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Professor: Andrew Twigg, School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University

Lead Designer

University or Design School

Design Team

Video (direct link)

Vaginal health varies significantly across individuals and is widely stigmatized, hindering people with vaginas from caring for their bodies. This silence around vagina health contributes to confusion, misinformation, and delayed care, especially for women navigating reproductive health independently for the first time. Despite its complexity and nuance, it is usually addressed with a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Lady Parts is a hybrid care system of three interconnected low-cost components, situated in universities. It empowers young adults with personalized information to take agency over their vaginal health. 

The first component is the self-screening tool, a low-cost ergonomic aid that helps users check their vagina and vulvar areas. We aim to lower the current barriers, such as unclear instructions, stigma, and high cognitive effort, by guiding users through a simple, confidence-building process. It enables users to spot changes objectively and encourage self-exams, empowering informed conversations with healthcare providers and routine preventive care. The Vaginality Test is a lite, app-based questionnaire that curates vaginal-care information according to users' culture, lifestyle, and physiological tendencies. By replacing overwhelming online advice with a guided flow of questions and illustrative prompts, the test reduces cognitive load and stigma. It produces personalized information cards which cover basics, daily care, myths, "doctor talk", and warning signs. Lastly, the care kit delivers supportive items tailored to the user's Vaginality Test results. It may include daily products, screening tools, vitamins, and resource cards, assembled to reinforce healthy habits and reduce uncertainty between the healthcare visits. 

Our service is set in the context of universities, to primarily target young women who are just beginning to care for their vaginal health on their own. It is designed to be intentionally embedded in multiple everyday touch points on campus: washrooms, CMU wellness-to-go vending machines, and University Health Services, to encourage young women to begin establishing the habit of self-care. 

Gold Winner in Interaction Design for Social Change

Lady Parts