“The stigma surrounding menstrual cups is that they’re difficult and messy to use, and sometimes the natural conclusion is to compensate for that fact by designing packaging that’s overtly minimal, girly, or just plain sterile,” mentioned Murmur Creative on their work for XO Flo. And the result is unlike any other feminine hygiene product we’ve ever seen, ditching the hyper girly pink packaging or barebones minimal aesthetic. We spoke with Murmur Creative to learn more about the clear goals they set for this project, their production challenges, how brands can stand out in saturated markets, and more.
Murmur Creative: Murmur Creative had been working with Tracy Puhl and Meagan Brockway of Lady Business on the GladRags rebrand and packaging redesign, so we already had a trusting relationship and a solid understanding of their vision to bring menstruation to the forefront in a bold way.
Branding very much informed the direction the packaging took. We loved the romantic quality of the name XO Flo, and also the tulip inspiration behind the structural design of the cup itself. We showed the team a broad range of concepts, but a hand offering a flower was the ultimate natural meshing of the two ideas. It also perfectly captures the mission of XO Flo as a company: to offer women a helping hand along their sustainable menstrual journey, and to rewrite the popular understanding of menstruation as a gift rather than a curse.
