst you are probably looking at your screens as though I’m explaining that ice is cold and the sun is hot. But to this rest of you, and my past self, this is unheard of.

We've one-upped them all, because over here duvets are unheard of, let alone duvet covers :D

But seriously, I (unfortunately?) live in a hot and humid part of the world and I suppose because of that duvets and its covers are unnecessary here. We've just got bedsheets, blankets, pillow-covers.

This reminds me. I went to university in America. From a Walmart nearby I bought one of those packaged set of things you put on a bed — "comforter", "bedspread", bedsheet, something with an elastic around it, pillow covers etc. I know it was these things because the cover had them written on it.

I unpacked them, and I have no idea which one is a comforter, which one is a bedspread etc. Nor did I know the order of how I put these onto the bed, what one goes on top of what other thing etc. And I didn't know in between which layers I should be sleeping in.

My not-very-friendly roommate and his girlfriend probably thought I was a moron for not knowing this.

Typically you have a fitted bedsheet with elastic, an unfitted bedsheet that goes above that, pillow covers and then some combination of blankets and/or a duvet/comforter (which has some filling like down or synthetic within a light shell like cotton--which you may then enclose within a removable cover). Normally, I wouldn't expect a comforter or blanket to be included as part of set of bedsheets in the US.

Whenever I'm abroad, I secretly wishes that Sweden (or some other Nordic country) would have been a great colonial power a few hundred years ago. Then the following cultural imperialism could have spread the välfärd of the correct™ way of making beds.

There's always too many, or few, textile components. Questionable fabrics touching your body, either from the start or inevitably during the night due to less-than optimal fastening technology.

I am now disappointed that my Ikea duvet covers, purchased in Denmark, don't have three holes.

The article claims this is normal in the Nordic countries. Is it normal in Sweden, with Ikea being the exception?

Author of the article here; my Ikea-bought sheets in Finland have the aforementioned three holes.

Yes, the three holes are very common in Sweden, the first time I even encountered covers without them was when moving abroad.

However, a few years ago Ikea removed them in Sweden also, unfortunately. From what I've heard it's because they got too many complaints internationally due to people believing that the covers were broken.

My method for applying fitted sheets is to put the first corner of the sheet that I find onto any corner of the bed. Then try to add one of the adjacent corners to the bed. If I picked wrong, put the adjacent corner on the starting bed corner. I get it wrong half of the time, but I still think it's faster than spending time trying to determine which is the long side of the sheet (and often getting that wrong). In any case, the labels mentioned in the article would probably be better.

On a king bed that’s more difficult because the dimensions are close enough to be within tolerances for most sheets, but with a big enough gap that when you get to the last corner it will be right.

The last two sets of sheets I’ve had have a tag in one corner which I use to orient them. I’m not actually sure if I’ve chosen the right corner, but I know they fit that way.

The issue I’ve run into since getting a foam mattress is they are at least 50% thicker than spring mattresses and the flat sheet cannot be tucked into both sides at the same time. Expensive sheets by hipster companies, cheap overstock sheets from TJ Max and great hotel style sheets all have failed to make it across the bed with one side tucked in.

The world would be a better place if king size beds were square.

Ah yeah, I can see that would be a problem. The part I dislike is trying tell which side is correct and frequently getting it wrong. Which I can see would happen with a king bed. When you get to the second corner you have to discern whether the side between the corners is too tight or just right.

YMMV but as far as I can tell, the tag on a sheet is always at the (imagine you’re standing at the foot of the bed looking at the bed) bottom right corner. (Or top left, obviously.) It seems to be pretty standard on all my sheets.

bonus tag tip: the care label on pretty much every shirt I’ve ever seen is located always on the left seam of the torso area. Very useful as an additional orienting tool when dressing a kid, that tag should be on your right when you’re facing them.

I don't know how much truth there is to this, but when IKEA established themselves in the US, they evidently had issues with americans returning duvet covers "because the fabric was ripped in the corners".

Subsequently IKEA removed the corner holes. Globally, in the name of large-scale economics.

And speaking of subsequently, I've stopped buying bed linen at IKEA.

