A sampling service redefining how we shop and use menstrual products
Project Type
School Project
My Role
Product Designer
Branding Designer
Video Producer
Timeline
May - Jun 2025
Team
Linda Xiao
Pearl Zhong
Elaine Park
Xinyi Zhao
Tools
Figma, After Effects, Final Cut Pro
OVERVIEW
When I first moved to Seattle, I couldn’t find the period product brand I regularly used in Hong Kong. To be safe, I bought a large pack of pads from a brand I knew at Costco, not knowing what else to get. Unfortunately, the plastic texture of the pads felt itchy and uncomfortable. I ended up spending a significant amount of money on a product I didn’t like, and nearly a year later, I’m still trying to use it up. This experience motivated me to propose tackling this issue with my team for our Designing Information Experiences course project in the MHCI+D program.
The video below provides a glance at the project! I produced this video from planning through filming to editing.
DISCOVER THE PROBLEM
Big Packs, Big and Costly Mistake.
To uncover the root causes and importance of this issue in order to inform meaningful and effective design solutions, we conducted secondary research to understand the broader context of period product challenges, together with primary research that included a 38-response survey and 6 unstructured interviews.
RESEARCH
According to our research data, we found that period products are:
*National Organization for Women
With the research data on hand, I composited a storyboard following menstruators’ emotional journey and their pain points when buying a new period product, including a sense of overwhelming decision paralysis, uncertainty about the money spent, and disappointment.
PROBLEM STORYBOARD
The feedback from users inspired us to work on a sampling program to address the problem.
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
INITIAL DESIGN CONCEPT
What if purchasing period products was like buying makeup?
To identify opportunities for improving menstruators’ experience buying new period products, we created a customer journey map to analyze menstruators’ pain points and feelings at each stage of the flow.
SOLUTION STORYBOARD
Then, I visualized the reimagined experience by drawing a storyboard with our potential solutions: offering a sampling service together with sample trial tracking for comparison to help menstruators make the decision for longer use.
Curate Your Style
Beyond offering the simple sampling service, we hope to build a meaningful experience that empowers menstruators with ease of choice, autonomy, and self-expression.
These are the values we create with our service and product:
With these aspirations, we named our service “Own”, meaning “own your flow” and the autonomy customers have when choosing their personalized menstrual products.
With these values, we imagine our customers to ultimately become:
CRAFT DESIGN SOLUTIONS
Next, we drafted the high-level structure of our design solutions through bodystorming, sketching, and user flow.
Our design solution consisted of two main parts: the physical in-store retail experience and the digital sample tracking experience. Customers first come to our service at the “Own” section in local drug and grocery stores. They select their preferred samples, check out at the store, use their samples, and track trials on our mobile app to compare their trial experiences.
LOW-FIDELITY PROTOTYPES
We built low-fidelity prototypes for both physical and digital experiences to quickly visualize our design concept.
Physical In-Store Retail Experience
Upon entering the “Own” section at a local drugstore or grocery store, customers are guided by clear instructional signage on how to create their own sample bag. Shelf talkers also offer information about product types and sample prices.
They begin by picking up an empty sample bag and then select the products they would like to try, after touching and feeling them. Considering the hygiene issue and product safety, I proposed an easy but efficient sample dispensation flow. To select a sample, users simply tap the NFC tag on their paper bag against the dispenser’s NFC reader. At checkout, the barcode on the paper bag linked to a database automatically provides details on the selected samples and the total cost.
Digital Sample Tracking Experience
I led the design of our digital prototype, focusing on the sample trial tracking experience. Users can link their samples by reading the NFC tag on the bag with their mobile device. Then, they can mark the sample status as “in use” or “used”. After they finish using a sample, they can log their feelings about the product with a short reflective questionnaire for future comparison.
CONCEPT EVALUATION & DESIGN ITERATIONS
To evaluate whether our design concept aligns with customer expectations and effectively addresses the challenge of spending money on menstrual products without knowing if they suit one’s body, we conducted an initial round of concept testing using low-fidelity prototypes.
