Happy Period - Addressing Period Poverty On My University Campus - Version 1.0
Summary
Designed a physical prototype of a dispenser using styrofoam and paint
Designed a digital prototype of an app to go with the dispenser using Figma
Held 6 user interviews and ran a survey as part of user research
Created 3 personas and a journey map based on initial user research
Conducted 4 different comparative analyses to understand the market
Created 2 storyboards and 2 initial design sketches
Ran in-person and online moderated usability tests with 10 participants
Goals
My team looked at how we could go about alleviating period poverty in our local area. We asked ourselves: How might we provide free sanitary products to everyone who needs them on the UW Tacoma campus?
Design Process
Our design process started with initial user research to understand the problem space as well as our target audience. One part of our target audience is those experiencing period poverty, who are unable to afford products and will need to rely on our product to provide them with sanitary products. The other part of our target audience is those who are able to afford period products but find themselves in a situation where they are unprepared and need period products.
Our first iterations were pencil sketches that were filled with a lot of cool and exciting features. We had a touch screen dispenser that had lots of variety of products and came with a flyer that we would put around campus or pass out to raise awareness. We realized we needed to simplify the prototype due to financial and practical limitations
Our second iteration was a much more simplified dispenser that had two buttons: one for tampons and one for pads. To help those who wanted additional products we decided to design a mobile app that would be accessible through a QR code located on the front of the dispenser.
In our usability tests, participants were asked to interact with our product, which consisted of the physical tampon/pad dispenser prototype and the app we designed. Based on our usability study findings, we implemented the feedback in our final prototype. We picked specific changes based on how many people gave feedback on that specific part and how important we thought it was to the overall design and flow of the product.
Next Steps
Check out my other project, IRIZE, which is a continuation of this project but with a new perspective.
