Talking About Menopause

TALKING ABOUT MENOPAUSE

Carmel Lomax

TALKING ABOUT MENOPAUSE

INTRODUCTION

• Designing an awareness campaign for younger Millennials and Gen Z.

• Taking some steps to rebrand the menopause, challenging everyone to rethink how they see and speak, about the menopause.

• A campaign about the barriers that prevent some people seeking advice and information.

• Normalising menopause as a subject and encouraging people, to know about their hormones and how to recognise hormone deficiencies.

My overall aims are to continue to explore and build upon my previous research and in collaboration with The Menopause Charity, create design that speaks to those currently missed through existing education and social media strategies.

My objectives are as follows:

• To effectively communicate menopause facts to Gen Z and younger Millennials.

• Encourage menopause conversation and to raise awareness.

• To turn negatives into positives and to contribute to rebranding of the menopause.

• Examine the barriers through continued research and use this knowledge, to communicate to BAME, Transgender and to people living in deprived areas.

The methodologies I have used to inform my project are both quantitative and qualitative. Surveys have allowed me to quickly identify numbers, statistics and groups that are currently missed and feel overlooked, by both the media and public health information. Small focus groups and follow up surveys, with specific targeted questions, were circulated in Facebook local community groups, so to reach a wide demographic, have informed my design work.

The specific questions were put together to establish grounded theories and through this enabled me, to design to make a change. This research has enabled me to identify the type of campaign required, how to reach these groups e.g. type of social media channel or poster campaigns etc. Also to think about campaigns, that could make everyone speak and think differently about the menopause. I have also used secondary research from menopause experts who have carried out their own research and see imbalances in healthcare on a day-to-day basis. Dr Arif speaks about gender imbalances in healthcare ”…There’s misogyny in the healthcare system and women aren’t taken seriously. This is partly because, traditionally, menopause has been seen as a normal part of the process of life, not something that women need to go round bothering Doctors about.” (Arif Dr, 2021)

The challenges I have set for myself, to innovate and problem solve, using visual communication and graphic design as a tool to do so, are set out below:

GEN Z & MILLENNIALS’ MENOPAUSE INFORMATION

THE MENOPAUSE CHARITY

Quantitative and qualitative research that I carried out last term identified Gen Z and Millennials as the groups missed regarding menopause information and education. Further Focus Groups with Gen Z and younger Millennials, allowed me to investigate how this group learn best and develop design from their requirements. I learned how they like to see information presented, what platforms are most effective, what colours appeal to them and type of language etc. This information was invaluable as I have been able to build and develop designs keeping these factors in mind.

Once I had a clear strategy I reached out to The Menopause Charity and set out what I’d learned from research and discussed working with them on a social media/poster campaign to reach this demographic. The Menopause Charity provided me with information and facts from one of their existing campaigns, which is a series of provocative questions e.g. ‘Lost Your Mind?’ ‘ Lost Your Strength?’ ‘Lost Your Sex Drive?’ Lost Your Lubrication?’ ‘Lost Your Job?’ The questions are backed up with statistical information and signposts where to go for help and further information via a QR code or website address. I was also provided with the charity’s branding pack, colours, logos, fonts etc. a comprehensive pack of dos’ and don’ts when working with charity branding. Once the parameters had been set, I was able to think about how I could be creative within them and how I could present the copy I’d been provided with, to a younger audience.

I had an idea to create a cute animal cartoon character to speak about menopause symptoms. More obvious choices for character might have been a cat or a rabbit. I wanted to create a ‘Hello Kitty’ or “Miffy” simple type of character, but the cat and rabbit were already out there, as well loved characters. I decided on a fox, as to me the fox embodies a female, also some refer to women as vixen’s, the fox is often likened to humans and the male equivalent ‘silver fox’ represents the mid-life ageing male. I had in mind a simple cute faced fox, wearing a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) patch. I felt the character had potential to further develop in the future and become a fully animated character that talked, in a series of short animations, about many health conditions, not just the menopause. I made many versions of fox drawings, which through the process of development became more simplified and tested a variety of body shapes. I tested various fox characters and sought feedback from focus groups, to make a decision on which version of the fox I should move forward with. The more time I spent developing the fox, I began to realise how difficult it was becoming and questioned myself, as to if I wanted to dedicate my time to developing the character. I had identified a need to fully profile the character and with added time pressures, I made the decision to park up the fox character, with the intention to pick it up again at a future date and build upon what I’d already established.