I'm surprised the article didn't take a good-humoured pot shot at the uniquely American phenomenon known to me as The Empire of Pillows.

I left the states around the year 2000, and when I left bedding was usually comprised of sheet + sheet + comforter.

But since then on my yearly trips home, more and more pillows were appearing on the beds. Now when I visit, part of the nightly ritual before going to bed is finding a place to store the dozen or so decorative throw pillows to make room for humans in the bed.

Maybe this is an opportunity? Would anyone be interested in a pillow-bed? You know. A bed. For pillows. They do their duty all day making a bed look.. inviting? But at night they deserve a rest too. Chucking them on the floor is just wrong. And stacking them jenga-style on the side chair is fraught with danger. But a pillow-bed would solve that! I feel a start-up comin on...

Can't believe I missed that.

Walking into a hotel room in the US is always a surprise. How many pillows will there be, and will any of them actually be useful? Or am I going to end stacking a series of sham pillows for neck support?

Living in the land of three-hole duvets, we do have one children's duvet cover that only has the bottom hole.

It's not that much harder. My process is flipping it inside out, then sticking your hands in and gathering the fabric on my arms until I get to the far end. At that point grab the duvet through the corners, lift and shake to straighten.

Obviously it helps that it's kiddie size and I'm just shy of 2 m, but it's not that different from the three-hole "put hands through holes, grab duvet and shake".

This is how we do it with our King size cover. It's more of a struggle given the sizes of everything involved, but the inside-out method is the best I've used so far.

Roll method is easier and faster. Maybe that’s why three hole duvet cover never caught on.

The roll method has been working for me since I learned it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OdRNW0aW4o (not sure this is the best video) I've never had to climb into the cover. I'm not sure what the author's issue with it is.

Extra wholes and zipper vs buttons are ascetics to me. Did you know they make pants you put on from the side with velcro? (https://www.google.com/search?q=side+velcro+pants&oq=side+ve...) That's arguably a better "design" following this author's logic, but I'm not switching

Step 2: "... then tie the cover's ties to the convenient loops."

What if you got neither (as is the case with all duvets and mu single one-hole cover over here)

Every set of fitted sheets I've seen, one of the signifiers of the tag is that this is the top-left or bottom-right corner. Making that explicit is great, but you don't need to buy special sheets to enjoy the lack of ambiguity.

I only buy fitted sheets with length-wise oriented vertical patterns, such as stripes. Much easier than trying to find the worlds smallest tag.

Of all the difficulties in life I can safely conclude that fitting a duvet cover is the one which has had the least personal negative impact.

I like how this post has an aside at the beginning that states that "some people don't use duvets at all", and then doesn't actually bother defining what the heck a duvet is for those of us who are from places too warm to ever need one. Apparently they are big stuffed blankets that have covers that are a pain in the ass to change? I dunno, I'm from New Orleans, where summer nights get so warm that even a thin top sheet can be too much and I just sprawl naked on the bottom sheet. Usually after a cold shower.

So maybe bed linen can teach us something about making assumptions about culture, too.

I do agree that the lack of any consistent, unambiguous signage as to whether you are holding the long or short end of a fitted sheet is super annoying, especially if your bed is a nearly-square size like the queen mattress I share with my husband.

I highly recommend Redland Cotton sheets and towels and such. Each of their fitted sheets is labeled so you don’t get confused. And they otherwise make high quality products.

I've never once used a duvet cover. There are plenty of comforters that look great all by themselves. Sometimes the best solution is to remove the problem entirely.

I'm not sure it's so much about looks as such as that, if something does get spilled, it's a lot easier to wash and cheaper to replace a cover than it is an entire comforter.

> … if something does get spilled, it's a lot easier to wash …

Not eating in bed solves this and some unrelated health problems.

Scabs can also come off etc. Various ways to get bed linens stained. (I don't eat or drink--other than water--in bed. A cover just seems a reasonable precaution.)

And not peeing on your hands is good too, but I still wash my hands after going to the bathroom.

Have you read the article? Children don't need to be eating in bed in order to soil sheets.

