Reimagining how Families Find and Connect with Birth Doulas
Breathe, Bitch Doula
View live site: Breathe, Bitch Doula
April 2025- June 2025
Background
Breathe, Bitch Doula is an empowering doula company created to support pregnant families throughout their journey. From childbirth education to postpartum care, they facilitate the transition into one of life’s most challenging jobs: parenthood.
My Role
I was the sole UX/UI designer, responsible for research, wireframing, visual design, and client collaboration.
Tools used: Figma, Canva, Squarespace
Problem
Pregnant families need a fast, reliable way to find support that fits their unique needs, as time is of the essence when a baby is on the way. My client, the owner of Breathe, Bitch Doula, needed a new website that streamlines that process by providing complete information while being visually appealing.
Client Interview
Target Audience
To begin, I met with my client to get a better understanding of her business goals. She described her target audience as high-earning, educated women in their late twenties to mid-thirties. Our conversation led to the creation of a user persona: Rose Capella.
Website Goals
My client wanted a website “glow-up,” which included a more professional look and easily accessible information. She gave me full control over changes but stated that she would like to keep the color scheme and the information the same, save for a few updates.
User Research
Purpose: To assess whether or not new users understand BBD’s service offerings and can navigate the website to contact the company
Method: Moderated usability observation (remote and in-person)
Participants: 3 tech-savvy adults who have never visited BBD’s website
Tools used: Google Forms (pre- and post-test questionnaires), Zoom (live observation), and the BBD website
Participants
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Zach
24 year old Doordash Driver from California
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Griselda
53-year old Nurse Case Manager from California
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Israel
25-year old Project Supervisor from Illinois
Task Scenarios and Findings
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Your family is about to welcome another child into the world, and you’re interested in hiring a doula. You want to know more about the services you have to choose from. From the home page, locate the services that Breathe, Bitch Doula has to offer.
Observations
Participants were able to easily navigate to the Services page.
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You’ve read that many mothers struggle with postpartum depression, so you want to find an option that includes mental health support. Locate the service that includes four sessions with a perinatal therapist.
Observations
All participants took longer than expected. They skimmed for helpful subheadings and expected images to be clickable.
“I should have read instead of skimming for key words.”—Zach
“I’m looking for subheadings that include mental health.”—Griselda
“It’s not a button; it’s just a description.”—Israel
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You are ready to book the Doula + Flourish package. Find the contact form, and choose the closest option. Don’t fill out the contact form; just choose the service you’re looking for.
Observations
All participant chose different services from the dropdown menu when trying to book the Doula + Flourish package, indicating that there is no clear option for this offering. Later, my client told me she no longer offered this service, which is why there wasn’t an option to book it. It has been removed from the Services page.
“I would have to circle back to the menu.”—Griselda
“There’s nowhere to click and put in the cart.”—Griselda
“I forgot which one it was… There is no closest option.”—Zach
Analysis
My observations revealed that new users are able to find information, but they expect it to boldly announce itself. If key words don’t jump out at them in the correct location, they look elsewhere. I also found that they expect that the Services page will allow them to book services right there instead of requiring that they visit another page.
This usability observation also revealed ways I can improve my research methods. In Task 2, participants focused on finding the arbitrary number “four” rather than the mental health sessions, which was the point of the task. Now I know to only include relevant information in task scenario instructions.
Failure to make things easy and obvious “can erode our confidence in the site and its publishers.”— Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think
Site Map
For organization and clarity, I started with a new site map that reduces clicks and consolidates information. The dotted red lines indicate links to the Contact page through a call-to-action button.
Wireframes
“If you have a hard time figuring out where to look on a page, it’s more than likely that its layout is missing a clear visual hierarchy.” —Kelley Gordon, Nielsen Norman Group
Accessibility
Though my client wanted to keep her brand colors, they were competing with each other rather than complementing each other, making text hard to read and reducing accessibility. I offered an updated color palette, which included most original colors, except mint was exchanged for black and orange was whitened. This created more contrast, allowing the website to meet WCAG standards.
Old
New
I also added more images as well as alternative text for users who use screen readers.
Results
Home
The home page now has more depth and clear descriptors. “I’m listening…” is now “Services,” removing all obscurity from the first button of the website. I included FAQs, Testimonials, and What’s a Doula? in more relevant pages to consolidate information.
“On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.” —Jakob Nielsen
Users scan. Short, numbered bites of information reduce noise, allowing them to quickly find what they are looking for.
About Us
To eliminate confusion about what name goes with what picture, I turned the drop-down menu of names and bios into a scrolling menu.
Reflections
Wins
Accessibility: With updated fonts, graphics, and color schemes, the site is accessible to more users, reflecting the brand’s commitment to inclusivity.
Clarity: To address user confusion revealed in the usability observation, I added a “Book Now” button to the Services page. The doula bios and descriptions are also organized intuitively.
Scanability: Text is now numbered or includes large headers. There are more images and graphics so users don’t only depend on text for information.
Challenges
Contact Form: The current third-party form is only accessible to the CEO. We are working to integrate the Services and Contact pages so users can contact the company without switching between them. In the meantime, I have made it so that the Services page opens up in a different tab, allowing users to view descriptions while completing the form.
Squarespace Constraints: My client uses Squarespace, which can be difficult to work with, as it offers limited flexibility. There is less freedom in design choices compared to competing platforms.