Unfold are a design and development agency based in the heart of Bristol. We work with the founders, marketing or technical leads of SMEs, startups and innovative corporates to help them increase revenue and profitability or save them time (or ideally both!).
Over the past five years Unfold has seen a lot of change. We’ve grown as a team, embraced new challenges and opportunities, and welcomed many new clients along the way.
We felt it was time to take a moment to properly reflect on our journey and how we’ve evolved as a business; to understand who we are, why we love doing what we do and how we make a difference to our clients’ businesses.
Today, we are thrilled to share our newly revamped website with you, showcasing our full range of services, the impact we create for our clients, and ultimately the Unfold way of doing.
Unfold started five years ago with the objective of building beautiful, user-centred websites and web apps, which provide exceptional experiences for end-customers and fantastic results for businesses. This mission remains at the heart of what we do, but has evolved significantly as we’ve expanded our expertise, knowledge, team and client base.
As a result our service offering has grown to encompass five key areas:
Our method for analysing and refining concepts, using the latest insights and trends, will show you where the big opportunities lie, reduce risk and produce real results.
Together we define, develop and deliver different design solutions by putting the customers’ needs at the centre of your website.
Our expert team of engineers are experts in dealing with complex requirements and creating intelligent, flexible solutions to match.
We’re serious about growing your business by providing the CRO tools you need to engage and convert higher-quality leads.
We don’t shy away from taking over existing projects and fixing difficult bugs, in fact it has become a core speciality of our team.
Day to day that means we work with the founders, marketing or technical leads of SMEs, startups and innovative corporates to help them increase revenue and profitability or save them time (or ideally both!).
At Unfold we take a user-centred approach to our clients’ work. Meaning that we seek to put the end-customer at the heart of everything we do, from design, right through to development. This approach enables us to produce outstanding and technically complex websites and platforms that have a real impact for customers.
We push boundaries and challenge thinking to transform our clients’ vision into reality. We’re focused on building close, transparent partnerships that drive innovation and achieve shared goals.
We’d love to hear what you think of the new site! Please feel free to get in touch and share your thoughts with us.
Do you have a project in mind or would you like some expert advice? Perhaps you know a friend or colleague that might benefit from working with us? If so get in touch and see how we can help you achieve your goals.
We’re also in the process of expanding our team. If you’re interested in working with us we’d love to hear from you!
And finally, stay updated on the latest news events and valuable resources from our team by following us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Whether you’re an employer looking to attract and retain the best talent, or a job seeker looking to negotiate a competitive salary, you’re in the right place.
How do the salaries in your workplace compare with industry averages? Take a look into the average pay packets for jobs across Events, Marketing, CRM, Digital, PR and Sales – download the Henry Nicholas’ 2023 salary guide here.
It’s an urban myth that the modern attention span has shortened to less than that of a goldfish – let’s clear that up first*.
However, the fact that we’re living in a world of content, content, content coming at us from all angles is certainly not fake news. When there’s so much easy distraction out there, how do you hold someone’s attention?
This becomes an even greater challenge when that message is a bit complex, dense or tricky to understand. Here’s where traditional communication methods can fall short.
It’s time to deploy some interactivity ⚡️
Why, though? Well first up, here are some statistics to mull over…
☑️ Only 10% of people remember what they hear
☑️ This increases to 20% of people who remember what they read
☑️ But a whopping 80% of people remember what they see and do.**
That makes a pretty great case for communicators to give people something to both look at and take part in at the same time. The people we’re trying to reach are no longer passive onlookers. Instead, they become active participants, influencing and being influenced by the content they’re engaging with.
Let’s explore the awesome potential interactivity holds in fostering meaningful understanding…
Capturing attention & boosting comprehension
Humans are nosey creatures and we’re naturally drawn to interactive experiences. Engaging our natural curiosity and prompting us to explore and participate means that complex topics become instantly more approachable, relatable and enjoyable.
The Luna 9 studio often employs this what’s-coming-next, storytelling style technique for creating explainers. It’s often attached to a topic that’s either very detailed and tricky to grasp, or – let’s face it – kind of dry.