CREATING A CHARACTER

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 3

HORMONE EMOJIS

Craig Oldham talks about the ideas process and how sometimes it’s important to recognise that the idea you love is not working…”Ideas are charming, sexy little things. They pop into your head the first chance they get, showing interest and making all the right noises, foxing you into thinking they’re ‘the one.’ And then they watch as you chase them, falling over on what you think is the road to being with them, secretly knowing they never wanted to be with you in the first place. Don’t get smitten with an idea, they can make a fool of you. It’s always hard to walk away from your first love, but when something isn’t working, you must do what’s right.” (Oldham, Craig, 2017).

I started some design work last term, from my drawings of hormone emoji’s, I had created emoji characters, from a mix of scientific illustrations and hormone hexagon shapes. I brought them to life with visual symptoms of menopause e.g. clouds to represent brain fog. Before I’d had any interaction with The Menopause Charity I had worked with a bright colour palette oranges, pinks, yellows colours, successfully tested on the focus group. I continued to develop these characters and started to work in a muted and pastel colour palette, derived from The Menopause Charity base colours, of teal blue, magenta and green. The feedback I’ve had so far, is that these colours are calming and relaxing and therefore, are a good fit when talking about menopause, with a link to wellbeing, in that there’s help out there for menopause symptoms and there are things you can do, to take care of and look after yourself.

I presented my progress to fellow students during week fours ‘Building Brief’ of our taught Tuesday morning sessions. I tried to capture the feelings and emotions directly linked to menopause symptoms. I made the Brain fog emoji into a cushion or soft toy with an accompanying factual booklet and various hormone emoji badges and fridge magnets. The idea was the merchandise could be used as promotional material for a charity event. The products could become talking points and start menopause conversation and also make any interaction with the charity memorable. Plus the products could be sold to raise funds for the charity.

To link The Menopause Charity ‘Lost Your?’ copy, which formed the basis for the poster and social media campaign. I made more illustrations, to work with the words used in the campaign and began to work with my own hand drawn typography. I decided to continue experimenting with beauty and healthcare packaging. As packaging design is something I’m interested in and I saw this as an opportunity, to sample some of my ideas. I felt the beauty and healthcare packaging was a good link to wellbeing and made an interesting connection to the subject of menopause. The concept of seeing a menopause symptom on a medicine or beauty bottle or box, is something I’m looking at developing. I will be presenting these ideas to Jenny Haskey at The Menopause Charity, for feedback and potential, further development.

I would like to further develop the hormone emoji’s with motion graphics, there was some discussion around a emoji directory, with peers after the group presentation session. This could be in the form of a printed book or publication. It would be nice to see the emoji’s come to life as gifs or filters, for use on Instagram or Tiktok. There is also potential and an opportunity, to highlight and talk about symptoms such as brain fog, not commonly spoken about as a symptom, but is something a sufferer finds difficult to live with and at its worse, it could lead to someone losing their job.

Figure 5

OH HEY ADAM!

Oh Hey ADAM, the concept I put together for the Creative Conscious design brief. The brief is judged on creative approach, potential impact, improving health and wellness, awareness and education. Oh Hey ADAM is a poster/ social media campaign to raise awareness and talk about the ‘male menopause’ or androgen deficiency. The male menopause is perhaps something many of us have heard mentioned, but know nothing about. One of the aims of my recent design work, has been to promote hormone awareness and urge people to get to know and understand, how their hormones work and the importance, of recognising the signs of a deficiency whilst signposting help, for those who need it. I took this opportunity to do a quick investigation and found useful and factual information, via baus.org.uk The British association of Urological Surgeons.

ADAM is represented in the photograph, by a smartly dressed, ageing male, he looks good and takes care of himself and his appearance. To represent the subject of hormone deficiency, I used cropped type on the symptoms list page, to represent the missing hormone. I deliberately used a limited palette of black and white, to convey a serious message and the QR code, was added to enable viewers to scan and quickly access more information.

