Menstruation Education
I noticed a lack of free, easy education on the menstrual cycle. Students don't learn much about it in high school, and in higher education, it's catered to those who are in some sort of biology major. I wanted to create an app that would be able to teach anyone who wants to learn about the menstrual cycle in a non-commital, easy-to-digest way.
A simple conversation sparked an idea
I was speaking to my cousin who grew up in India. He was telling me how he wants to better understand how the menstrual cycle works so he could help his mother and sister during their cycle. His mother wouldn’t discuss it with him and his sister is too shy. The menstrual cycle is hard enough to learn in a class, trying to understand it on your own can be even more overwhelming.
This lead to the current problem:
a lack of menstrual education both in the US and across the world.
Goal:
Create an educational app that can help with this problem. Since most people spend an increasing amount of time on their phones, it would be a discreet way to learn in the case that someone would feel embarrassed or insecure, and it’s free so there’s no commitment.
The Process
While having that conversation with my cousin, I tried to find a website that would be easy for him to follow and learned that there wasn’t an actual resource he could learn from. There weren’t many websites or apps like the one I wanted to create, therefore my research was limited. What I was able to find extended to projects, orgs, or simple period tracker apps. I didn’t have another source that I could use to perform a competitive audit.
Research
I sketched out my ideas for some of the main pages for my wireframes. I made two versions of each and starred the parts of each design I wanted to go with.
Sketch
Design
Since I wanted to create the app to be educational, I had it open onto a small blurb about the users’ current cycle (if they entered their information) followed by either tips or articles. In the case that the user doesn’t use the app to track a cycle, the phase information would just rotate every couple weeks.
After conducting usability studies, it seemed tht users found this layout to be overwhelming and busy. The general concensus was to change the homepage and condense other pages to make the app easier to navigate.
“When opening the app…the first thing that should pop up is the “Cycle” tab of the app where it shows the calendar and # of days til next period…Seeing the home screen first may be overwhelming to some as there is a lot of information there…”
- Usability reviewer
“…liked the home page and the educational pages.”
- Usability Reviewer
“…easier to look at and more eye catching if was just like one layout with phase information, another with tips and articles and so on…”
- Usability Reviewer
“…love the idea of the tips, articles and additional info of understanding menstrual cycles rather than just being an app to track your period…”
- Usability Reviewer
Wireframing & Usability Results
Hi-Fi Prototype
When creating the final design, I kept in mind the comments from usability studies and moved around aspects of the app to make it easier to use/follow. While I wanted the app to be more educational, users commented on how they liked the tracking aspect of it as well and wanted that to be the center rather than a slew of information when they opened it up.
Challenges:
🌟 Inclusivity
The challenge in creating this app was keeping in mind the level of education about the menstrual cycle a common user would have. Coming from a biology background, it was easy for me to overlook some of the smaller concepts that needs to be explained to those who don’t come from the same background as me.
📝 Further Research
Following those lines, I needed to research what is the limits of a general user’s knowledge on the menstrual cycle to ensure that I have information on those topics.
Takeaways:
💛 The impact I want to make
Users shared that they would use this app to either track their cycles, learn more about the menstrual cycle, or both. I want to increase general education about something that at least half the global population goes through for a majority of their life, and now with girls starting to menstruate at a younger age, I think it’s even more important for everyone to be educated on the menstrual cycle and slowly lessen the stigma around it.
🤝 Embracing Change
Having this be a personal project, I had to learn to step away from my own ideas to create a better product. While I liked my ideas and preferred them in some cases, I’m not going to be the sole user of this app. Therefore, this expereince taught me that it’s okay to deviate from ideas that I love that won’t necessarily be loved by others.
Moving Forward:
As of now, my idea is just an idea. I don’t have coding knowledge so my next steps are to either teach myself how to code or to hire a front-end developer. There is still a lot that I need to research if I want this app to be as educational as I want it to be, but I’m motivated to get it done.