To combat this we have to put the power in the user’s hands and make them want to learn, instead of just hoping that they pick it up. Scrolling explainer pages are a light version of interactivity that enables hands-on exploration. You’re encouraged to keep going (and learning) to uncover the next cool thing – while still giving you the power to explore at your own pace.
Check this out in action for the explainer page we created for Pepper Bio…
Personalised learning
True, it’s not school and there’s no exam (promise!), but everyone learns at their own pace and has different preferences when it comes to uncovering and digesting information.
Leaning into this fact with interactivity lets your audience embrace this individual nature and delivers your message with more accuracy.
It’s refreshing to be able decide what’s most relevant to you and choose what you read, click or watch – which enhances the retention of what you’re reading as it’s putting your needs front and centre. Everyone loves that!
We’ve used this tactic in interactive infographics and games for projects that have a vast amount of information to communicate, and the audience spans across lots of sectors and disciplines. Instead of shovelling absolutely all the info onto people, which is guaranteed to cause overwhelm, we structured the interactive journeys so that users can quickly recognise themselves in the opening screens.
From here they’re able to select their own paths, variables and options as they move through the graphics, so that they’re always in control. Fun!
This means they can track down tailored content that’s useful and most importantly – valuable – to them. Message delivered.
We employed this approach in creating the SME Net Zero challenge for BSI – check it out here.
Focusing all-important context
To avoid hitting snoozeville early, hard-to-understand topics are always going to need a little bit of context to convince your audience to stop and take note.
If you can’t relate stuff to real-world scenarios, then it’s usually asking too much of your audience to think in the abstract… Which means they’re unlikely to keep caring about your message. Bummer.
Interactivity can bridge this gap though, by providing examples and simulations that can really helps the people you’re trying to reach to join those dots between theory and practice.
We explored this element of interactivity with our Energy Landscape Map. We began with with a simple, visual grounding of the content, drawn as an easy-to-understand map for how everything works together as a network.
From here, the information is then layered on top, letting you whizz around at your leisure and uncover different levels of detail depending on what interests you, but all the while grounded with the knowledge of how it all interlinks back on the map.
Check our our interactive Energy Landscape Map here…
So – what’s the all-round benefit of interactivity?
Simple! It boils down to the seeing and the doing. Combining the two with an element of storytelling can make even the most complex of subjects easier and enjoyable to explore.
Get in touch at [email protected] or sign up to our newsletter for news, updates and morsels of inspiration from the Luna 9 studio.
From dance floor to studio – the team behind Rhombus have a long history with the venue, from their first-ever club experience to running multiple high-profile events at Lakota in later years.
The rebrand took them on a dive into the club’s 90s golden era, combining their passion for music and design into a euphoric exploration of rave culture.
As a nod to Lakota’s immense heritage, part of the venue lives in the new identity, which draws inspiration from the club’s original logo, building architecture, and rebellious, 30-year history at the heart of Bristol’s underground scene.
Trip-hop & Massive Attack. Acid house & Carl Cox. Drum and bass & Goldie. There’s no doubt about it: Lakota is truly the beating heart of Bristol’s rich and longstanding music scene. Sitting proudly on Moon St. in the city’s historic St Paul’s area, the venue represents one of Bristol’s only black-owned venues.
Free-spirited and fiercely independent, Lakota has always promoted progressive programming and ethereal dance floor moments.
Now, after 30 years as the heart of the city’s underground music scene, Lakota needed a modern brand for their new chapter. One that acknowledged their past, set the tone for their future, and represented the increasingly diverse events they’re putting on: from club nights to live music, circus, drag, pop-up food and more across three spaces within the venue, the original Lakota club, Lakota Gardens and Coroners Court.
The Rhombus team are Bristol born and bred, and as regular ravers and promoters at Lakota since our younger years, the project took on a very personal approach. The deliverables were a brand identity and architecture, custom-built website, animation, brand launch and rollout, but getting there would start with hours and hours of research into the club’s history.
From poring over archive photography to studying old rave culture and multiple trips to the club exploring the architecture and original features, including the rough and ready floors and exposed walls, the team developed a modular brand system inspired by the venue’s heritage, ethos and vision. A language that could easily showcase a huge range of events, from underground club nights to immersive circus performances, and a brand that could flex into new ventures outside of the traditional club space.
