Period Box
Period Box is a project against menstruation poverty. This project aims to raise awareness of this problem and help people in need of hygienic products.
This is an initiative of a self-sustaining network of “give-and-take”.
Why period box?
The NGO "Global Citizens" defines period poverty as a "lack of access to sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education, toilets, hand washing facilities, and waste management".
Period poverty does not only affect women and girls in developing countries; it also affects women in wealthy, industrialized countries.
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Globally, 3.5 billion women have monthly periods.
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According to the charitable organization Days for Girls, over 500 million women and girls, nearly 25% of all menstruators, experience “period poverty.”
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Over 500 million people do not have access to feminine hygiene products.
How period box works?
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We decided to place boxes filled with period products on public places like toilets, cafes or public offices. These boxes are produced at home without generating more waste.
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Visitors who carry enough period products with them are invited to share them with people who forgot to bring a product or are unable to afford them by putting the product in a period box.
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The period boxes should be an invitation to people to take and share what they have, also as a sign of solidarity in our society.
Our goal
Our goal is to reach out to as many people as possible by placing handmade boxes full of menstruation-hygienic products at many different public places and inviting other people
to donate at least one product in the boxes.
We want to inspire other people to make their own boxes and create a snowball effect.
Team
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Lisa Dorfhuber, Laura Eck, Mareike Friedrich, Laura Hartmann, Nadja Hemming, Hannah Hilliger, Helka-Maria Immonen, Robert Schatz, Fabian Stiehle, Ruojun Zhao, Aranzazu Cordero Plascencia
Role
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UX & Graphic designer
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Illustrator.
Tools
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Adobe XD
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Adobe Illustrator
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Adobe Photoshop
The challenge
It is important to keep a register of the period boxes that had been placed in public, in order to find them. The objective is also, to create a website that invited users to spread the word about Period Box and menstruation poverty.
How to create an online space where the user could locate the period boxes?
User research
The research goal was to identify how this product would be needed.
I performed interviews with potential users and the result was the discovery of two trends.
The first one is the people interested in the cause and in donating, and the second one is the people who need the products and who live in period poverty.
Trend 1
I don’t mind asking my friends for products, but usually, that happens when I’m alone.
I think is great to know that there are some places, where someone can donate products, even in small quantities.
Trend 2
I can’t buy a lot of products, I’m still a student. I ask my friends sometimes, for products, but is shameful.
It would be amazing to know that there is a place to go, for emergencies.
The user research resulted in two types of users:
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Lucia is a woman who wants to help others and donate products.
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Isabella is a woman who sometimes finds herself in need of period products
she can't afford.
I performed a competitive audit, it can be found at this link.
The following questions derived from the user research.
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How might we create a safe space to look for menstruation products?
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How might the users find the closest period box to their current location?
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How might we make our users spread the voice of our project?
First sketches & wireframes
I started sketching the website with in mind that it would be a responsive one.
We need an on-the-go product, but also an online space to discover our theme and a place
to download tools (that can be customized and printed) to spread the voice about period poverty.
After completing the lo-fi prototype, I did an unmoderated usability study.
The research goal was, how to indicate to people who are looking for products, where to find them efficiently and quickly since this search can be carried out in cases of emergency.
These are the insights of the study:
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The user expected the map as the central element on the home page.
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The home page element “how it works” should be visible, and explain the purpose of the map.
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The explanation of the map should be brief.
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The page “about us” need to change, to express that this is a project and not a personal page.
Hi-fi prototype
After iterating, the final result is a product that focuses on the search for the donated
sanitary products in the period boxes through a map.
This is the final result:
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I was looking for high-contrast and impact images to illustrate the message we want to convey.
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The home page was resolved to take the map as the central point.
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On the page "Spread the voice" the user can find the tools we prepare to spread our message,
they are illustrated on the page as a carousel.
The result of the information architecture:
Design elements
The Guerrilla Kit includes posters that help our user to spread the message.
The posters were created to be printed in any format and modified in any way
to be able to be placed where they are needed. We present them in German and English.
I created a logo and some illustrations, to make the brand recognizable.
What I learned
Creating an online space for a subject as sensitive and with many contrasts as period poverty requires focusing on how people receive the message and how we express what we want to convey.
Next steps
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Create a community to change ideas about how we can prevent period poverty
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Create more tools to spread the voice, not only something graphic
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Make space for testimonials.
Thank you!
