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Accepted manuscript

Designing with Bio-based pH-sensing Materials for Everyday Intimate Care in Matrescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2026

J. Zhou*
Affiliation:
Media Technology and Interaction Design, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
N. Campo Woytuk
Affiliation:
Media Technology and Interaction Design, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
S. Guridi Sotomayor
Affiliation:
Department Design, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
I. Schuppe Koistinen
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
J. Du
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
D. Tobin
Affiliation:
Media Technology and Interaction Design, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
C. Rossitto
Affiliation:
Department of Computer and System Science, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
M. Balaam
Affiliation:
Media Technology and Interaction Design, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
*
*Author for correspondence. Email: jiweiz@kth.se
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Abstract

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This research explores how bio-based materials might support everyday intimate care in non-medicalized ways. During the transition to motherhood, reproductive bodies undergo profound changes that disrupt bodily environments including the vaginal microbiome, skin barrier, and urinary tract. To surface these fluctuations, we explored pH-sensing materials from agar, carboxymethyl cellulose, and anthocyanin that indicate the pH of vaginal discharge, sweat, and urine via color change. Through co-creation with design researchers, we identified three dimensions for designing maternal care artefacts: ambiguity, visibility, and lenience. Combining material qualities, microbiology and feminist design approaches, we created three design provocations that integrate these materials into everyday care scenarios. Our work contributes to the social dimension of biodesign by nuancing bio-based material exploration for diverse human experiences and foregrounding bodily materials as integral to biodesign processes and outcomes, and further highlighting human–microbiome sensibilities, resisting medicalization of bodies, and materializing feminist critiques of self-tracking.

Information

Type
Full Paper: Biodesign Conference
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press