The marble patterns and bubble type of this menstruation campaign website are inspired by period blood

A little while back, Nice and Serious’ Sadie Devane and Anna Barton found themselves having a conversation that many will be able to relate to. “We’d both been struggling with a project that week because of our periods,” says senior art director Sadie. “Our energy had dipped, and fatigue and brain fog were making creative thinking a greater challenge than usual.”

While a conversation of this nature felt “easy” between the two of them, they realised this wasn’t the case with male colleagues at their workplace. This “culture of stigma and non disclosure”, they realised, was predominantly down to a lack of knowledge and understanding. So, Sadie and Anna challenged themselves to create a campaign website that would provide workplaces with an accessible source of information, ultimately breaking the cycle of stigma.

The Period Conversation is completed through Nice and Serious’ Nice Works initiative; self-motivated and self-run passion projects completed around billable work, which motivates the team to use their creative skills to tackle a societal issue close to their heart. It’s also been made in partnership with Bloody Good Period (BGP), an organisation dedicated to menstrual equality and one that Anna and Sadie are long-time supporters of. The website uses research compiled by BGP’s Bloody Good Employers initiative as a guiding principle, which equally aims to normalise periods in the workplace.

Anna and Sadie’s approach to the visual look of the site reflects the ethos of the site: straight to the point. The graphic language, “bubble-style” type, and marbled patterns are inspired by period blood. Anna says: “When tipping out mooncups on the regular, we noticed slowly moving marbling shapes. We wanted to recreate this movement by adding subtle fluid animation in the background of the site.” This approach is also intended to reflect the need for “organic, flowing conversation”. When it came to colour, the pair avoided colours that you’d stereotypically associate with periods – think pinks and reds – and instead opted for purples, greens and oranges, assigning one to each ‘phase’ of the menstrual cycle.

It was important for the website to strike a good balance, between being bright and inviting, but also serious, reflecting the subject matter it held. This process took a lot of “trial and error”, Anna says, and earlier iterations of the websites with loud condensed type and lots of illustration were scrapped for not hitting the right tone. It was also an effort to ensure the liquid concept didn’t feel too “fun” – much like the typographic approach, wherein the bubble type is combined with a more sincere supporting typeface, and the messaging style boxes, which have a purposefully “digital feel” to contrast the free-flowing backgrounds.

Inclusivity was at the forefront of the project at all times. Working closely with Bloody Good Period, Sadie and Anna ensured that gender-inclusive language was used throughout the website, and the information on the site is compiled from conversations and surveys with a wide span of individuals, with over 1,000 unique answers shedding light on menstrual experiences both in and outside of the workplace. To “remove any barriers” and to foster “honest” responses, the Q&As were kept anonymous. Alongside the Q&A, the website also includes a resource library, which helps people to gain a more holistic understanding of the menstrual cycle, and throughout the build Sadie and Anna often tested works-in-progress with male colleagues to ensure the content was resonating.

A lot of work has gone into the campaign website, but the core aim is fairly simple – to get conversation started. “[Conversation] is key to creating more understanding and a more comfortable space for all – whether you have a period or not,” says Sadie. “Normalising conversations and disclosure about periods has already unlocked greater understanding and support within our own team, and has led to wider discussions around mental and physical health.” The pair now hope the website might encourage other companies to support employees, develop inclusive policies, and of course – to get conversations flowing.