In my sophomore year of college, I created “Strawberry,” a fictional menstrual product brand that encourages people to embrace their organic selves and rethink how we talk about periods as a society. “Strawberry” seeks to destigmatize periods, and reject the typical clinical aesthetics surrounding the topic. This brand replaces those typical vibes with humor and honesty. 

In the design process for this brand, I wanted the identity to contain playful visuals, such as red dots. These red dots are meant to represent what a lot of women, including myself, would use to discreetly mark down the start of their period on a calendar. I took these dots and not only made them a brand attribute, but also an instrumental part of the logo, forming a strawberry. Speaking of, the name “Strawberry” comes from researching some slang terms for a period, one of them being “strawberry” or “strawberry fields.” I also took some other slang terms, such as “Shark Week” and “Red Tide,” as shade names for the several shades of red in the branding. Then, using a fruit as my brand name was also helpful with part of my mission, as I sought to have the products’ organic ingredients be a focal point of the brand. This was partly because I created “Strawberry” in the height of some controversy over harmful chemicals being used in menstrual products, which made me feel nervous about products found on the shelves today. 

The last, yet one of the most instrumental parts of this project was to create a menstrual brand that wasn’t overly feminine. As someone with several friends who fall under the transgender umbrella and experience menstrual cycles despite not identifying as a woman, I found it very important to create a menstrual care experience for everyone. While this brand isn’t a real product to be sold on shelves, I can only dream that more menstrual brands adopt a more gender-neutral aesthetic in the future. In the end, “Strawberry” aims to destigmatize periods for EVERYONE, regardless of gender identity, as well as provide a safe, organic product so that those already dealing with the woes of a period don’t have to worry about nasty chemicals in the very product they use to relieve it.