CREATIVE CONSCIOUS BRIEF

I added a further visual element to this campaign in the form of a logo, which is based on the scientific molecule drawing for testosterone. I added Oh Hey ADAM with fading to the AM to again, represent the intermittent presence and fading of the testosterone hormone in men.

Figure

Throughout the Applied Practice module I have taken the opportunity to test out ideas around the subject of menopause, creating quick campaign concepts. These ideas have included talking about hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with Hello Kitty. The difficulties people face in obtaining HRT and using a Just HRT app to highlight the issues. The ‘See it Differently,’ Say it Differently” campaign I put together, in an effort to rebrand the menopause for the D&AD design brief, with Google Fonts and HMCT. And the ADAM (Androgen Deficiency, in the Ageing Male) Creative Conscious design brief.

I felt it necessary to talk about HRT, there are still many people who believe it isn’t safe. Mainly because of negative first results, found on the first clinical trials of Postmenopausal women by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) 2002…”which showed that HRT had more detrimental than beneficial effects, HRT use dropped” (Cagnacci. A, & Venier,M. 2019) …”The negative results of the study received wide publicity, creating panic among some users and new guidance for Doctors on prescribing HRT. The clear message from the media was that HRT had more risks than benefits for all women.”(Cagnacci. A, & Venier,M. 2019.)

I talked about the benefits of HRT in the events brief during week three. My idea was to open a pop up shop in Selfridges beauty hall. Working behind the counter are Hello Kitty and her sister Mimi White.

FURTHER EXPLORATION OF MENOPAUSE

Mimi White wears a HRT patch and Hello Kitty doesn’t and is therefore, suffering with menopause symptoms. The beauty items, perfumes, lotions, face masks etc. for sale in store are labelled with menopause symptoms to draw attention to common and unknown symptoms that hormone deficiency can cause. The concept was designed to raise awareness, start a conversation about HRT and provide menopause HRT information. The characters are recognisable and would definately attract alot of attention: Hello Kitty merchandise is popular so I believe there would be a crowd of people around them. For the platforms brief I chose to talk about the availability of HRT and the issues around supply, costs, some Dr’s misdiagnosing and many refusing to prescribe HRT. The idea was to choose an existing platform to make a point. After some thought, I decided to use the recognisable Just Eat app and rename it Just HRT, I used Boots online pharmacy to populate the menu and shopping areas on the app. This also was to demonstrate that if you wish to seek private healthcare it’s available but expensive, this also demonstrated through the pages of out of stock items the medicines are difficult to get hold of. I experienced this first hand visiting four pharmacies before finding medication in stock. In an ideal world access to HRT should be as simple as requesting it on an app and having it delivered directly to your door.

SEE IT DIFFERENTLY SAY IT DIFFERENTLY

The menopause is long overdue a rebrand, this is a huge task. I have tried to understand why there is so much negativity attached to it. It is something that has been troubling me, throughout my exploration of the topic. Another thing, I knew I had to understand, was why some people are missed when it comes to menopause help and advice. Binji Dodhia explains “…in the South Asian community, very few women have talked about or even thought about how menopause has effected them or their loved ones. There is a severe lack of knowledge. All are aware of the term but do not have a clear understanding of what it actually can cause. Women prefer to suffer in silence rather than be noticed or thought of as weak. They have so many responsiblilties on their shoulders that quite often the symptoms are ignored or brushed under the carpet as ageing issues.” (Dodhia Binji, 2022). I started some research, to understand why many people don’t engage with menopause services. There are many reasons including, shame, embarrassment, admitting inability to cope, it’s something they don’t feel they should trouble a Dr with etc. Inclusion is a big issue and the narrative around menopause, isn’t culturally diverse. The white grey haired women are still the poster girls. My research led me to think, if we all talked more freely about the menopause and were exposed to an alternative view of it, particularly in the photographs used in advertising, representation in TV and film and the language we use to speak about it. It is possible to turn things around.

THE D & AD BRIEF

Ultimately, representing the menopause truthfully and encouraging and challenging people, to think about and change, what they see and what they say, in relation to the menopause, there’s potential to make a massive difference.

