The Crimson Collective
300 million (documented) people across the world don’t have access to sanitary menstrual healthcare products and education. Everyday disposable pads and tampons aren’t available to all, due to reasons such as cost and inaccessibility. Many rely on self-made cloths, rags, dried leaves and even ashes.
Menstruation is not a choice, therefore, access to affordable sanitary products should not be a luxury, rather, it should be a right. The Crimson Collective aims at providing sustainable menstrual healthcare products to people who cannot afford them. In addition, the system also promotes the use of products that are sustainable and/or eco-friendly.
Brief Featuring: Creative Direction, Packaging Design, Editorial Design, UI/UX Design, Illustration
Shortlisted at the Creative Conscience Awards
Menstruation is not a choice, therefore, access to affordable sanitary products should not be a luxury, rather, it should be a right. The Crimson Collective aims at providing sustainable menstrual healthcare products to people who cannot afford them. In addition, the system also promotes the use of products that are sustainable and/or eco-friendly.
Brief Featuring: Creative Direction, Packaging Design, Editorial Design, UI/UX Design, Illustration
Shortlisted at the Creative Conscience Awards
The Box:
The Crimson Collective centres around a ‘Care Box’ that is sent to a person in need. The box itself consists of the following:
1. The reusable (either 2 two reusable pads, a menstrual cup or a pack of period panties depending on circumstances and necessity) - along with a storage bag.
2. An educative booklet including care instructions for the reusable product.
3. A fold-out depicting stretches that help with cramp relief.
4. A calendar to track the cycle
5. A spray bottle with a homemade organic refresher/scent. (Booklet includes recipe to remake with common household items).
All these products are meant to ease periods, specifically aimed at people who come from lower-income backgrounds.
The Health Handbook is a little paper booklet that contains information on the menstrual cycle, tips on how to look after oneself when on their periods, a guide on keeping the reusable clean and home remedies as well as cost-effective cramp relief.
The Handbook, along with all other type can be translated to any local/regional language.
The Handbook, along with all other type can be translated to any local/regional language.
The Campaign
The boxes are funded through a system that promotes the usage of eco-friendly products. The starting point would be a website that educates people about the environmental and medical harm of the plastics and chemicals in disposable sanitary products. This leads to an online marketplace that provides and area to buy products such as reusables and eco-friendly disposables.
For the sale of an environmentally responsible product, some extra money is taken out to fund each box. For boxes that contain reusable pads or period panties, a client pays £5 extra on their purchase, and for a box containing a menstrual cup, they pay an extra £10. (Note: The box itself costs approx. £3.25 to make). To publicise the website, a social media campaign would exist to guide people to the website.
Visual Language
The visual language aims to be fun and colourful, while educative. On any object that would be lying around, the visual language aims to be subtle, such as the pattern on the box.
In addition to design, cost effectiveness was a necessary quality. So each element was tested with different materials and production methods to produce the most effective final pieces.
