Human Centered Design: Pregnancy Testing by mecagdthesis2020

Your body isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t an

This book is dedicated to all women, but especially the women who are miscontrued, spoken over, and are made to feel powerless.

Materials Used; Paper, Adobe Creative Suite, glue, sharpies, and sprinkles.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts, Maine College of Art, Portland Maine, May 11, 2020 Major in Graphic Design.

Human Centered Design:

Pregnancy Testing Adrianna Stewart

Table of Contents: Introduction Motivation My Process Envisioning the Future After COVID-19

Introduction I have enjoyed learning about strong women for as long as I can remember and have always aspired to be one of them. I loved reading about women who weren’t afraid to be bold or say what they felt. I appreciated women who broke boundaries and went against what society told them to do. When I was little I had a very religious step father whose mother would tell me that “women should be seen not heard.” Opinions like hers caused me to be shy growing up, which eventually led to my willingness to rebel. I stayed quiet, verbally, but my artistic expression began to grow loud and continues to grow louder. I now refuse to stay quiet about my own experiences. I refuse to feel ways about my body that society tells me to. I refuse to be silent about the injustices women face. As a graphic design major, my work often employs the use of pop culture references, crass language, humor and a loud color palette. I’m inspired by the world around me and appreciate objects that are overlooked, underthought, or forgotten. I aspire to brighten the world, by either creating work that is uplifting or that sends a message. Throughout my thesis project, my love for psychology and UX design helped me use empathy to generate ideas. I spent the semester

How might we make taking a pregnancy test a better experience for women? listening to other women, taking in their experiences. I took those experiences and turned them into a design challenge.â&#x20AC;? Through a human centered design approach, I strive to fix small problems within larger societal systems. My thesis includes a service called Oracle that users can access through an app. This app features services such as; future-planning, financial resources, transportation, and unbiased reproductive health information. The link to the app is available on all pregnancy test packaging. The app allows the user to remain anonymous if they choose and makes the promise of data privacy. The goal is that the user will access the app at the time of taking a pregnancy test. This will eliminate stress that could result from biased outside sources such as family members or unreliable search results. Eliminating stigma ultimately results in better self/health care. These features will also improve doctor-patient relationships, as users can opt-in to create a profile that will give insight to health care physicians on what health care needs are. This creates convenience and more personal relationships. The app would be free to all users and would have (safe) ads throughout to generate funds that keeps the cost of the packaging lower. The services offered would ideally be funded through grants and by employing community outreach.

The information would be generated by a peer reviewed database that lives outside of current .gov sites.The goal of the packaging I created was to try to find the right balance in between medical, uplifting, and empowering. I wanted to create a more inviting, calming experience that wasn’t filled with anxiety. The package is colorful, yet medical, and it’s discrete in order to avoid any moments of judgement. At the beginning of my process I wasn’t sure what problems revolved around pregnancy test taking and how these problems could be solved through design. This paper will give you insight on the process that went into developing this idea.

Motivation My initial goal for my thesis was to develop a design project that revolves around the different ways society (specifically white cishet men) polices women’s bodies. I’ve grown very tired of men getting away with telling women how to act, how to look, and what we are allowed to with our own bodies. I had aspired to create a project that shed light on some of the injustices women face on a daily basis. At the beginning of the spring semester of my senior year in 2020, I endured an experience that not only narrowed down my topic, but informed the subject matter I’d be responding to. I had been exhibiting a lot of behavior that was unlike my usual self. I was in a daze and barely felt functional. I was extremely tired, moody and had yet to have my period. I was normally a “nice” and “behaved” human being. I wouldn’t normally shout at my boyfriend for doing things that pissed me off or binge eat cheese. My lack of self control was alarming. I had a break in between classes and went next door to CVS and chose from a limited selection of pregnancy tests. I just went for the cheapest one they had to offer. None of the designs were aesthetically pleasing and I felt a bit of anxiety checking out with

