MY ROLE: Art Direction, Graphic Design, Branding

CLIENT BRIEF: As part of the Ministry of Education’s Period Products in Schools Initiative, my team was tasked with developing English and Māori resources for young people around 8-12 years old. Our content team pitched five topics to communicate age-appropriate information about menstruation and the idea of a comic series to best reach this age group. We also pitched a companion series of resources for parents, schools and whānau and a video series for teenage menstruators.

The project aimed to provide useful, accurate and positive information about menstruation; to normalise conversations about periods; to educate students; and to encourage environments of understanding, support, and empowerment. Together, the comics and whānau resources aimed to change the way children and adults talk about menstruation.

SOLUTION: After establishing the ‘What’ of this project (5 Comic episodes, 5 Whānau resources and 4 reel-style videos), I was tasked with finding the ‘Who’ to complete our character and comic illustrations. I interviewed and briefed New Zealand artist, Story Hemi-Morehouse, in what was my first foray into art direction. I worked with Story through the character and storyboarding processes and liaised with the Ministry to provide guidance and feedback.

Meanwhile, I completed the visual graphics for the resources and assets for the video series. The colourful bubble graphics were inspired by conversation, connection, growth and nature. They also stem from the idea of flowing water, connecting to the traditional Māori names for menstruation—waiwhero “the red waters” and te awa atua “water of the gods”. One challenge of this project was keeping the design and typography consistent between the English and Te Reo Māori versions as I wanted users of either language to have the same visual experience.

Our team also pushed the Ministry to focus on accessibility for these resources so they could be read by bilingual users and anyone using assistive technology.