I decided to enter the D&AD Awards typography brief sponsored by Google Fonts and HMCT. This brief allowed me to experiment with language, typography and bright colours. I felt the bright colours could promote diversity and celebrate menopause being something bright and bold, taking the spotlight and coming out of repression. I used the Google Font Noto, as it’s easy to read, it has consistency in lettering styles and it’s ability to reach websites in multiple languages. The phrases I used on the posters refer to gender and race. The type is moulded around, what I originally intended as a plus sign for an eye, to indicate everyone is included and brackets, that represent speakers, to symbolise speaking or even shouting, about the fact that current narrative excludes people. The campaign is tied together with the consistent reminder ‘see it differently,’ ‘say it differently.’

REFLECTING ON THE MENOPAUSE JOURNEY

CONCLUSION

At the beginning of this semester I created a manifesto looking at what I wanted to achieve through visual communication. The points I made were in relation to the subject of the menopause, however, I’m generally interested in design that addresses social issues and has the potential to make a difference and facilitate change. The points I made are as follows:

• Thought provoking design that brings issues into focus and starts conversation

• Promotes well-being, turns negatives into positives re-branding, energising and inspiring

• Bringing joy, artwork designed to make you smile

• Learning to design with empathy, to innovate and problem solve

• Well designed information for all and not just a

• minority

• Learning, growing and challenging

• Understanding why some topics are taboo and challenging repression

• Designing with hand drawn elements for a unique look and feel

I have reflected upon and monitored my progress through keeping a personal journal and I have examined and developed ideas, through mind maps. I have been able to evaluate my projects through peer feedback sessions and for the work with The Menopause Charity I have been in contact with Jenny Haskey, who is able to talk to me about elements they would like to see in my designs for them.

The menopause has been a journey, both a personal journey and an outward facing journey, it has empowered me to confidently talk about the menopause, which has only been achievable, because I carried out research to educate myself and to understand, myths and learn why some people suffer in silence or don’t engage with it. Repression around menopause plays a large role in facilitating this theory; if repression could be eradicated there is a real opportunity to make a positive change. I have identified some areas that require further research hormone awareness being one. If we all understood how our hormones work and what they are responsible for, it would give us greater insight into our own symptoms and what can be done to improve hormone related issues.

Looking forward I think I’d like to explore hormones further and develop my hormone emoji illustrations, in the form of a directory, books or booklets. I would also like to expand my knowledge in adobe After Effects to bring my emoji designs to life, through basic motion. It would also be nice to make short stories in animated form to tell a story about the menopause or other health conditions.

REFERENCES &

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ambrose Gavin, Harris Paul – Design Thinking for Visual Communication 2015

Ambrose Gavin, Harris Paul –The Fundamentals of Graphic Design

2015

Ambrose Gavin, Harris Paul – Format for Graphic Designers

2019

Criado-Perez Caroline – Invisible Women

2020

Lupton Ellen –Thinking with Type 2010

Lupton Ellen – Graphic Design Thinking – Beyond Brainstorming

Oldham Craig – Oh Sh*t What Now? Honest Advice for New Graphic Designers

2017

Thomson Amy – Moody The Hidden Power of Hormones

2022

Victionary – The cutting Edge of Print

2015

Articles & Websites

Arif, Dr – Making Menopause More Inclusive: What needs to Change about GP Care via noon.org.uk, 2021

Buckley Cheryl – Made in Patriarchy: Toward a Feminist Analysis of Women and Design, 1986

baus.org.uk - The British Association of Urological Surgeons, Male Menopause Information

Cagnacci, Anglo & Venier, Martina, – The Controversial History of Hormone Replacement Therapy – via Medicina Multi Digital Publishing Institute (MDP)

2019

Dodhia, Binji – Why We Need to Openly Talk about Menopause in South Asian Communities, by British Asians Womens Magazine December 8th 2022

https://www.themenopausecharity.org

https://carmellomax.com

Illustrations

Figure 1,2,3 & 4

Lomax, Carmel - Fox development drawings, 2023

Figure 5

Lomax, Carmel - Example of Hormone Emoji Merchandise, 2023

Figure 6

Lomax, Carmel - Oh Hey ADAM logo design, 2023