Part of the venue lives in the identity. The primary logo uses shapes from the iconic original logo, constructed alongside geometric forms from the venue’s floor plan, to represent a symbol of culture, a frame for established and emerging artists and a window into the space.
The elements of the venue, the iconic sticky floors, worn walls and stonework are the background for a lot of the textures used in the new brand, while the wordmark was custom built using the same angles and shapes found in the emblem – which work in unison, but are strong enough to work independently too.
Encapsulating the energy of the DJs, artists, performers and dancers that make the venue was crucial, so the primary pattern is built using the venue’s motif. The secondary patterns are constructed from the motif and the feather, giving the brand further flexibility and nodding to the heritage.
The palette combines technology with history, taking aspects from the club lighting whilst also looking back at film photography of the venue. The colour system helps give each space its independence. Lakota club utilises the primary palette, Coroners Court is confidently black and white to compliment the nature of the space and the Gardens uses more vibrant colour combinations to showcase the culture and performances.
The new language and tone of voice centres around the idea of rebels with a cause – a nod to the rebellious past but with a purposeful new attitude underpinned by the venue’s focus on community and heritage. When it came to the type system, the rebrand puts Formula by Pangram Pangram front and centre, flexing between Condensed (loud) and extended (energetic) for contrast, combined with Apercu in the body copy for clarity and accessibility.
“With the Lakota mark and visual identity established for nearly 30 years, changing it was no easy feat. However, Rhombus understood our heritage, history and future vision.
Their past experience running their own events was an added bonus and gave them insight into the sector and its challenges. We are thrilled with our new identity. The motif and wordmark have real versatility and reflect our values; we hope they will see us through the next 30 years.”
Cassara Jackson – Lakota
Check out the full case study here
When setting out to understand a little more about a brand, a visit to the company website is nearly always the first port-of-call for stakeholders. Often dubbed as the ‘shop window’ to an organisation, a website should clearly communicate your brand’s raison d’être, offer a clear user path, and most importantly, outline your company offerings in the best possible light. And while the process of delivering a gleaming new website is often an exciting one, the launch is only the beginning.
To guarantee that your website performs to its best ability, and to stay relevant among your site visitors, it’s crucial to view your website as an ongoing project. It’s not simply a question of UX/CX updates; reviewing CRO, your goal completion, tackling outdated content, dead backlinks, and poor SEO are all contributing factors to a poor online experience for customers, which can be detrimental to your sales drive and to your brand. The good news is that these are all easily avoidable consequences, assuming you tend to your site with care. To keep your website ticking over nicely, we’ve compiled our top 6 areas of focus for web optimisation…
You should always maintain clear strategic direction with your interface, mapping out the best possible user journeys. Without directing visitors to the right areas on your website, you’ll encourage high exit rates, U-turns, or rage clicks (Hotjar, 2022). Not only does this risk conversions or other goal completions, but it can devalue the brand that you’ve worked so hard to build. Put yourself in your users’ shoes and try to experience your website with a fresh pair of eyes. Is it hard to find key information about your brand? Does the site make checkouts, downloads and forms as easy as possible? Could you improve legibility?
Websites don’t just end at launch; they need to be maintained, optimised and tested. Having the correct analytics tools to visualise quantitative and qualitative data is important, but only when you are tracking the metrics relevant to your business. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to quantitative analytics platforms, but the key metrics that marketers should be tracking are:
While quantitative research is useful in identifying data patterns and numerical trends, it’s important for marketers to understand users’ attitudes, beliefs, and motivations. This is where qualitative data can help fill in the gaps to make more informed decisions with your quantitative data. Popular qualitative research methods include:
By combining quantitative and qualitative methods, it becomes much easier to understand your customer experience. Ultimately, this helps to highlight pain points and identify the content that resonates most with your brand’s audience.
