We've reached a pivotal moment in femtech—the sector has outgrown its visual vocabulary. Walk through any digital or physical space dedicated to women's health products and witness the tyranny of sameness: blush pink palettes, delicate typography, flowing curves, and imagery that feels extracted from a 1950s femininity handbook. This reductive visual language doesn't merely fail aesthetically; it actively alienates significant segments of the market who don't see themselves reflected in these narrow representations of womanhood.
The implications extend beyond aesthetics into market access. When femtech brands visually signal a singular, traditional conception of femininity, they implicitly exclude women who exist outside that narrow frame—women across different age brackets, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and lived experiences. The result is market contraction rather than expansion precisely when women's health technology demands the opposite.
Femtech's design challenge stems from a fundamental contradiction: products addressing female biology don't require traditionally "feminine" design signifiers. This distinction between biological function and gendered visual expression creates the central tension in femtech branding.
The women using period tracking apps, fertility monitors, and pelvic floor strengtheners represent diverse identities—the executive in her sixties, the nonbinary parent, the androgynous athlete, the traditional mother, the gender-fluid teen. These users share biological needs but not necessarily aesthetic preferences or identity expressions.
This reality demands a more nuanced approach to femtech design—one that acknowledges biological specificity without imposing identity constraints. The strategic implication requires expanding design vocabularies to accommodate this diversity without losing category recognition or functional clarity.
The reflexive use of pink in femtech represents perhaps the most visible manifestation of reductive thinking. This connects directly to what we explored in our piece on Color Psychology Beyond Gender Stereotypes, where we examined how color associations vary dramatically across cultural, generational, and individual contexts.
For femtech brands, effective color strategy follows three core principles:
This approach doesn't demand eliminating pink entirely—that would simply replace one dogma with another. Instead, it positions pink as one option in an expanded palette rather than the default signifier of "for women."
Traditional femtech design has leaned heavily on curved forms, rounded corners, and soft edges as visual shorthand for femininity. While these elements create approachable interfaces, their ubiquity reinforces narrow conceptions of what products "for women" should look like.
Developing more inclusive form languages requires recognizing that many women respond positively to design languages typically coded as masculine—geometric precision, straight edges, architectural structure. Others prefer organic, natural forms that differ from conventional "feminine" curves.
The strategic balance involves creating visual systems that communicate appropriate attributes—approachability, precision, empowerment, discretion—without relying exclusively on gendered form stereotypes. This might mean developing hybrid form languages that combine elements typically segregated by gender coding or creating entirely new visual vocabularies specific to product function rather than assumed user identity.
Typography in femtech has often defaulted to extremes—either delicate, script-like fonts that reinforce traditional femininity or overly clinical sans serifs that emphasize the medical nature of women's health products. Both approaches miss opportunities to express the complexity of women's experiences.
The typographic challenge involves finding voice appropriate to subject matter without falling into gendered traps. This requires typography that can express both strength and nuance, clinical precision and emotional intelligence.
This approach connects to our research on Typographic Voice in Brand Identity, where we explored how typeface selection fundamentally shapes perception of brand attributes. For femtech, this means developing typographic systems capable of communicating across the full spectrum of relevant emotions and information types—from clinical data to emotional support.
Perhaps no element of femtech design requires more careful consideration than imagery. The visual representation of women's bodies and experiences carries enormous cultural weight and potential for both inclusion and exclusion.
Effective femtech imagery navigates several critical tensions:
The strategic implementation requires developing visual systems that accommodate these tensions rather than resolving them in a single direction. This might include providing multiple imagery options for users to select based on personal preference or developing abstract visual languages that communicate function without exclusively defining user identity.
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Period tracking app Clue has navigated the evolution from traditionally feminine design toward more inclusive visual language. Their journey illustrates both challenges and opportunities in this transition.
Clue's early designs employed conventional feminine signifiers—rounder forms and traditionally feminine color palettes. Their strategic pivot introduced more geometric elements, expanded their color system beyond pink to include blues and greens, and developed a custom iconography system focused on clarity rather than gendered connotations.
Most significantly, Clue's design evolution has emphasized functionality over identity—focusing on how the interface serves diverse users rather than making assumptions about who those users are. This functional focus enables the brand to serve women across identity expressions without excluding anyone through overly specific design signals.
Pelvic floor trainer Elvie exemplifies how femtech products can embrace technological sophistication without surrendering to either clinical sterility or excessive feminization.
Their product design employs a minimal teal-dominant palette that sidesteps gender-coding while maintaining category recognition. The form language combines organic shapes with precise engineering details, communicating both anatomical appropriateness and technical advancement.
Their visual communication system emphasizes the technological innovation of their products rather than their gendered nature—positioning them as cutting-edge health technology that happens to address women's specific needs rather than "women's products" as a separate, aesthetically distinct category.
Successful inclusive design for femtech requires systematic evaluation of visual systems against identity diversity. Here's a practical framework for implementation:
Femtech's design challenge extends across generational boundaries, with each cohort bringing different relationships to gender expression, technology, and health communication preferences.
Gen Z (Under 25) This generation exhibits the most fluid approaches to gender expression and rejects rigid categorization. Effective design for this cohort embraces customization, avoids assumptions about gender presentation, and recognizes that biological functions don't dictate identity or aesthetic preferences.
Millennials (25-40) As the original femtech adopters, millennials have witnessed the category's evolution from clinical medical products to lifestyle-integrated technology. They often balance progressive gender views with practical health management needs. Design for this cohort navigates the tension between destigmatization and discretion.
Gen X (41-56) This generation bridges traditional gender constructs and modern fluidity. Many Gen X women embrace both strength and traditional femininity simultaneously. Design for this cohort often succeeds by offering dignity without pandering and acknowledging life stage without age stereotyping.
Boomers (57-75) Often overlooked in femtech design despite having significant health technology needs and substantial purchasing power. This generation often values clarity, legibility, and functionality over identity signaling. Effective design acknowledges their technological fluency while respecting potential preferences for more conventional gender presentation.
The evolution of femtech design beyond reductive gender coding represents not just a social imperative but a market opportunity. Expanding visual languages to accommodate identity diversity directly expands addressable markets—bringing products to women who previously felt excluded by overly feminized design approaches.
More importantly, this evolution recognizes the fundamental truth that sharing biological characteristics doesn't mean sharing identity expressions or aesthetic preferences. Women's relationships to femininity exist along a spectrum, with each individual occupying different positions depending on context, life stage, and personal history.
The femtech brands successfully navigating this complexity recognize that inclusive design doesn't mean eliminating femininity—it means expanding the conception of what products for women can look like, sound like, and feel like. This expansion creates space for authenticity rather than conformity, allowing each user to engage on their own terms rather than through predetermined identity constraints.
Contact our team to discuss how we can help your organization connect more authentically across the full spectrum of women's identities.