My Normative: How a Website Project Highlighted Health Research Inequities
At Fractional Xperience, we work with many startups, but our project with My Normative was particularly eye-opening. What started as a website build quickly became an introduction to the significant disparities in women’s health research.
A Systemic Gap in Health Research
Despite making up half the population, women remain underrepresented in medical research. Only 2% of healthcare venture capital funding goes to women’s health, and female-dominant diseases are disproportionately underfunded. Many prescription drugs have never been adequately tested on women, and researchers think properly tracking of hormone variability on women is too expensive or difficult, so it’s just ignored. These gaps lead to real consequences, from misdiagnosed conditions to less effective treatments.
For those of us unfamiliar with how research is conducted (or overlooked) for women, the realities were shocking. Can you imagine researchers treating women as 70% of an average man and moving on? Crazy.
Bridging the Data Gap
My Normative is tackling these challenges by offering tools that simplify the collection and analysis of sex- and gender-based data. Their platform ensures that health studies properly account for biological differences, leading to more accurate and equitable healthcare outcomes.
A key component of their solution is a mobile app that allows participants to input detailed health data, which is then combined with existing biometric data from their devices. By layering this information onto broader research datasets, My Normative provides researchers with a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of how sex and gender influence health – ultimately improving study accuracy and medical advancements.
Now, as My Normative expands into the U.S. market, they are positioned to drive even greater impact by making their platform accessible to a wider network of researchers and institutions committed to closing the gender data gap.
Designing with Purpose
As we built My Normative’s website, our goal was to communicate the urgency of these disparities and showcase their solution effectively. We focused on three key issues:
- The historical underfunding of women’s health
- The exclusion of women from clinical trials or their treatment as “small men”
- How these gaps result in poorer health outcomes and inferior care
By presenting a clear, compelling message, we aimed to help My Normative reach researchers, organizations, and funders who can drive meaningful progress in healthcare equity.
A Broader Perspective
This project reminded us that digital design is more than aesthetics – it’s about clarity, impact, and helping important ideas reach the right audiences. It also reinforced why we love working with startups: they’re tackling problems that larger organizations often overlook.
We’re proud to have played a role in bringing My Normative’s mission to life, and we hope this work contributes to a future where all women receive the healthcare attention and research they deserve. We owe it to the women in our lives.
Fractional Xperience partners with startups to create clear, effective digital experiences. Let us know if you have a complex story that needs telling.