During their menstrual cycle, individuals go through numerous changes, including hormonal fluctuations, that can have both physical and mental effects, such as changes like energy levels, motivation or social skills. These fluctuations are very individual and vary greatly, but can have a significant impact on everyday life. Adapting to this rhythm can help menstruating people in their everyday lives, but is often overlooked in our society. This is exactly where “Trude” comes in: the app not only helps users adapt to their individual fluctuations and plan ahead but doe this by precise analyses.
Trudes Main Pages/functions are the following:
On the main pages (thick lines), navigating is done via the Nav-Bar. All other pages (smaller lines) come up as overlays or slide in and are closed with an "X" button to return to the last seen Main Page. This makes it easier for users to understand which “level” of the app they are on and makes sure they don't get lost.
Many period tracking apps offer calendar views for users to better set their next period in perspective. But to actively plan anything and enter events, opening your go to calendar app is needed. Neither period phases show up in those apps nor do the events show up in the period app, even though many users claim to be interested in cycle based planning (Cycle Syncing). Trude closes this gap and offers both in one app to reduce navigation times and offer a smother experience.
Furthermore, many period apps collect huge amounts of data daily, but many users won't get any feedback or be able to draw conclusions from their enterings. For some, it might even feel like their inputs don't have any effects besides predicting the next period. Compared to other apps, frequent Symptom tracking will be rewarded in "Trude" by giving deep analyses, like when specific Symptoms are most common to occur or at what stage you might worry. It will even predict future symptoms based on past experiences.
To make tracking easier and more appealing, "FrastTracking" is available, which functions similar to swiping on dating Apps. By swiping right, users say: "I experienced this symptom", while swiping left has the opposite effect. By integrating this gamification methods, users have a faster and more entertaining experience, which keeps users attention for longer.
To increase the number of long term users further, the app offers an option to engage with friends. You can add people, see individual info about their cycle, and even use the App when you are not a menstruating person yourself to enhance dialogues. By creating many touch and access points for "Trude" lacking societal acceptance and spread of misinformation are addressed.
Besides the highly individual Analytics the app offers there is a big range of general information and knowledge regarding Menstrual health, Mental Health, Sex, contraception and relating topics in form of Articles and Information.
Besides the icons that are created for every single Symptom, there is a variety of Illustrations used for articles and generalized information in the App. The Illustrations are used instead of Photographs to create a form of abstraction that allows more people to identify with certain topics.
(The illustrations are generated in Midjourney and later edited in Photoshop.)
This graph illustrates what kind of information is available on each page or can reached by navigating to a sub-page. The black forms simulate the main pages, which "group" all the content together in different brackets, each addressing a different topic or kind of information.
For detailed analyzation and in depth review of the analyzed content "Trude" is available on bigger devices. On the other hand, smartwatches offer a quick overview of the most important content and the ability to track symptoms and sensations quickly, anytime and anywhere.
* Best viewed on a laptop (browser) or on a cell phone with the Figma app. When using a browser on small devices parts of the screen might not be visible, resulting in limited navigation.
1. Research
I started this project by reading many articles, studies and two books about female health and the Menstrual cycle in particular. My emphasis during this time was on societal pressures and biological processes involved in the menstrual cycle which affect both mental and physical health of menstruating people. Whenever I could not find any sufficient information I did surveys. My findings and conclusions were put down in an about 130-page book.
2. Market analysis
I then went on to define the problem, which for me was a lack of information about the menstrual cycle, a lack of acknowledgment of this cycle in everyday life and many period apps not giving valuable cycle analytics. To see what was the problem with those apps in particular I went on and analysed some of the most known Menstrual Apps.
3. Target group
For better understanding of the target group I created Personas, drew empathy maps and created user and customer journeys. This enabled me to better create the first wireframes based on peoples needs.
4. Wireframing
Before coming to the final version of my prototype I did various versions of wireframes. I started by creating rough sketches before I went on and redid and edited those in Figma. After various stages of wireframing I progressed into low fidelity prototypes and design versions before finally coming to a final Clickdummy in Figma.
5. Interviews + Surveys
Each version of the App (I ended up differentiating between 5 + Wireframes) was accompanied by either an qualitative user Interview, a quantitative survey, or an Expert Interview, this helped me improve the prototype faster and more target group oriented. I did online surveys, one think-out-loud interview alongside many others in which I showed the current stage op the app to potential users and soke to a gynaecologist for further intel than I could get out of my research.
6. User Testing
In the final stages of the design process I tested the Click dummy on people with different "Menstrual-App knowledge" to ensure that first time users are able to understand the mechanics of the App. My main Goal was to see if navigation went smoothly and Information was found where it was expected.
My final outcome besides the App were two books. One of them being the already mentioned research part and the other one with another 280 pages documenting my whole process and the entire app. In total, I worked about 12 weeks on this thesis including the final presentation. The books were bound by Hand and I printed 3 of each. In case you might be interested in reading the thesis please drop a Mail.
6. Presentation
In the End I presented my Project in a 35-min Presentation + 20-min for questions. Viewers could afterwards look at both the thesis and click though the app.
My Trude app and the associated Thesis were awarded the "Dessau Design Award". This award honors the "best" Bachelor Thesis of the Year. In my case Winter semester 2023/24 and Summer semester 2024. An independent jury (that was not involved in any of the submitted Projects) is formed to rate the submissions based on concept, level of innovation and design quality.
13.03.2024 – 13.06.2024
Participants
Lucy Cara Dökel
supervisors:
Prof. Alejandro Lecuna
Prof. Hermann Klöckner
My Role
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