The Challenge
Legacy Care provides in-home healthcare services to families across Southern California. When they came to us, their existing website was a basic template that did not reflect the quality and compassion of their actual services. Families searching for home care for elderly or recovering loved ones need to feel reassured and supported — their website was doing neither.
The healthcare industry has its own set of digital challenges. Visitors are often in stressful situations, making decisions on behalf of vulnerable family members. The website needed to be more than informative — it needed to be empathetic, accessible, and easy to navigate even for users who are not technically savvy.
Our Approach
We spent time understanding not just the business but the emotional journey of their typical visitor. Through interviews with the Legacy Care team and analysis of their inquiry patterns, we mapped out the key questions and concerns that families have when searching for home care:
- What services do you provide and are they right for our situation?
- Are your caregivers qualified and trustworthy?
- How quickly can care begin?
- What does the process look like from first call to ongoing care?
- How much does it cost and does insurance cover it?
These questions became the backbone of the site's information architecture.
The Solution
Compassionate Design Language
We chose a design language that communicates warmth and professionalism simultaneously. Soft colors, authentic photography guidelines, and generous spacing create a calming visual environment. The typography was selected for maximum readability, including larger base font sizes to accommodate older users who make up a significant portion of the audience.
Accessibility-First Development
Accessibility was not an afterthought — it was a core requirement. The site was built to exceed WCAG 2.1 AA standards, with proper heading hierarchy, ARIA labels, keyboard navigation support, sufficient color contrast, and screen reader compatibility. Given the audience demographics, this was both an ethical imperative and a business necessity.
Clear Service Information
We restructured the service pages to follow a consistent, scannable format. Each service page answers the key questions identified in our research, uses plain language instead of medical jargon, and includes a clear next step. Families can quickly understand what care options are available and how to get started.
Local SEO Strategy
Home healthcare is inherently local. We implemented a local SEO strategy targeting the specific communities Legacy Care serves, including optimized Google Business Profile, location-specific content, and structured data markup that helps Google understand the geographic scope of their services.
Results
The new website transformed Legacy Care's digital presence:
- Online inquiries increased substantially from families searching for home care services
- The website became the primary source of new client referrals, surpassing traditional channels
- Accessibility audit scores improved to meet compliance standards
- Local search visibility improved for key service-area terms
- Average time on site increased, suggesting visitors found the information they needed
Key Takeaways
The Legacy Care project reminded us that great web design starts with empathy. Understanding the emotional state of your users — not just their information needs — leads to design decisions that resonate on a deeper level. When families visit a healthcare website during a difficult time, the experience should be reassuring, not frustrating.
This project also reinforced the business value of accessibility. Building an accessible website is not just the right thing to do — it directly impacts your ability to reach and serve your audience effectively.