Changing menstruation as an opportunity

A smart menstrual cup service to manage women's health

Award
Student Notable Interaction Award Core77 Design Awards 2019
Team

Darae Kim

Role

UX Research,
UX & UI Design,
Branding,
Physical Computing,
Front-end prototyping

Duration

3 months

The Challenge

Design the Feminine Hygiene Products to provide more healthy, worriless, and pleasant experience, while serving the needs of women with Irregular menstruation.

PLAY

The outcome

The service includes mobile app, smart menstrual cup, case of the cup(sanitizer) and brand identity for the women with irregular menstruation to help them to analyze and monitor their women's health.

Project overview

dot. is the system to measure and analyze the menstrual blood with embedded sensors in the cup. Through this information, the system will give notifications about an upcoming period, volume of menstrual blood and health status. Notifications will prevent leakage which is the most inconvenient point of women during their period. The information from their menstrual blood is not only used for their notification but also sent anonymously to a women's health lab or hospital to study about menstruation, gather big data, understand patterns and changes through different life stages. 'dot.' can be an excellent opportunity for women to increase their knowledge and learn more about themselves during their period to obtain quality information, insight and understanding of their cycle.

Ecosystem
Style guide
The problem
There were three cateogories of problems:
1. The deficiency of existing Feminine Hygiene Products
2. Fear of leakage
3. Premenstrual syndrome.
The DEFICIENCY OF EXISTING FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCTS
A few research organizations discover that sanitary pads include some of the Volatile Organic Compounds such as Toluene, Benzene, and Styrene. IARC(International Agency for Research on Cancer) defines them as Carcinogens. Also, Tampons have a higher rate of Toxic shock syndrome than other products.
Menstrual cup uses medical-grade silicone has the lowest possibility of being exposed to the carcinogen and toxic syndrome. It contains more menstrual blood, is cost-effective, and eco-friendly than any other form of feminine hygiene products.
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However, the menstrual cup still has some frustrations. First, a way to insert it is difficult, and no way to know the cup is correctly installed.
There are a lot of different ways to fold the cups to insert. It depends on the lot of different factors like hardness of the cup. However, The product itself does not have signifiers which way is the best way to fold and insert.
Second, people who use the menstrual cup have to guess when they have to empty the cup. Also, keeping and managing the cup hygienic is a hassle.
Currently, Menstrual cup users use Microwave or boiling water to sanitize the cup.
FEAR OF LEAKAGE

"The biggest frustration is leakage. I always worry about it even during go out or sleep"
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"I have no idea of my cycle. I usually follow my instinct."
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PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME
"I don't know why I am so painful during the period. Nobody tell me why"

"In America, process of meeting a gynecologist is little bit complex and expensive"
ATTEMPTS FOR PHYSICAL PRODUCTS
Putting indent pattern makes cup easily folded, and can be signifiers for users to know the way to fold.
Using Fringing effect and pressure sensor to measure the amount of blood in the cup and cup is correctly inserted and fit.
Cup case is a sanitizer and also a charger for smart menstrual cup. It helps users to keep the cup clean.
ATTEMPTS FOR DIGITAL PRODUCTS
MAIN PAGE
We put the most necessary information glanceable. Upcoming period, Recent period, Average Cycle, and Pregnancy Possibility are the most desired information.
CUPS PAGE
Users can see the status of menstrual cup and the case. It helps users to manage the fear of leakage.
Users didn't prefer to see the cup shape directly as an interface. Also, watching the liquid touch the bar made them nervous.
HEALTH PAGE
Users can ask their status through this page. Users data will be sent anonymously to the experts.
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