the male cashier. I bought a womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mental health magazine and wrapped it around my pregnancy test box and walked back to the Maine College of Art. I removed a test from the box and stashed the other one in my desk in my studio. I walked to the third floor bathroom with the yellow tinted walls and fluorescent lighting and put a stick between my legs that would soon determine my fate. I carefully aimed, trying to avoid peeing on my own hand and awaited my results. During that time, you would have thought my anxiety was at an all time high, but the fatigue I was experiencing made everything a little cloudy. I awaited my results. I wanted to be a mom one day, but not anytime soon. I had struggled through school and financially for so long and light was just at the end of the tunnel. I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t picture dropping out and continuing my life in poverty, slaving away at multiple jobs to give another person a mediocre life. I wanted to be happy. I wanted

to stop struggling. I looked down and saw results I was afraid of. A positive. Fuck… I felt like I’d been hit by a bus. I called my partner who didn’t take the news well. How could he? He had epilepsy and his health was declining. There was no way he could stay up with me to take care of a baby. It would have been put all on me. I felt really inadequate. A lot of my friends have children so I felt uncomfortable reaching out and I really feared what my student body and family members would say. This was a problem...I didn’t reach out to anyone. My partner and I talked our decision over for the next couple weeks. He had a supportive family who all weighed in with their opinions. Since I had no one to help me weigh out my own future, this bothered me. I spent time browsing the internet to see what my options were. I stumbled upon a few websites that seemed fake and misleading. I was hoping to get more information on having an abortion because talking to someone about it seemed more daunting than the procedure itself. I needed help. I scheduled an appointment on Planned Parenthood’s website for the following Monday. Everyone at Planned Parenthood was friendly and they gave great support, resources and advice. They gave me two pills to take, two days apart.

Throughout life, my internal battles have been my biggest inspirations and motivators to empower others. The worst part of this experience was the decision itself, the lack of control I felt over my own body, and the shame I felt after. I bled for the following 5 weeks, had clumps of hair fall out, was tired and extremely depressed. I felt inadequate in every way imaginable. Even though I knew in my heart my choice was right, I wouldn’t allow myself to feel okay or confident in my decision. It was all I could think about. I avoided social media as my feeds had political arguments about people who had made similar choices. Me? A baby killer? I’ve learned that the best way to cope with these experiences is by trying to think of ways situations could be better for a past version of ourselves. The shame and stigma that exist in society cause us to carry around such heavy burdens. This stigma creates a negative impact on our self image, mental health, the choices we make, how we interact with others and even the health care we seek. In what ways can we banish some of this stigma? In what ways can we banish some of this stigma? In what ways can designers generate empathy revolving around such topics? I am choosing to share this story because I haven’t yet and if it is my true belief that women should be able to discuss their own bodies, free of shame, then that is what I need to practice. This story is not to generate pity or shock, but empathy and understanding.

“The statistic is one in four women will have an abortion before age 45, That statistic sometimes surprises people and maybe you’re sitting there thinking, ‘I don’t know a woman who would have an abortion. Well, you know me”. –Busy Phillips

My Process UX design and human centered design process are a recent phenomena that place people and their experiences before those of the designer. In the design field, human experiences have not always been the focus. UX design involves extensive research and iterative design cycles. This process is segmented into several phases that include; empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and testing. Each phase helped inform my decisions on what kind of service I might provide, what it would be called, my color scheme, logo, typography, packaging, icons, language and features the app prototype would need.

Empathize During the empathize phase I began by identifying my audience (women) and began to understand their needs and wants. I did an initial phase of research that helped educate me on general problems in society revolving around reproductive health and pregnancy testing. This helped with decision making on what kind of service Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d

