Nana's Ruby Blooms: a sensory period guidebook for autistic girls — Loeries Gold

In the Middle East periods are taboo and education is verbal and abstract — exactly what autistic girls, who often enter puberty earlier and learn through the senses, struggle to process. No tool existed for them.

Design the world's first sensory period guidebook: 28 pages mirroring the cycle through texture, scent and sound, so autistic girls experience a period before it happens.

Built with medical experts and tested with girls, the 30×30 cm book used durable plastic pages with literal illustrations, pad textures, wrapper sounds and selected scents; it launched through live readings in clinics, therapy rooms and schools, then amplified through parent stories and specialist voices.

43% of autistic girls in the UAE reached and 2,000+ girls read the book; 94% of parents saw reduced sensory distress, 91% of girls felt more at ease with pads, and special-needs schools integrated it; Loeries 2025 Gold and Silver, LIA Bronze, One Show 2026.

Nana — Essity's feminine-care brand, known globally as Bodyform or Libresse — built its platform 'Never Just a Period' in 2024. In the Middle East, where menstruation is still culturally hard to discuss and education is verbal and abstract, autistic girls were being left out entirely: the UAE ranks second globally in autism prevalence, yet no period resource was designed for them.

Ruby Blooms became the world's first sensory period guidebook for autistic girls. Built with medical experts and tested with girls themselves, the 30×30 cm book mirrors the menstrual cycle across 28 pages: textures that feel like pads, the rustle of a wrapper, selected scents, literal illustrations and calm pacing — turning a moment of fear into familiarity and control.

The rollout deliberately avoided mass exposure. Real stories from parents of autistic girls opened the conversation; live readings in clinics, therapy rooms and schools introduced the guide in trusted spaces; and authentic caregiver and specialist reactions were amplified on social media instead of promotional messaging.

The guide reached 43% of autistic girls in the UAE and was read by more than 2,000 girls; 94% of parents observed reduced sensory distress and 91% of girls felt more at ease with pads; special-needs schools integrated it, and the approach fed into a published scientific paper. It won a Loeries 2025 Gold and Silver, an LIA Bronze, and a One Show 2026 award.

It replaced explanation with experience: instead of telling autistic girls what a period is, the book lets them safely rehearse what it feels like before it happens.

The design was shaped by the audience's own biology: sensory sensitivities, earlier puberty and literal processing became specifications, not obstacles.

It met cultural constraints instead of fighting them: working within a taboo region, the brand built a private tool families could use at home.

Distribution through clinics and schools made adoption structural — the book entered the institutions that care for these girls rather than asking them to find it.

When a message cannot reach a mind, design the experience instead of the words: replacing explanation with a tactile, sensory rehearsal turned a taboo topic into a tool families and schools adopted.

Ruby Blooms became the reference case for sensory-first menstrual education: beyond the Loeries 2025 Gold and Silver, an LIA 2025 Bronze and a One Show 2026 award, its model contributed to a scientific research paper on sensory-first education published in regional and global outlets. Essity and Saatchi & Saatchi Middle East documented it as a flagship of inclusive brand design, and the guide's distribution continued through special-needs schools and healthcare channels.