Primed. is a project that was created for my capstone course at the University of Pittsburgh. This project was created in collaboration with my fellow Pitt student Ashley Hewitt. We designed, workshopped, and produced a high-fidelity prototype to house educational modules about various topics relating to vaginal and menstrual health, over the course of a semester.
Primed is a resource centered around starting and destigmatizing conversations about vaginal and menstrual health, in the form of an interactive website. While the internet can be an amazing tool for teaching users a plethora of information, it can also become a space for the harmful spreading of misinformation. This project was intended to chronicle and combat these widespread misconceptions, especially for younger audiences who are susceptible to this misinformation and at the age where these health myths are perpetuated. An online survey of U.S. teenagers from SKDK reveals that 76% of students believe society teaches that periods are “gross and embarrassing” (State of the Period). This idea contributes directly to period poverty, which is characterized by a lack of resources, education, and products needed to maintain healthy habits and dignity when it comes to menstruation.
The solution: more education. A 2022 audit of U.S. Health Education Standards revealed that menstrual health management was not a required part of the school health education standards in most states (Kuhlmann, et al). My project partner and I were partially motivated by personal experience, feeling as though our K-12 education, and the education of our friends and peers, did not prepare us or stimulate productive conversation about these topics. This is why a long-term goal for Primed would be implementing it as a supplemental tool for learning in a health classroom setting. The site’s interactive modules could also take the burden off underpaid teachers to revise lesson plans and conduct further research.
Accessibility and inclusion were very important tenets from our list of Capstone Values. When taking accessibility into account, my project partner and I decided to include information in a way that would be digestible for children who are just starting to confront these topics. We thought it better to present the information under the assumption that the user is learning it for the first time, as an effort to rid the platform of any judgement for users that have differing levels of knowledge. Once the user choses a module, they are given the option of how they would like to receive the information – in video or text form – to account for different modes of learning. We were also cognizant of the language we used to be inclusive of trans men, women and non-binary people who benefit from these resources.
