KŌNENKI



(Japanese | noun)
1. The time in a woman's life when menstruation ceases.
2. A season of rebirth and regeneration.



Type



Product-Service System



Role



User & Market Research

Concept development

Prototyping

UX/UI

Product strategy

Business model

Branding

Video production

Exhibition



Year



2019



Time



5 months



Kōnenki is an ecosystem of connected devices that track and relieve symptoms for holistic, data-informed, individualized solutions to women's health and well-being in midlife.

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80% of women experience myriad menopause symptoms for an average of 7-10 years in midlife, yet women and health professionals alike are ill equipped to navigate it. How might women be equipped to no longer experience the physical and psychological distress associated with menopause, and go into their golden years with the best possible health?





Research



Stakeholder and market research to understand needs, opportunities, and systemic levers of change



My primary research centered on the experiences of women between ages 36-80 and the experiences of medical professionals to map patterns and pinpoint opportunity gaps.


I also conducted extensive research on medical studies, technological solutions, parallel industries, and emerging social trends to inform my design decisions.



How might we help women go from the slope of confusion to the slope of enlightenment without going through the trough of discomfort and despair?



In my initial interviews, pre-menopausal women thought little about menopause while women going through it were mostly distraught. They had a spectrum of treatment preferences and wished they could have been more prepared for the shock of the bodily changes they experienced. Women who had moved on to the next stage of life felt a renewed zeal for life. Several had made lifestyle changes in their 40s and 50s to become more healthy and active.


Women in different stages of life rarely spoke about menopause with each other, but those who did felt more assured. "Support" was named as the top factor that helped women through their aging experience.



"I'm an engineer so I use spreadsheets to track symptoms when I remember to at the end of the day or the week.”



Women try to find patterns in their symptoms to inform decisions about their daily schedules and regain a sense of control. Some used a journal, others used spreadsheets. However, even the most diligent did not track consistently, accurately, or in a timely manner. This made it difficult for them to communicate their needs to their primary care providers.



"It's hard, as a clinician, to know when to start [prescribing medication]. Women may come in with symptoms and opinions about whether they want HRT or not."



Primary care providers differed in their opinions about treatment for menopause symptoms. Some opted to suggest lifestyle changes over prescribing HRT. Those who did prescribe HRT had difficulty navigating the available options. Still others were not trained to treat menopause and were unable to recognize symptoms that women presented, resulting in patients who felt frustrated and ignored, and sometimes even erroneously prescribing unrelated medication.



Concept development



Ideation, prototyping, and testing to find potential product and technology solutions



How might we leverage technology to more accurately capture symptom data for more effective, personalized treatments?



I was captivated by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) approaches to personalized health and explored ways to leverage technology to make diagnoses more objective and scalable.





Research overview of sensors used for computational pulse diagnosis.



Combining silicone polymer with graphene to make a hypersensitive, moldable sensor.



First product rendering for an Internet of Menopause Things (IoMT)



Inspired by a nurse's story that one of her patients simply placed her feet somewhere cool to relieve her hot flashes, I designed a suite of devices whose material or form relieve common menopause symptoms while embedded sensors track symptom occurrence, so that women no longer need to remember to track. This also helps create a more objective evaluation of symptom occurrence and severity.



I prototyped concepts and took them to the women that I had interviewed to observe how they interacted with the objects and reacted to the form and materials, and to understand how the objects might fit into their daily life.



I procured sensors that could be integrated into the prototype devices to track usage data to create functional prototypes.



The first version of the app was designed to visualize symptoms and aid communications with medical professionals.


Learn more about the app

Outcome



Healthy living as therapy and a social experience



Kōnenki correlates symptom with other lifestyle data collected on the user's phone to help women isolate potential patterns and create personalized coping strategies.


Users are invited on wellness journeys that align with their personalized coping strategies along with other Kōnenki women who become a support network.



A new, Kōnenki journey: from restlessness to regeneration



The app alerts women if medical attention become necessary, and equips them with data for more productive discussions with medical professionals.



I designed, fabricated, and constructed a display to exhibit Kōnenki prototypes and communicate the concept and vision of Kōnenki Labs.