be providing. I researched reproductive health care, religion, stigma revolving around sex, pregnancy, infertility, miscarriages, adoption and abortion. I researched misinformation, healthcare access, healthcare resources, movements, origins of pregnancy testing, interface design, pregnancy test cost, medical testing/plastic waste. The following paragraphs demonstrate the findings that would later inform my packaging and app. Pregnancy testing began in Egyptian times with myths where women would urinate on barley. It was said that if the barley grew, she was pregnant. There were many rituals revolving around pregnancy and childbirth. The name of my brand Oracle was influenced by reading about birthing rituals and goddesses that protect women, specifically during childbirth. Carmenta, meaning a magic spell, oracle or song, was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy. She was associated with the protection of women and children. Another goddess who protected pregnant women was called Isis. She was known for delivering oracles and wore an eye shaped jewel in her crown. This inspired the eye as my logo. I spent time browsing other icons that could have been suitable for pregnancy, calming, predicting the future. I read a lot of folklore about storks delivering babies, different symbolism of fertility, motherhood, and different objects that were associated with calmness, futures and

dreams. Having come a long way from urinating on barley, we test hCG hormones in urine with home-tests which are empowering in themselves. The pregnancy test interface has changed several times throughout history. It started off as a baby smiling when the test was positive, and has changed to a more neutral result. The test results often are symbols, lines, or more straight forward “pregnant” or “not pregnant”. Having the access to a home test allows for someone to gain knowledge and take charge of their own body regardless of the law, a medical professional or a family member’s opinion. However, simply having the knowledge of pregnancy does not lead directly to a path of unbiased knowledge and care that lead to the empowerment and capability to make informed decisions about one’s own future. Government, religion, sex education, health care costs and how we treat women (slut shaming, stigma, societal pressure) has a direct impact on their self image and the quality of health care they seek and are provided. These issues have especially a strong impact on women who face issues such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, menstruation, miscarriage, abortion and adoption. Currently there are 4,000 “crisis clinics” that exist for women to go to if they fear they are pregnant. These crisis clinics often advertise themselves as

abortion clinics, but then strongly persuade and shame women against their own decision to receive a safe abortion. The clinics are often religious based and even government funded. The information they give to women about their own bodies is incredibly biased. There are websites that exist in the same vein; to gather information from women and to scare them or lead them down a path that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really benefit that woman, but the belief system of the person giving the advice From an article found on The Guardianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website: The Obria Group, which runs a network of clinics funded by Catholic organisations, received a $120,000 Google advertising grant in 2015, according to a public filing. In 2011, it received nearly $32,000. Such grants are designed to support and expand the reach of non-profits around the world. This is terrifying, the fact that the same company that is taking the data from our phone is supporting biased information that may go against a womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s better interests is very worrisome. Personal biases in business related settings threaten women and their access to health care as they travel to areas where abortion is legal. According to an article on Daily Wire, a woman from upstate New York posted her

Oracle Oracle Oracle Oracle Oracle Oracle Oracle Oracle

story on Reddit about being left stranded by her Uber driver because her driver was under the suspicion she was going to an abortion clinic. The driver allegedly attempted to talk her out of having the procedure and refused to take her further. On her Reddit post, the woman stated that this was the worst day of her entire life. Women also face judgement on where they choose to feed their children when they breastfeed in public. Many face stigma revolving around miscarriages or infertility that can cause feelings of inadequacy. Women are in toxic relationships only to provide for their children, and could leave if they had an extra hand with expenses. Reproductive healthcare has long needed improvement in the United States. Unsafe abortion methods have existed since Egyptian times, and continue to exist in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s society. After Roe V. Wade, the Supreme Court decided that abortion is legal in all 50 states. However, in 1992, Planned Parenthood V. Casey added legal obstacles for women to access safe abortions.Statistics have shown that making abortion illegal does not eliminate abortion, it just creates a higher risk for the lives of women. Statistics also show a connection between the legalization of abortion, poverty and lower crime rates. Benefiting the healthcare of women benefits everyone. With the pass of bills in