A great way to ensure you’re optimising your website is by running A/B testing (sometimes called split testing) across variants. Before implementing significant updates, you might want to consider running an A/B test to justify your decision making. Netflix leads by example in this area. Unique to every user, they pool together data to produce a final homepage outcome based on behaviour and preferences. Todd Yellin, Vice President of Product at Netflix, confirms that the brand runs 250 A/B tests each year to test the different versions of the design. These tests also consider the ways in which users search for films and programs on the app (Wired, 2018). With a highly detailed level of tracking and various testing in place, Netflix’s success is entirely reliant upon data. Regularly implementing the variations from the results optimises the user experience.
It’s not uncommon for users to arrive at a website only to be deterred by complex language, over-stimulating features, or a lack of useful information. These websites tend to garner large drop off rates, with marketers left trying to figure out where they slipped up. This nearly always occurs when a website is built without a defined content strategy in place. Markets are ever-changing, and branded websites should reflect this. To stay top of mind, content needs to be relevant, useful, and findable. Marketers need to audit and refresh existing content on an ongoing basis, factoring in current trends and wider business objectives.
SEO is often an afterthought when it comes to website builds. This is usually down to the fact that organic search rankings can take time to bear fruit in contrast to paid activity. But with 53.3% of all website traffic acquired through organic search, SEO should be a core consideration during, and after, a website build.Regular SEO activity can elevate your brand and take you to the top of search engines, surpassing your competition. The key to successful performance and conversion of your website is a content strategy that considers a user-friendly experience, with digestible information for both the user as well as search engines. (Search Engine Journal, 2022).
Whilst they are undoubtedly two separate entities, marketers should make sure their SEO and PPC strategies are aligned, and both have high prominence on their marketing agenda and budgets. On average, 5-10% of your revenue should be spent on SEO activity. (Search Engine Land, 2022).
Read more about our top tips to optimise your organic search in our blog here.
Top performing websites don’t just need to look good, they need to be functional too. Ongoing website maintenance is required to keep your website running. This can be achieved by making sure your website is safe and secure, and that links and tools aren’t broken. It may seem simple but often brands focus on the launch of a new website and forget to check in on performance once it’s live. Some CMS updates can be relatively straight forward, but you’ll benefit from an experienced digital team to manage, monitor and prevent or react to any technical issues your website may encounter.
As a fully integrated agency, we build sites that talk the talk and walk the walk – from design to optimisation. If you’re looking to take your website to the next level, drop us a line today – we’d love to have a chat.
Discover more industry insights and opinions at saintnicks.uk.com/insights
Bristol-based web design and branding agency, Squarebird, have modernised the online presence of GLOBIS University, a leading business school in Japan, to better appeal to international audiences.
With practicality, entrepreneurship, and a strong global network at the core of the GLOBIS offering, it was crucial that the new website reflected these strengths alongside the wider benefits of joining University. Following a period of extensive market and user research by the GLOBIS team, Squarebird was briefed, and the discovery phase of the project began, starting with functionality, sitemap, and user journeys before moving onto the creatives.
The new English-speaking GLOBIS website needed to align with the global brand and Japanese-speaking site, yet still have its own identity. To encapsulate this, the team designed a number of brand exploration style tiles to ensure all stakeholders were aligned on the overall look and feel before moving on to the more functional desktop and mobile page designs.
With designs approved, the website development began. The Squarebird team worked closely with GLOBIS stakeholders to ensure the functionality matched their requirements, feeding courses, faculty members, events and more throughout the site to provide users with a constant stream of information and networking opportunities. Bespoke landing pages were an incredibly imperative element in this project given GLOBIS’ extensive marketing campaigns, and a flexible template enables GLOBIS to be able to create bespoke pages for future campaigns, with tracking established to record performance.
‘’The design brief was to include current brand styles and functionality but with a modern edge. The Squarebird design team had to adhere to GLOBIS’ brand colours and graphic shapes but incorporate new typography, photography, iconography and new forward-thinking UI. Working closely with GLOBIS throughout the design stage, the project team were able to produce a new website design that delivered the creative brief and more.’’ – Alec Herrington, Design Lead at Squarebird
“We’re extremely proud of our work with GLOBIS University. For me, the success of a website development project that involves international collaboration is not just measured by the end product, but by two teams working seamlessly in unison towards a shared objective from different corners of the world.