The commenter probably uses two sheets, one above and one below the body, so their uncovered comforter is protected from body soiling processes.

Ah yes, "you're holding it wrong."

Don't shit where you eat. Don't eat where you sleep.

And don’t sleep where you shit!

I’m sorry that you can’t think of anything messy happening in bed other than eating food.

I hope you don’t give that one to your guests.

That's a rather gross way to live (not trying to dunk on you, this is my attempt at raising the level of awareness). I wash my duvet cover every other week. Clean bedding and sheets are one of the simple joys in life.

It isn't much work, great ROI.

Simple, you just wash the whole comforter and live happy and clean without ever having to deal with a duvet. I wish I had done it sooner.

Totally, that works as long as it isn't filled with down feathers. Cheers.

Whether this is practical presumably depends on the typical room temperature — a thick/heavy duvet suitable for a cold climate would be inconvenient to wash that regularly.

Ah.. yes, true. I live in SoCal. :)

There are different ways of setting up a bed with a duvet. In the United States a bed would most commonly have a fitted sheet on the mattress, then a flat sheet on top of the fitted sheet, tucked under the mattress at the foot of the bed. You sleep on top of the fitted sheet and under the flat sheet. The duvet goes on top of the flat sheet, so it basically doesn’t touch anybody in the bed.

The other way is to eliminate the flat sheet, and have the duvet inside a regularly-changed cover, because, without the flat sheet, the duvet is in direct contact with the people in the bed.

A more detailed discussion can be found at: https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/bedding-debate-to...

Way too many words and not enough pictures, but I think it’s about to change my life

> what is one of the most influential books in the history of modern product design

Considering how few designers I encounter, that even know the book exists, and the few that do, hate it, I'm not so sure it's actually been that "influential."

Which sucks, because I think it should be required reading for anybody that designs anything, to be used by anyone.

I'd say it's much more influential with designer-adjacent professions who also design, such as engineers.

A bit like A Pattern Language isn't read by architects, but by software developers.

Designers and architects as a whole seem to me to be very invested in the idea of being artists/geniuses rather than technicians, and so reject methodological approaches. Maybe I'd do the same if I were them, much like startup entrepreneurs see ourselves as heroes.

Like I said, anybody that designs anything, to be used by anyone.

Graphic designers often design stuff that isn't meant to be used. It only applies to the ones that design stuff to be used.

But anyone that designs anything to be used (whether a graphic designer, engineer, or architect), should have a good grasp of Usability, IMNSHO, even though it's obvious that a lot of folks don't think that should be the case.

In my experience, I've come to learn that usable interfaces stay out of the way. There's a reason that waitstaff usually wear black.

When an interface is "in your face," it may elicit an "Ooh!" or an "Ah!" at first, but the novelty rapidly declines.

I've been designing unusual interfaces for most of my adult life, and have come to learn that there's a reason the classics are so prevalent. I write about that here[0].

Here's an example, from my own work[1]. It's a fancy "spinner" control, that acts like a prize-wheel spinner. Quite nice.

I keep not using it in my apps. It's too "in your face."

[0] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/the-road-most-travel...

[1] https://github.com/RiftValleySoftware/RVS_Spinner

>There's a reason that waitstaff usually wear black.

For anyone wondering, apparently it's because black:

1. Hides stains well

2. Doesn't clash with most restaurant decor.

3. Doesn't overly stand out

There are some things you just can't unsee after you've read the book--like the push/pull doors thing.

It changed the way that I see the world.

Amazing book.

Not edge-of-your-seat reading, but it really drives home how important Usability is.

For the mercenary, it can mean the difference between success and failure. The OXO line of kitchen products is a fairly good example of stuff going well.

The same goes for iOS. Even though everyone (hereabouts) loves to heap scorn upon it, there's billions of people out there, willing to drop silly money on it.

I've had the odd OXO flub--like the can opener that didn't leave sharp edges but was very sensitive to imperfections and took a lot of hand strength. But I have to give the company an A overall.

He did do a subsequent book that addressed user experience more broadly.

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