four states suchs as the “heartbeat law” that revoke a woman’s right to a safe abortion and threaten to charge a woman and physician with murder if she has one. Making abortion illegal threatens a woman’s livelihood and health. Luckily, there are several great health care resources that exist in the United States. Examples that informed my work were Planned Parenthood and All-Options. Planned Parenthood and All-Options are both clinics that offer unbiased approaches, health care, counseling and resources for issues revolving around reproductive health. I really appreciate the mission statement of AllOptions. “We strive for an intersectional and multifaceted approach to our work and to the issues and experiences of pregnancy, parenting, abortion, adoption. We affirm the complexity in reproductive decision-making and the many ways to build and support families and communities.” The positive support and messages that were provided from these services had a strong influence on the services I decided to provide on my app. Our Bodies Ourselves was originally a book published in the 70’s under the same premises. The book started with a

group of twelve women that discussed their experiences which they had with doctors. They wanted to challenge the medical establishment to change, provide better unbiased care for women, and empower them with the knowledge of their own bodies. I also spent time taking notes about the services Planned Parenthood had to offer and was inspired by the sex positive messages that they both on their instagram and website. The posters often were humorous but obviously had a lot of care in their messages. I visited a sex shop to get alternate points of view revolving around women’s bodies and sex. The material there could have been considered very “risque” but offered, what I believe to be very healthy information that encourages women to enjoy their own bodies. This material is helpful because the enjoyment of one’s own body helps boost confidence, reduce shame and stigma. Following the research, I asked around 15 of my peers questions revolving around their experiences of pregnancy testing. Some of the questions I asked were; How old were they the first time they took a test and how many tests have they taken? What was the result they were hoping for? What was their relationship status? What brand did they and why they chose it? How did they feel about the design of the box? What results did they get? How did they feel and cope with stress throughout the experience? Everyone had their own story to tell revolving around pregnancy testing. A lot

of women dealt with their nerves differently as they took their tests. There were many symptoms displayed before and after test taking, and all of them were in different relationships or financial situations. These symptoms include; nausea, a missed period, fatigue, irritability, breast tenderness, hair loss, mood swings, vomiting, and other body changes. For example, there was a woman named Melissa who had taken her first test in high school. Melissa said her experience was scary as she wanted a negative result. She took a test because she had a missed period. Her boyfriend was moving away to go to college soon so she wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure what she was going to do if it had been positive. She called her mom while she waited. During another interview with Natalya, Natalya stated she had just had a miscarriage recently and taking a pregnancy test was both a sad and exciting experience. She wanted to be a mom very badly and was struggling to do so. She was scared of getting her hopes up. She took several tests since she had a few false negatives in the past. A third story is of a woman named Jessica who was testing to verify she was pregnant, which was something she already knew to be probably true, but she dealt with irregular menstruation and wanted to be sure. The idea of being a mom scares her. She is happy with her dogs. She said she was anxious the entire time and mentioned

Emily

Testing to verify a negative

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I miss my period frequently and the idea of being pregnant terrifies me.â&#x20AC;?

About

Motivations

Emily is a server at Red Robin and has irregularities in her menstrual cycle. Since she has frequent missed periods, she takes pregnancy tests to give her peace of mind. She does not want to be a mom and the idea of having a baby terrifies her.

Emily loves to travel and loves her pets she has a home. She might consider adoption one day in the future, but right now is content with her life.

Pain Points

Gets terrible anxiety during the wait period, frantically cleans. The cost of bulk pregnancy tests. Could have used more resources at a younger age to have access to better birth control that helps regulate her periods.

Goals

To reduce anxiety revolving around her test taking and general fears of pregnancy. She wants cheap solutions to her problem of having to take monthly tests. She feels like her anxiety revolving around the issue is burdening to her partner.

Needs

Emily needs a cost efficient test that is less wasteful.

