Sami Fares

360 Degree Care - UX Case Study

Designing a user-centered home care website while balancing evolving client preferences

360 Degree Care - UX Case Study mockup

0.0 Problem Framing - Creating Digital Trust for a New Care Brand

360 Degree Care was a newly established home health care agency in New Jersey. With no digital presence, they were virtually invisible to families searching online for in-home support. In a highly sensitive industry built on trust, that lack of visibility became a major barrier to growth.

The client needed a professional website that could both inform and reassure their target audience: adults researching care options for aging parents or loved ones. The goal wasn’t just to generate leads — it was to build trust at a glance, answer common questions, and help users take that emotionally difficult first step.

The design challenge was to combine emotional clarity with an easy-to-navigate information structure tailored to anxious, time-sensitive users making high-stakes decisions.

0.1 Project Overview

Context

360 Degree Care approached me to design and launch their first website. I led the full UX and design process — including site architecture, content strategy, and high-fidelity mockups — and worked closely with the client to align on structure and flow. While the final visual style reflected strong client preferences, I ensured the user experience remained clear, accessible, and emotionally resonant throughout.

I also collaborated with the developer from the earliest stages to keep implementation aligned with both the design and evolving client input. This helped us stay nimble and avoid rework as decisions shifted.

My Role

UX Designer, Copywriter

Client

360 Degree Care - Home Health Services (NJ)

Deliverables

Designs for all web pages

Brand Assets

Contact page with multiple forms

Empathetic Copy

Timeline

8 Weeks

Tools

Figma, Web Research, Google Docs, Linear

0.2 Project Goals and Challenges

The client's primary goal was to establish a digital presence quickly and start building trust with families in need of in-home care. While they had experience in traditional marketing, they were less familiar with the nuances of digital UX and web strategy. The project required thoughtful communication to align user-centered design decisions with a visually driven brand vision.

I focused early efforts on educating the client about effective UX principles — including content hierarchy, scannability, and what builds trust for first-time visitors — while ensuring the final site honored their preferences and goals.

Client Goals

Establish legitimacy as a licensed care provider

Emphasize dignity and active lifestyles in imagery

Explain services clearly and in detail

Communicate with transparency and warmth

Constraints

Limited content available and short timeline

Client insisted on oversized typography for readability

Client rejected proposed calming color palette

Non-standard layout and styling requests

0.3 Research & Discovery

I began with a competitive review of the top home care agencies in northern New Jersey, analyzing how they structured their websites, the tone of their messaging, and how effectively they reassured visitors navigating emotionally complex decisions.
To complement that, I also conducted informal discovery through conversations with friends and family members who had recently gone through the process of finding home care. These stories underscored the urgency, emotional strain, and confusion that often accompany these decisions — and shaped how I approached tone, structure, and visual hierarchy.

"When you are in a position where you need to find care for a loved one, it can be scary. It feels like you are trusting the person you hire with their life".

- Mario G

Key Research Takeaways

Most competitors used calming color palettes and soft, reassuring imagery

Sites with clear FAQs and multiple contact options instilled more trust

Visitors scanned for key info like insurance accepted, service areas, and 24/7 availability

Overly modern or salesy designs felt cold and disconnected from user needs

CTAs needed to be visible early and often — visitors shouldn't have to search to reach out

0.4 UX Strategy & Design Decisions

Given the emotional nature of the service, I proposed a visual direction that combined calming blue tones with warm, uplifting imagery — portraying aging with dignity and vitality. While the client chose a more vibrant palette to stand out from competitors, they embraced the imagery concept fully, and it became a key visual theme across the site.

Throughout the project, I worked to preserve core UX principles: structuring information to reduce cognitive load, emphasizing clarity of message, and ensuring large, tappable areas for mobile users. The goal was to keep the experience reassuring and intuitive, regardless of aesthetic preferences.

Design Highlights

Emotionally Calibrated Copy

Tone was crafted to feel warm and informative, while addressing key user concerns.

Color Palette + Branding

The client’s preference for vibrant orange was balanced with neutral supporting tones to maintain readability and trust.

Location callouts

Local areas were integrated across pages to build geographic authority and support SEO.

Imagery & Tone

Photography featured active, joyful older adults to reinforce dignity, comfort, and optimism.

Mockup image
Mockup image

Mockups highlighting the Personal Care Service Page

Final Designs & Reflection

Despite a tight timeline and strong client direction on visuals, I delivered a responsive, multi-page website that remained grounded in UX best practices. The final design performed well in early user feedback, with clear navigation paths, emotionally calibrated copy, and locally relevant content that built instant credibility.

Live Website: https://www.360degreecare.net

Final Homepage Design

Design showcase 1

Key Achievements

  • Launched a fully responsive, multi-page website on a tight 5-week timeline
  • Led UX structure and content strategy to support trust-building and clarity
  • Developed high-fidelity designs tailored to mobile and desktop audiences
  • Created localized, SEO-aware content to increase visibility across NJ markets
  • Collaborated closely with a developer to efficiently implement shifting client feedback

Lessons Learned

  • Advocated for UX while respecting a strongly client-led brand vision
  • Improved communication techniques with non-technical stakeholders
  • Reinforced the importance of flexible thinking under aesthetic constraints
  • Practiced translating emotion-rich research into actionable design decision
  • Gained experience designing for high-empathy use cases where trust is critical

Client Feedback

"I’m really happy with how everything turned out. You were flexible, patient, and always found a way to make my ideas work. I appreciate how you took the time to explain things and still delivered something polished, and easy to use. Couldn’t have done it without you."

- Owner, 360 Degree Care

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