Early Motherhood SupportErin Weigel2021-01-21T16:06:49+00:00

New Product Design

Supporting New Moms Through Matrescence

Project Details

My Role: Founder / Designer
Year: 2019–current
Tools: Figma, Whimsical, SurveyMonkey, Gsuite

About the Project

Matrescence is the process of a woman becoming a mother.

It’s a major life event—one I’d not been prepared for. I frantically searched for help and nothing gave me peace of mind.

My search uncovered a few resources:

What to Expect When You’re Expecting,
BabyCentre, and
The Wonder Weeks.

However, all the products that existed focused on babies—not mothers.

It was time for someone to focus on moms.

The Problem

Women are told that being a mother is a beautiful experience, but it’s also scary, lonely, and exhausting.

It’s taboo to talk about the sad, complex, and gross things that come with being a mom. Women need a safe space to talk, get validation, and specific advice to normalize the depth of the experience of becoming a mother.

Up to 80% of new moms experience the “baby blues”.

This process is similar to adolescence, but more intense.

After giving birth the new mother’s…

Body is unrecognizable
Identity is uprooted
Relationships are redefined
Hormones are raging

Because new mothers experience so much change in such a short period of time, it’s common for them to be emotional, sad, and lonely. So common, in fact, that it has a name—the “baby blues”.

The Opportunity

Market Research

9 million millennial mothers in the US
37% are not prepared for postpartum
3.3 million women could benefit from a solution
New moms spend 8+ hours online* primarily searching or browsing for parenting advice

1. Millennial Mom Report

Research

Diary Studies

To better understand the early motherhood experience, I recruited pregnant women to participate in a diary study. To keep things easy for them, I simply asked them to text me.

After giving birth, they shared:

Their thoughts and concerns
How they felt
What they did that day
How the baby was
General updates
What they learned

Interviews

Some women didn’t feel comfortable writing in English or leaving voice texts, so I scheduled interviews to hear about their experience face-to-face.

The conversations were casual and unscripted. This approach led to more insights about the struggles they experienced in their relationships.

This approach also gleaned more insight to the emotions women experienced if they had a traumatic birth experience.

Expert Guidance

To leverage academic research insights about matrescence, I had a few conversations with Dr. Aurelie Athan from Columbia University. She is a leading authority on maternal psychology. She provided useful insights and asked thought-provoking questions to help frame the product approach.

Design

Once I have a good understanding of the problem and the people I’m solving it for, I design some solutions.

Experience Map

Flow & Wireframes

Visual Language

Product Concept