Brands Used

Bulk hCG pregnancy test pack from Amazon $8.95

“Had I been pregnant, I would have gone to Planned Parenthood immediately. I didn’t want to be stuck with that asshole.” – Amber buying her tests in bulk off of Amazon. She spent the waiting period cleaning her home. Amber, in her late 20’s says she always takes a test after she breaks up with a boyfriend, but can remember a specific time where she was really afraid she was pregnant because the relationship she was in was very toxic. She said her result was negative. During another interview Brittany, a 26 year old woman said she just got married and she was trying for a couple months to conceive. She bought the Clearblue brand and remembers being very anxious. She mentioned she was jumping with joy once she got her results. She called and told her partner immediately. She cleaned her house while waiting for her results. She remembers how excited she was and how she’s so happy to be a mother. Tori said the most memorable test she took was in her 20’s and was really unsure about what she wanted. She had been with her partner a couple years, but they hadn’t discussed having children. She wanted to go back to school. She took a test from Dollar General because it was inexpensive. She was nervous to have a positive result but wasn’t totally against the idea. It came back negative. She wasn’t super stressed as she had irregular periods, but mentioned her worries to her friends through texting before and after.

Define Hugh Dubberly is a designer known for his concept maps. The way he organizes research into categories that make sense is very systematic and minimal. The maps are primarily used as thinking tools and designed to visualize connections in research in order to gain understanding. Throughout my time doing research, I created these maps roughly, to gain a better understanding of my subject matter. I created different personas based on my interviews. I created journey maps of the personaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decisions they were making before, during and after the test taking up until the time they were receiving care. The journey map provided a timeline of the different emotions someone was feeling throughout the experience. This timeline helped me identify at what point these emotions were heightened and had a need for care. Identifying these pain points was vital to the ideation phase. There were a couple common pain points in each persona. The one they all shared was the wait time for results and the time immediately after receiving results. Each person experienced anxiety or nervousness during these moments.

Financial Issues

Fertility Issues

Adoption

I want to be pregnant

Help getting pregnant Adoption What To Expect During Pregnancy Financial Issues

What to expect during pregnancy

*Takes Test and receives results*

How do you feel?

I don’t know

I don’t want to be pregnant.

No support Financial Issues Scared Information Talk to someone

Abortion Adoption

Info about abortion reasons why people get abortions relatable people Clinics Counseling

Info about adoption Step by Step info nearby resources

Birth Control Methods

The Pill Club Planned Parenthood

Reasons you might be experiening these symptoms

Relieved, but I’d like to avoid a pregnancy scare/what is going on with my body?

Someone to talk to

Ideate After I concluded that the app needed to be a calming, empowering way to streamline access to resources and care before a doctorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit. I did follow up interviews on different womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perception of what calm and empowering may mean to them. I asked around 15-20 women questions on what colors, activities, smells, and objects made them feel calm and/or happy. I also asked women what they daydreamed about and if they had five minutes of spare time how they would choose to preoccupy themselves. Many women said they found the colors (in order) blue, green, or purple to be the most calming. A lot of women found plants and gardening to be stress relieving activities and said they liked to read, organize or clean when they were anxious. The number one thing women said that worked to make them happy or relieve their stress was their dogs. Being around their dogs and/or walking their dogs. I took all of these answers and analyzed them further. I made the colors blue, green, and purple my palette. How could I incorporate the quality of plants, dogs, reading, cleaning/organizing into an app or a package? This question allowed me to generate a lot of realistic and unrealistic ideas which then lead to further analysis and more ideas. These ideas included ideas such as; a

Oracle

Tamagotchi (digital pet) type character that would appear to you in the interface, or dog eyes, a package covered in plant leaves, a package that’s scented or includes stress relief items such as aromatherapy and healthy snacks, a game to play, a coloring activity inside the box, or a short interactive story on the package. I also considered the shape of the stick itself and how taking home a cup with a lid that has a stick that dips into the sample would be better for women to not have to interact with their own urine. While these were just first wave ideas, I could come up with better and more practical solutions. I don’t think women wanted a package that looked like a dog. So, what do people like about dogs that I could incorporate into a service? Dogs; soft, loyal, free of judgement, empathetic, happy, nurturing, uplifting, provide unconditional love, supportive, and energetic. Plants; symbolize health, are vital to the environment, represent nurture, produce food and oxygen, and are associated with the color green. Reading provides knowledge, lowers the heart rate and reduces anxiety. Cleaning and organizing could be associated with hygiene products or decluttering of someone’s life and a regain of balance/control. Futures could be symbolized with; dreams, fantasies, goals, health, family, careers, finances, ect... I also considered the amount of times my user’s were taking the tests. Many women were taking several tests at

