Period Comma
Tackles the environmental impact of menstrual products
Period Comma was born out of a desire to bring sustainability into the period conversation. It upgrades bathrooms to become safe, welcoming, period-friendly spaces, where women can learn about the environmental impact of their period products, and discover green alternatives. Our online tool then helps them find, compare, and purchase the right sustainable period products for their needs, while continuing the conversation about green periods.
The Student Service Design Challenge is a global competition. The year of 2021's topic is “Designing reverse logistics services”, think "How to improve the end-of-life cycle of products and services by actively engaging users.”
Watch our research process and design outcomes in a video (9 minutes)
TIME
5 months
MY ROLE
Researcher
Product Design
Video Production
Location
London UK
DELIVERABLES
Service Concept
Design Report
Promotional Video
Challenge
More than half the women in the UK choose to flush their period products down the toilet. Periods are often discussed through the lens of female health and period poverty, but not enough attention is paid to their environmental impact.
However, periods are not going anywhere, so we made it our mission to
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Empower women in the UK to make better period product choices, both for themselves, and the environment.
Here's how we solved the challenge, step by step.
Mapping the system
We use systems mapping tools to build a new multidimensional thinking framework and identify the divergent parts of the problem set, finding unique areas in which to develop interventions.
Through systems mapping, we identified 3 key players to understand:
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Users of period products
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Brands behind the products
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Waste management services.
Understand users
To kick things off, we use qualitative research and quantitative research to understand users' behavior and thoughts.
I analyzed the purchase data of disposable products and eco-friendly products
We found that users choose disposable products mostly for the following reasons: convenience, cheapness, and habit.
The motives for trying reusable eco-friendly products are environmental awareness, recommendations from friends, and advertising.
Anonymous survey
We heard from 225 women from around the world about their priorities, motivations, and concerns regarding their period product choices.
This survey revealed how culture has a huge impact on women’s periods, which is particularly relevant given how multicultural London, our area of focus, is.
Culture Probe
To dig deeper, we invited users to record their purchasing process and speak out their decision criteria. Some of them have been asked to take photos of their period product packaging waste.
This helped us understand their decision making process from purchase to through away.
Focus groups
Finally, we ran focus groups, creating safe spaces for women from different cultures and age groups to talk to each other.
User journey
Understand what prevents users from taking sustainable products
Key Takeaway
Olivia’s main source of period knowledge is her mum. She learnt to be ashamed of her period from early on, which later influenced her product disposal behaviours.
Key Takeaway
In-person points of sale remain a fundamental stop in any period journey. As an environmentally conscious person, Allison still found herself in a situation where flushing felt like the only option.
Key insight
As we analysed our findings, we saw some amazing trends start to emerge, and arrived at 3 key insights:
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Regardless of age or location, most women prefer to buy period products in person.
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Most women would prefer to upgrade to a greener disposable product than buy a reusable one.
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Women are heavily influenced by their physical environment. Many go as far as turning down reusable products out of fear of not being able to clean them appropriately in public restrooms.
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Number 1, Habits are formed from an early age. So the key to lasting green periods is reaching users at the beginning of their period journey.
Exploring the perspectives of brands
Next, we interviewed 5 disruptor brands ( Daye, Callaly, Freda, Hey Girls, & TOTM ) in the UK industry to understand their development and obstacles in manufacturing, education promotion and environmental protection.
In the course of the interviews, we heard the following facts:
There is a huge disconnect between where these green products live, and where buyers are actually doing their shopping. Many of these alternative period brands struggle to get into large retailers, instead opting for a Direct-to-Consumer approach, which makes it harder for them to build trust with women when users prefer to purchase in store.
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- Thang, Vo-Ta
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There is a lack of education surrounding period product disposal. This, paired with a lack of adequate public infrastructure, leads to women being less interested in reusable options, and even forces them to go as far as flushing their products down the toilet.
--Kristen, Hey Girls
Building Empathy
After listening to the voices of brands and users, we mapped empathy and realized 3 key points in the current situation:.
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Building the concept of green period imperceptibly, users might take their first step to change.
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Bathrooms and public toilets have a huge impact on period behaviours.
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Disruptor brands need to explore new offline touchpoints.
What if……
After 2 months of research, we felt we had a clear understanding of the current situation of periods in the UK. So we started envisioning what possible futures lay ahead of us.
In our first brainstorming session, we came up with a myriad of “What If” scenarios that challenged us to think differently about the issue. We asked questions such as:
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What if plastic was banned from all period products?
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What if all period products could be flushed?
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What if everyone grew up with a clear understanding of the environmental impact of their periods?
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What if talking about periods were as easy as talking about a headache?
……
Then we took to the parks of London to test some of these scenarios with potential users. We created a backcasting exercise, asking people to picture themselves in these futures, and then think about the steps required to get us there.
Armed with endless WHAT IF opportunities, we mapped them on a prioritisation matrix, optimising for maximum impact and feasibility.
This practice helped us narrow down on 2 problem statements:
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How might we improve the adoption of green period products and adequate period practices amongst women in the UK?
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How might we discourage the flushing of period products down the toilet?
Ideation
We divided our potential users into 4 categories and then continued to explore the solution in depth according to each category. Finally, we used an affinity diagram to sort them into categories.
We voted on 6 final design directions and invited our users to join us for a deeper co-creation.
In this process, users expressed that in their mind, the ideal service should consider accessible and broad physical touchpoints, neutral brand colours (no stereotypically feminine colours, like red and pink), and social justice.
Concept
After several rounds of user co-creation activities, we finally settled on the concept of improving infrastructure and raising user awareness.
In terms of infrastructure, we provided a physical touchpoint: the vending machine.
In terms of raising awareness, we provided online quizzes, educational pages, etc.
We also provided posters, designed to allow users to receive more information to promote their behaviour change.
Vending machine concept draft
Poster sketch
Quiz sketch
User test
Final Design
The beginning of a broader green period dialogue.
Period Comma helps women learn about the environmental impact of their period product choices, and empowers them to find the best green period product for them.
Our strategy is to use an initial physical touchpoint, which allows women to test products as single units, and then moves the conversation online, where Period Comma helps women make the transition towards greener period products, one step at a time.
