Maternal morbidity and mortality is an epidemic disproportionately impacting Black women in America. Spora Health is a radically inclusive primary care provider looking to tackle this issue with their Momma's Kit, a maternal health package that guides expecting and new mothers through their third and fourth trimester. Designed by Leadoff Studio, the Momma's Kit uses positive messaging with vivid colors and bold graphics to excite, instruct, and accommodate the limited time of expecting and new mothers. By including a Pulse Oximeter and Blood Pressure Cuff in the kit, we enable users to track vitals that can help flag over 80% of conditions most common to Black pregnant women and new mothers.

PROBLEM

Black women have a maternal mortality rate of 37.3 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to 14.9 for white women and 11.8 for hispanic women. Severe morbidities, or "near misses," are recorded for around 70,000 women annually, with Black women again impacted disproportionately.

SPORA BACKGROUND AND BRIEF

Spora Health delivers virtual healthcare that is easy to access, effective, and culture-centered. Spora looks to change the way People of Color are accessing primary care online and getting well. Spora's unique approach centers on what is important to users while recognizing factors that affect health such as family history and lifestyle to deliver a customized care plan.

To reduce the disparities among Black women, Spora Health provides the Momma's Kit: a maternal health package coupled with a digital parent concierge. The Kit enables collection of real-time data on new mothers' symptoms to ensure they reach care in a timely way and reduce the severity of potential conditions resulting from childbirth.

Spora Health worked with Leadoff Studio to design the Momma's Kit. The Kit is sent to Spora members towards the end of their 2nd trimester of pregnancy, and onboards them to the health monitoring program that runs throughout the 3rd and 4th trimesters (3 months before birth, and 3 months after birth). The package includes two medical devices: a Blood Pressure Cuff and Pulse Oximeter. By flagging low oxygen levels or irregular blood pressure, Spora's physicians are able to identify over 80% of conditions most common to Black pregnant women and new mothers.

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Before beginning the design of the Spora Momma's Kit Packaging, Leadoff Studio interviewed people in their 3rd and 4th trimesters, Doula's, Doctors, and Physician's Assistants. All interviewees were Black people who had experience interacting with or working within the American Healthcare system. We shipped the two devices to the expectant or new mothers to see how they went about unboxing and learning to use them. We looked to get qualitative understandings of the emotional pain points relative to all perspectives in the birthing and healthcare journeys.

Our goal was to unearth insights that we could use to design the Spora Momma's Kit. We wanted the Kit to educate the user with minimal effort during the unboxing, and to help build an easy-to-do routine they'd carry out for 6 months.

FINDINGS AND DESIGN STRATEGIES

Through the range of interviews, Leadoff Studio identified repeated concerns from the various stakeholders. These key insights became Design Strategies as we moved forward in designing the packaging.

One of the biggest takeaways was just how precious time becomes once the baby arrives. Most new parents are sleep deprived and would be using the devices during small windows when the baby is napping.

We used large bold imagery to show how the devices are worn on the arm or finger. These images are repeated throughout the unboxing experience. Instead of dense instruction manuals, we worked to pare down directions to as few words as possible to be quickly and easily absorbed. To optimize the onboarding and daily data logging experience, we placed QR codes on a belly band around the tin, as well as on a permanent sticker under the lid of the tin, allowing users to bypass unnecessary or time consuming steps.

We found that if the devices were out and available, people would be more likely to remember to use them. From this finding we chose to make use of bright colors, tall proportions, and a unique form for design of the tin that stores the kit.

To support the excitement around telemedicine we heard in our interviews, we created an easy to use, sturdy, compact phone holder. The underside of the tin hooks onto the platform of the phone holder, forming a secure connection. By using these objects in tandem, the user is able to prop up their phone for hands free video calls with Spora physicians while keeping their devices in reach.

All of the patients we spoke to had some level of distrust in the American healthcare industry. The Momma's Kit stays away from the sterile or neutral feel of most medical products and experiences. We relied heavily on the bold color blocking used in Spora's branding to create a stimulating unboxing experience, embodying the excitement one feels when expecting a new child. All photography highlights Women of Color, representing the core user group and emphasizing that the Kit is developed with the experience of People of Color as its focus.

The messaging was crucial in establishing a more approachable and empathic voice throughout the packaging. We found that during the 4th trimester new mothers are so focused on their baby that they neglect their own self-care. Through interviews we discovered linking the user's health back to their baby's well being would be an effective way to build user adherence to the program. With these insights in mind, we developed the tagline "Healthy Momma, Healthy Baby" and applied the messaging at key touch points throughout the unboxing experience.

We spoke in depth with Doulas about how they effectively build routines with a pregnant person. We found that many people need a wide variety of options for tracking their data. By providing both analog and digital data entry options, users can fit the Momma's program to their lifestyle, thus increasing program adherence. As an analog method, we designed a notebook that prompts the user to track their quantitative results from the devices as well as qualitative information like physical concerns or emotions. Each page of the notebook represents a single day, giving the user a clear and attainable task to tackle, one day at a time. If users prefer they can have the app alert them to take their daily device readings. They can then log the data digitally by directly typing the result or by taking a photo of the device interface in the app. Whether analog or digital, we found it was critical to build this routine during the slower paced 3rd trimester before the baby arrives.

DESIGN DETAILS

Every design decision for the packaging of the Spora Health Momma's Kit is geared towards increasing adherence to the program, in order to save lives and improve healthcare for the users.

Upon opening the shipper, the user encounters vivid colors, positive messaging, and bold graphics that build excitement for diving into the rest of the kit. A folder sits at the top of the box. This folder is made to store the abundant amount of maternal health documents that the user will receive throughout their pregnancy journey. The folder incorporates shapes from Spora's "DIA" logo mark to connect back to the digital brand experience. As the user opens the folder, they unveil full bleed imagery of pregnant Black women using the devices. These images show proper usage and orientation of the devices while reaffirming that the Spora app and Kit is centering and supporting the experience of People of Color.

Just below the folder, the tin is held in a full color corrugated frame. The tall proportions of the tin enable it to sit on a countertop and become a beacon within any environment, easy to access whenever it is needed while also serving to remind the user to take daily readings. The elongated "D" shape calls back to Spora's branding and creates an unexpected and ergonomic curved side that is easy to hold. The tin is coated with a bright lavender gradient, allowing it to stand out against typically neutral colored home interiors and be easily found when time is tight. The internal Blood Pressure Cuff box and Pulse Oximeter holder mirror the exterior gradient, carrying the external branding to the interior.

Finding that most users will not take the time to comb through dense instruction manuals, we developed a set of quick start cards. These pop color cards have pared down directions and imagery depicting proper device usage. The cards enable users to quickly and easily absorb all necessary information to get accurate and reliable readings. Visible immediately upon opening the tin, the bright colored tabs contrast with the monotone purple gradient of the device packaging materials, prompting users to reach for them before interacting with the devices. The colorful tabs line up to form an expanded version of the "DIA" logo mark, with each tab representing a single letter.

The custom Blood Pressure Cuff box is designed to frame the device, allowing users to immediately connect the product to the imagery they have seen it featured in throughout the unboxing process. Additionally, seeing the device upon removing it from the tin encourages users to immediately unbox the device instead of setting it aside and potentially forgetting about it. These features ultimately combine to increase program compliance and accurate data collection.