once. I then did research on plastic waste from medical testing and wondered about the future of biodegradable or even reusable digital tests for women. All of this knowledge allowed me to generate a lot more ideas about design elements in my packaging or what other qualities my package would provide. The package could be biodegradable, soft, it could smell good, the typography could appear loyal, calming, yet feminine, the logo could appear plant like or like a cloud that could symbolize futures, fantasizing, and dreaming. I liked the idea of a care package that included items women could enjoy and then could also lead them to a service that would provide care for them. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d worked at a spa earlier on in my semester so I came up with a few ideas of aromatherapy items that could be included such as; lavender, eucalyptus, mint, dark chocolate, CBD oil, skin care products, hand sanitizer or wipes.

Prototype I originally envisioned a redesign of the pregnancy test result screen that could link to a userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phone via bluetooth. I came up with a system where the app would ask questions and lead them to a different type of service or display a different message depending on what they said. I prototyped this idea by making pregnancy tests with different screens and providing an explanation of how it would be used.I decided that this idea was impractical, based on responses and decided to make the app an entity that is separate from the test itself. My next idea was having users scan a QR code to lead them to an app. However, when I was adding the QR codes to my packages, I had a difficult time personally scanning. During this phase I created many different iterations of logos, packaging, and tests. Prototyping involved a lot of designing and redesigning.

Oracle Your Future Matters.

Oracle 42

Includes: 2 Tests Sanitizing Wipes

Oracle

Testing/Continuation During the final phases of my project, I did user testing amongst my peers and asked them how they felt in general about the packaging, the app, the idea, ect… The responses were very mixed which was expected given the context of this project. All of the responses towards the idea of the app and what it provides were positive. Some wanted more reassurance of the protection of their data, another wanted a daycare feature added. These were great ideas to work on. The packaging was said to be calming and uplifting, it made some people feel like it would be “fun” to take one. This was especially true to the single college students I had asked which was the target audience I had in mind. A couple people mentioned the packaging felt “too cute” and “too bubbly” to be reliable and that it needed to feel more medical. A couple women loved the discrete look of the package, while a couple wanted something more obvious to find the shelves. Another user said they loved the minimal information and how they had found other tests to be overloaded with information. These were all comments I had anticipated. The challenge of my project was to find balance between all of these things. My overall goal was

medical, yet fun, discrete yet clear, and something more geared towards people who were young and not necessarily wanting children, yet still supportive of all women. I felt my design accomplished all of my original goals of the project, but perhaps could use some work in the future to feel more reliable/medical. There were times where I struggled to keep going due to my closeness to my topic. I struggle with public speaking, especially when it comes to personal experiences, but I knew that having practice receiving criticism especially with matters so close to me would strengthen me. I couldn’t give up. In order to remove myself from the process of making my app and focus on empathizing with other women, I made a lot of posters to get out my own personal feelings. I thought of the women I’d looked up to, the style of art I loved, and a poster I’d personally want to have seen a couple weeks beforehand. Even though these posters seemed seperate from my overall project, they were important to my process. They allowed me to vent out some of my biased feelings and make the project about me, so I could make the other elements about my audience. I employed my use of humor and some graffiti inspiration as well. I thought of little kids just terrorizing someone’s house and going nuts with art supplies. On days where I didn’t feel like creating the more “serious” aspects of my project, I made posters that

