paua.
learn about your body
Paua is an analysis tool that supports gynecological prevention. It helps users to take their preventive care into their own hands in a self-determined and informed way. This concept was developed in the course Invention Design. The course addressed the following questions: In which areas could technologies support us in the future and how can these challenges be implemented in design?
Team.
Daisy Muntean, Viki Schmidt, Alina Remlinger
Supervision.
Prof. David Oswald
Invention Design 1
3th semester - 2 months
Tools.
Notion, Miro, Figma, Illustrator, Aftereffects, Photoshop
Research.
Through research in the medical field, we came across female technology products, particularly interested in sensor technologies. Female technology products have the common motivation of closing the gender data gap. At the same time, these products should enable a self-determined and enlightened life. Our personal interest in this area and the clearly visible need for action motivated us to develop ideas in this direction.
According to a 2018 global study by Ipsos, 26% of participants visited a gynecologist less frequently than 1 time per year and another 26% had never visited.
In order to be able to generate even deeper insights after extensive research in studies, surveys and projects, we conducted interviews with women aged approx. 20-50 years. This enabled us to learn more about their gynecological screening behavior and to formulate the following guiding principle for our project from the research results we collected:
"People with uterus have problems in obtaining understandable, uncomplicated and clear information about (chronic) diseases and/or cyclical procedures, operations and processes."
Some reasons for this are:
- Lack of or exclusion of research and data collection
- insufficient education and awareness due to lack of access to information
- Reliance on complicated testing procedures and invasive interventions
A innovative analysis tool, in combination with comprehensible explanations, could help women to strengthen their body awareness. The data obtained can support personal gynecological prevention and at the same time (with the user's prior consent) be made available for research.
Concept.
To permanently keep the focus on our research results and to define our target group, we have created personas.
The insecure
Emma, age 19
Apprentice
- She finds the topic of preventive care extremely unpleasant and therefore does not/very rarely goes to the gynecologist for preventive care.
- Is afraid of the examination because she does not know what is being examined.
- Self-care is secondary; for acute problems, she sees the doctor.
- Wishes for an easier way to provide preventive care or to reduce the inhibition barrier.
The unconscious conscious
Maria, age 24
Student
- Believes that preventive care is important, and therefore attends preventive care appointments regularly.
- Considers the time commitment considerable, but feasible due to personal relevance
- Does not know exactly what is examined and tested
- Subconsciously pays attention to herself, but can not always classify everything, which can causes insecurities
- Desires more opportunities for self-responsible preventive care and education.
We also established design principles to guide us throughout the project. These important characteristics of the final product became clear in the interviews with potential users.
While sketching ideas, it became clear that there would have to be a hardware and a software component. The hardware part contains sensors to enable tissue and saliva analysis, the results are subsequently output by the software component, including supporting information. In our case, we decided to use a complementary app.
Während des Skizzierens von Ideen wurde klar, dass es eine Hardware- und eine Softwarekomponente geben muss. Der Hardwareteil enthält dabei Sensoren, um die Gewebe- und Speichelanalyse zu ermöglichen, die Ergebnisse werden im Anschluss von der Softwarekomponente inklusive unterstützender Informationen ausgegeben. In unserem Fall haben wir uns für eine ergänzende App entschlossen.
Visual design.
Based on the interviews that took place at the beginning of the project, it was particularly important for us to pay attention to an empathetic and friendly visual language in the appearance of the product, which nevertheless exudes trust and reliability. In addition, it was clear to us that we did not want to communicate using the typical medical product language with sterile, "hygienic" colors. The visual design of paua should emphasize the enlightening idea and so colors have to be used that also have a connection to one's own body without appearing unhygienic.
Project Video paua.
Learnings.
In projects with a limited time frame, the research phase must be completed at some point in order to finally decide in which direction the project should continue.
Feedback.
Cool, dass ihr euch mit diesem sehr wichtigem Thema beschäftigt habt.
– Anna
finds super!
– Anonym
Super Thema, top Arbeit 🙂
– Romy
Richtig gute Idee!
– Anonym
Sehr relevantes Thema! Es gibt viele Studien zur Gender Health Gap und Gender Data Gap, trotzdem finden die Themen wenig Beachtung. Meiner Meinung nach ist Reproductive Health ein Feld, in dem es für uns Interaktionsgestalter:innen ein riesiges Potential gibt (schließlich besitzt knapp mehr als 50% der Bevölkerung einen Uterus.. und die allermeisten Menschen einen Fortpflanzungsapparat). Und vom Daten Spenden bin ich ein riesiger Fan. Glückwunsch, finde ich sehr gelungen.
– Anonym
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