Pocket Sanitary Pad
Product Improvement
#Product_Design #Public_Design #Short_project
Sanitary Pad with convenient after-measures
Team
Individual Project
Project Duration
May 2015 - April 2015
Tools
Illustrator, Photoshop, Procreate
My Role
Overall
Overview
When people go to the ladies’ restroom, people can often see sanitary pads thrown away with exposed menstrual blood and it is terribly unhygienic and unaesthetic.
In a ‘Public Design’ class in 2015, I tried to figure out why this is happening and solve it as a design element. I looked at the problems of sanitary pads from the user’s point of view, which women have been uncomfortable with and I studied how to be comfortable and suggested a better solution.
Problem Space
Toilets in Korea are used to be equipped with trash cans in each compartment. In the women’s restroom, you can often see some used-and-exposed sanitary pads in the trash can. Such pads are not good for appearance, but they are also bad for hygiene, because of the risk of bacterial growth. So, what causes pads to be thrown in the open?
Design Process
Desk Research
To find out the cause of the problem, I investigated how to throw away sanitary pads and how sex education for users’ etiquette is conducted. There were two main ways to throw away sanitary pads.
Interview
I conducted a simple interview with 68 users to investigate whether people have experience in sex education on how to dispose of sanitary pads, or whether they are familiar with the correct method. Also, as discomfort with sanitary pads is a subjective area, everyone has their own discomfort I asked a simple question about the overall inconvenience of using sanitary pads.
All women have had education related to menstruation, and most of them are well aware of how to dispose of sanitary pads. Also, they are doing well according to the method of treatment.
Affinity Mapping
Research have shown that most users are well aware of how to dispose of sanitary pads and are doing relatively well. Then, what’s the real problem of the sanitary pad being left open? I used affinity diagraming to analyze the data I collected from the interviews. I analyzed the notes/recordings. Then I conducted affinity mapping to group similar inferences.
Findings
What did I learn?
Among the answers I got in the interview, I found three pain points concerning the problem of the sanitary pad being thrown open.
Order of Action
Most products' instructions have odd steps to follow, and it makes users throw away pads carelessly.
Weak Sticker
The size of the sanitary
pad wrapper sticker is small and the
adhesion force is too low.
Unfolds itself
The used sanitary pads tend to unroll even after it is correctly discarded
To understand the 1st pain point “Order of Action,” I conducted user observations.
To understand the 2nd pain point “Weak Sticker” and 3rd pain point “Unfolds itself” I conducted two experiments. With three different brands of pads, I did the ‘Supportability of sticker’ test and ‘Shape retention time’ test. The experiment was conducted by absorbing 30ml of liquid into the pad, which is the average amount of menstrual blood. The experiments were conducted six times each, and the results were calculated as the average value.
“Solve the error in order”
Suggest a convenient way to replace the sanitary pad resolving the inconvenience of behavior flow.
“Enhance the holding method”
Improve the sticker on the sanitary pad wrapper or find another holding method to replace the sticker.
“Propose a new feature”
Propose a new feature that will not easily be loosened considering the characteristics of used pads.
1st Persona
Sanitary Pad Users
By using pads that are convenient to use, they can keep good manners for themselves and others with little effort.
2nd Persona
Restroom Visitors
More comfortable toilets are available by improving the unpleasant toilet environment with other people's pads.
3rd Persona
Toilet cleaners
As pads with exposed blood disappear in the toilet, their working environment improves both aesthetic and hygienic.
Pocket Material Test
Pocket Position&Size Test
Mockup
Pocket
[ Original ]
Pocket
Wrapped
Pad
Sanitary Pad with a Pocket
Material
Disposable Latex
The pocket uses latex materials that are
highly elastic, flexible and have the best grip. Also, by using latex, menstrual blood can be prevented from seeping out.
Position
Back-Bottom of the Pad
The upper part of the sanitary pad is the part where menstrual blood is absorbed the least. This is why most users hold the top and remove sanitary pads from their underwear. The pouch is located at the bottom of the sanitary pad so that the user's action order can be natural.
Layer
For a stable fit, glue is applied on top of a latex pouch.
Sanitary Pad with a Pocket