ARE

NOT THE

WOMEN YOU

SAID WE

WERE

We are not the good little girls you told us to be. We are not the unrealistic beauty standards you created in order to generate insecurities that would make us feel powerless over our own bodies. We are more than just faces to tell to smile, or pussies waiting to be grabbed. We are sexual beings outside of a narrative that contributes to your ego. We don’t aspire to be the perfect wives, seek salvation in cleaning products or get moist at the thought of kitchen appliances. We come in all shapes, colors and sizes. We grow body hair, we stink and we menstruate. We are tired. We are tired of being told what a “real woman” is and being compared to our sisters. We are tired of being told to calm down or that we are “too much.” We are tired of being told to have long hair, fat asses big tits, flat stomachs, and youthful skin. We are tired of being told what to wear, and receiving blame for the fucked up shit that happens to us. We are tired of conversations about weight gain and weight loss that minimize any accomplishments we have made. We are tired of the pressure we feel to be in relationships, to start families, or to live out someone else’s expectations. We are angry. We are angry about the laws that eliminate us from having control over our bodies. We are angry that we are being persecuted for being sexual beings. We will fight. We will fight for our ability to make decisions that benefit our future. We will fight for legal and safe abortions. We will fight for access to health care information that is unbiased and is protective of our own values. We will fight for untaxed tampons and pads. We will fight for safe spaces for women to breastfeed their children. We will protect one another. We will stop referring to each other as “bitches”, “sluts” and “whores. We will embrace our masculine qualities as well as our feminine. We are not the women you said we were and it is our time to control the narrative.

After all, true artistry allows us to face ourselves.

talked about sex positivity that were intended to feel a bit rebellious but also fun. Punk rock art and music helped me stay fueled when I needed it. Illustrations with cut out letters, distorted text, combined with bright colors- I love the chaos in the typography that punk rock posters often offer. Sally Edelstein and her use of collage in her work was also an influence during some of more of this expressive part of my project. She takes sexist ads from the Cold War era and mocks them. Collage is an art form I’ve enjoyed throughout my time at MECA. I found working with tangible items a more fulfilling way to create work. Graphic designers such as David Carson that use collage in their work heavily inspire me as well. Carson’s style is very grungy and had a strong impact on 90’s design. Since I grew up in the nineties, I am often inspired by nineties very loud and often tacky design elements. Maybe I’m just obsessed with things that give me a sense of nostalgia. I love Lisa Frank, candy packaging, and old toys. In one of my posters I used the idea of a cheaply made product that is used in the kitchen for production and entertains small children as a metaphor for a woman’s body and what a woman’s body is not. I can often lose steam solving problems for others in design, but allowing myself to make my project a little bit about me kept me motivated and inspired me to remember why it was important.

Envisioning the Future after Covid-19 At home pregnancy testing has become more important in the social distancing days of COVID-19 where many doctors offices are only scheduling â&#x20AC;&#x153;emergency onlyâ&#x20AC;? visits and when there have been attempts to completely shut down health care and abortion clinics throughout this time.

“Several states have tried to ban abortions as part of emergency orders against elective medical procedures and nonessential businesses. Abortion rights supporters said the changes put unfair burdens on women.” –Washington Post I can only imagine how many people will be taking tests after being isolated with their partners after 2020. I think of the women who will be seeking care that will not have proper access. I imagine women who are currently trapped in situations of domestic abuse and trapped without proper care. I imagine pregnant women birthing babies facetiming their partners or completely alone in hospitals, due to social distancing protocall, where their partners are forced to stay at home. Times are terrifying, especially for medical professionals and those who are seeking medical care. Access has been restricted everywhere. I’d like to make a prototype for a second app that connects to a mobile clinic. This would solve a lot of problems for those who are in states where health care clinics are limited and/or for women who do not have a car. Times of not knowing what’s next and not being able to envision what the future holds for individuals is a reality for everyone. Everyone could use someone to help them plan and receive helpful advice on what steps to their take revolving around their own reproductive health. Reframing the way we talk about sex, pregnancy, pregnancy testing and the way we treat women will likely be a never ending process. This process will likely largely be determined by the people who govern us, but empowering ourselves with knowledge and taking steps

to empower each other is how we fight back. Although a pregnancy test seems like a mundane object to many, to others itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a moment of magic, and to some a moment of despair. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of potential to change lives with just symbols appearing on a stick. Those symbols can often be followed by a series of decisions that should be left up to a woman. A woman whose body and mind should be treated with care.

Our futures matter.