Family Birth Center

The Challenge

After the University of Chicago Medicine's Comer Children's Hospital discontinued its midwife practice in 2003, it developed a reputation for focusing on the most difficult patients. Over the past 10 years, the hospital lost patients in Hyde Park and across the South Side who otherwise would have had their children at the university, but thought the university only treated complicated pregnancies. Comer Children's Hospital was preparing to open the Family Birth Center, a new facility which would have midwives and doctors working together to provide a customized birth experience. Comer engaged our team to build a website that would help showcase the new facility and attract new patients.

Discovery

I interviewed 3 stakeholders from the Family Birth Center marketing and communications team. From the interviews the following project goals and audiences surfaced:

Primary Audience
Millennial moms-to-be in the area immediately surrounding the Family Birth Center

Goals

• Get the word out that the birth center will now focus on normal births, in addition to high-risk births

• Promote the range experts on staff (doctors, midwives, nurses, lactation specialists, etc.) 

• Promote the full range of services offered at all risk levels and all stages of pregnancy

• Showcase the state-of-the art facility

• Get more class registrations, appointment requests, and general inquiries

In addition, I conducted a competitive analysis of peer sites. 

Definition

Using the insights and data from discovery, I drafted a site architecture and wireframes for the homepage, and wrote a document that covered all content and functional requirements for the site. 

I designed the homepage to give site visitors multiple ways to learn more about the Family Birth Center. Site visitors can:

• Learn more about the new facility

• See stories of recent patients

• Learn about the expert medical staff

• Find out about the range of services and classes that the birth center offers.

All the content conveys a sense of newness and funnels site visitors from exploration to more in-depth engagement, like booking a tour, taking a class, and ultimately making an appointment. 

Visual Design

The front-end developer, Ryan Wake, combined the Family Birth Center's great selection of photos with a serene, inviting color palette and patterns to create a sense of warmth, comfort, and openness.  

Impact

During the first week after opening, the Birth Center was already full. The new Birth Center hopes increase the number of babies from 2,100 (during the previous year) to 2,500 this year.