Congrats Azucena, winner of the British edition of PIDA 2017!
This year saw a new country enter the design competition PIDA. Three teams from a British school – Sheffield Hallam University – qualified for the competition. At our latest PIDA event in Germany, a winner was selected also among the British contestants. The PIDA Gold Award went to Azucena Gomez Lopez – meet her in this interview.
Tell us about your contribution Astrea.
– Astrea is a new brand for feminine pads that challenges the existing taboos that surround menstruation, the concept and design approaches a very common product which is still seen as something that has to be kept in secret.
Astrea is about breaking the existing concept of delicacy or secrecy of feminine pads; it does not pretend to create a feminist movement but to give options to women so they can feel identified with a different concept and help them embrace menstruation as a natural process instead of feeling ashamed.
Through the use of strong colours and structure, the concept of empowerment and pride is created and builds confidence while communicating strength, without excluding femininity from the brand. Astrea shows how a woman can feel feminine while being strong!
How does it feel to win PIDA Gold Award?
–I feel proud to have won the Gold Award, it was a really exciting and challenging experience to present in front of the judges and the rest of the students my idea and then receive the acceptance about the concept and the design.
What can you say about the work process?
– The work process was really interesting, since choosing the right product and then developing the concept and design in a world in which a lot of things have been created. It consisted in a deep research about the topic, how to create a brand and a long creative process to deliver a new proposal. Finding the right shape that fits the requirements of feasibility and sustainability was a good challenge it took a long time and a lot of remaking and redesigning until the best option was created.
What was the greatest challenge in PIDA?
– The greatest challenge that I found was to match the requirement of premiumness with the health market, and even more complex when talking about an essential product that became controversial when in UK a tax was added for being considered a luxury.
Also, coming from México where the behaviours and beliefs around menstruation are slightly different from UK, it was a challenge to go deep and understand more about it, as it is a more open society, but after some research I could find some small similarities that supported the creation of the concept.
The event is a good opportunity to meet people from the industry and also meet students that have amazing ideas and different visions of packaging.
What did you think of the event?
– The event is a good opportunity to meet people from the industry and also meet students that have amazing ideas and different visions of packaging. The venue was an amazing place and helped to exalt the prestige of the competition.
Also it was a good opportunity to spread my idea and maybe give some inspiration to others, as a personal experience, after my presentation a girl approaches me and told me that she was inspired as in her country menstruation is not even mentioned as a regular topic.