In-Store Retail: Evaluation & Iteration I
We displayed our physical prototype for the in-store retail experience at a local grocery store and invited two participants to test it. The participants resonated with the solution and affirmed its effectiveness, but the instructions and price information were hard to follow due to the overwhelming text. We then simplified the in-store signage and clarified the pricing model.
Digital Tracking: Evaluation & Iteration I
For the digital tracking experience, I invited two participants to walk through the primary flow of tracking their sample trial. Both participants felt the solution was effective in helping them choose menstrual products that suited their personal needs. However, they also encountered moments of confusion during the process. Then, I worked on design improvements based on their feedback. Below are some examples of the design iterations.
In-Store Retail + Digital Tracking: Evaluation II
Next, I built a mid-fidelity version of the sample trial tracking flow, together with the onboarding flow built by my teammate. With the iterated physical and digital prototypes, we tested the end-to-end flow with another three participants to gather their thoughts on the user flows and usability before we built the high-fidelity prototypes. While receiving positive feedback from the participants on our design concept, we still identified flaws for improvement through the 2nd round of testing.
In-Store Retail: Iteration II
To minimize confusion during the in-store retail experience, we simplified signage by replacing jargon (e.g., using “samples” instead of “test units”), added product type details to highlight features like daily, active, or sport use, and included QR codes on both the signage and sample bag to guide users to download the mobile app, bridging the gap between the physical and digital experience.
BEFORE
Digital Tracking: Iteration II
AFTER
Participants’ main concerns centered on complex information on the sample review initial page, the absence of an overview of all tracked items, and the length and format of the questionnaire. I discussed these issues with the team to align directions for design refinements.
Finally, we added more interaction details to build the high-fidelity prototype, where I focused on interactions, transitions, and motion design.
FINAL DIGITAL DESIGN
HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
On Boarding
The samples can be linked to the mobile app by simply tapping the NFC tag on the sample bag to the device.
Track Sample Status
Sample statuses are marked “unused” by default and can be changed to “in use” or “used”.
Review Trial Experience
The user can add their feelings and thoughts on a sample through writing notes or answering 5 preset questions.
Product Suggestions
The system will generate the user’s product preferences by analyzing their feedback on the samples. The user can take the suggestions as a reference when deciding which products to buy in full packs.
BRANDING
I worked on the branding design for our brand “Own”. To reflect the stylish, feminine aesthetic of our target audience while also conveying the playfulness, freedom, and autonomy of our brand, I developed a color palette that embodies these qualities. I modified the circular shape of the letter “O” of the logo to resemble a pad, subtly reinforcing our connection to menstrual products.
I also considered accessibility while working on branding design. At first, I chose the color #978AFF as the primary purple color. However, I tested the color contrast based on the WCAG 2.1 AA standard and failed. Therefore, I tweaked it into a darker, more saturated color (#6E5DF1).
Through user testing, we gathered positive feedback from participants that affirmed the effectiveness and value of “Own”. The physical retail sample bag-building experience offered meaningful moments when customers interacted with our service through embodiment, attention-driving, and emotional connections. The overall value of our solution was also enhanced by the delightful experience they recalled after interacting with it.
OUTCOME
We considered business viability early on by introducing online sample bag ordering and offering discounts on full packs for those who tried samples. Sustainability was also a key focus, inspired by the waste from unsuitable menstrual products, leading us to explore a donation flow for unused items. We have built low-fidelity prototypes for these features before narrowing our scope. We plan to continue testing and refining these additional features and the key offline retail and digital tracking flow to improve the overall user experience.
Our biggest challenge was ensuring business viability, as our target users, menstruators aged 20–35, are open to trying new products but may not return once they find a good fit. To address this, we considered pivoting toward teenagers and first-time menstruators, who have a stronger need for product education and body awareness. This shift would position our service as a learning tool and guide future design iterations.
NEXT STEPS & REFLECTIONS
E-commerce mini-app for lifestyle products
Conversational AI dietitian for health management