Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Megan Griffin 

BA [Hons] Visual Communication Design

Hey! I'm Megan. I am a multi-disciplinary designer who is passionate about branding, image-making, strong copywriting, and creating meaningful concepts. I have a great love for storytelling, travelling and colours. I have gained fantastic experience during my internships in San Francisco and Amsterdam via Zoom! As a class rep for my four years in IADT, I enjoy problem-solving and helping create a friendly and exciting work environment. I am innately curious and have a strong work ethic and am ready to put my skills to work.

Description of Mementori

Mementori is inspired by the Latin saying, ‘Memento Mori’ which means ‘Remember your Death’. Mementori is a company that sells a conversation kit to broach the topic of death and funeral planning with loved ones in a gentle, multigenerational, and collaborative manner. Mementori also provides a digital archive service to safely store this information so that it can be passed on to loved ones.

Death and funeral planning can be uncomfortable conversations to have with our loved ones, and as a result, often don't take place in advance- or at all. Mementori takes the heaviness and scariness out of these conversations through guiding individuals through initial conversations, as well as storing the responses.

The project's objective is to help individuals openly discuss the subjects of death and funeral planning so that, when the day comes, no one is left making decisions in haste or trying to guess what the deceased would have wanted. Those questions will have been answered, archived and remembered.


The Commodification of Menstruation

My extended thesis is an exploration of how contemporary menstrual care companies brand their products as part of a false narrative of female empowerment.

Menstruation is a normal bodily function affecting half the planet for significant periods of their lives. However, the way in which it is mediated, and the way in which individuals have sought to negotiate menstruation has seen it commodified, and then sold under identifiers such as a charitable cause; something sexual; something related to feminism; something dirty; luxurious; beautiful, even as a secret. There have been, latterly, efforts made by menstrual care companies to reimagine the ways in which sanitary products generally are sold to the public.

This new approach appears positive. However, as my thesis examined, it is of a contradictory and exploitative nature. The brands I have analyzed are a part of a bigger trend of commodifying both women and the nature of charity in order to make sales, and in this case, create an arguably false sense of female empowerment.