A large part of the project was to ensure we empowered the GLOBIS team with the ability to effortlessly update and manage their website, ensuring the project’s long-term success and value. I feel we achieved this, and more, building a website filled with client-centric functionality.
The GLOBIS team were a pleasure to work with, and we look forward to future projects with the organisation.” – Nick Bird, Managing Partner at Squarebird
The new website provides a present, informative, and visually engaging website that embodies the GLOBIS difference and presents their offering to talented international prospective students, giving them an insight into what life could look like at the GLOBIS business school.
“Before partnering with Squarebird, our University’s website faced challenges like limited organic traffic, outdated design, and unintuitive user experience. After evaluating over 20 agencies worldwide, we chose Squarebird for their expertise in design, development, SEO strategy, and excellent communication style. The outcome of our 9-month collaboration was a revamped website with enhanced UX/UI, compelling brand messaging, fresh visuals, and improved information architecture. The new site has attracted positive feedback from stakeholders and successfully showcases our brand values and personality. We’re proud of the results and highly recommend Squarebird’s high-quality services to others seeking an impactful web transformation.” – Cristiana Celli, Digital Marketing Specialist at GLOBIS University
View the full case study here.
Spaceworks is a platform for makers, creators and businesses of all shapes and sizes. They have been on a mission to bring community driven work spaces to Bristol since 1985 and needed a rebrand and website to match.
Accountants, artists, engineers and more, Spaceworks has been housing, helping and supporting some of Bristol’s brightest brands. They know that when it comes to office rental, businesses need affordable spaces with the right support in place to help them grow.
The new identity by Rhombus nods to the past while looking forward, inspired by the diverse community of businesses who call Spaceworks their home.
The brand balances play with trust and accessibility, uniting makers, creators and businesses across Bristol.
The visual identity was built around the new logo, evolved from their geographical footprint in Bristol. The wider identity system uses more abstract evolutions of the logo to portray the businesses of all shapes and sizes that make up Spaceworks.
The colourway is an evolution of the green they launched with in 1985, as a nod to their rock-solid history. The typeface (aptly titled Founders Grotesk from Klim Type Foundry) is a sans serif with plenty of character, inspired by some of the buildings they have transformed over the years – grade 2, big hangars, small nooks and stained-glass windows.
Rhombus developed a verbal identity underpinned by three core pillars to express the brand: Supportive, Passionate and Dynamic. The output included a set of key messages to announce the new brand to Bristol and beyond, as well as writing tips to help the Spaceworks team communicate with consistency and flair.
In order to bring Spaceworks into the digital world, Rhombus developed a motion language that encapsulated the brand’s warmth, approachability and character, inspired by collaboration. Bounce. Grow. Support!
Spaceworks are the same today as they were when they started – committed to providing affordable, supportive spaces for diverse businesses in local communities: Easton, Barton Hill, St Phillips, Stokes Croft, St Jude’s and Bishopston.
Their new custom website is testament to this commitment, delivered in partnership with Papaya Studio – making it easier than ever to access workspaces and business support.
“Rhombus Studio created our new branding and website and we are delighted with the results. It was a thorough and carefully planned process and aside from creating some amazing visual assets, they took the time to understand our business and aspirations and created something that represents us very well.” – Spaceworks
Take a look at the website here and keep your eyes peeled for new signage rolling out across Bristol!
Fiasco Design is now accepting applications for their Open Internship programme, which aims to make the design industry more accessible for those from underrepresented backgrounds.
“Following the success of last year’s Open Internship programme we’re thrilled to open up applications for the second year. Bringing a greater range of people into design allows the industry as a whole to prosper. We’re proud to be playing our part.” – Ben Steers, Co-founder and Creative Director, Fiasco Design.
Fiasco Design’s Open Internship programme looks to set a precedent for the way design internships can be made more inclusive for emerging creatives. The hope is to encourage people of all walks to life to apply, by actively removing some of the usual barriers:
It’s no secret that there’s a diversity problem in design. The UK’s design workforce is made up from a small section of society that fails to reflect the world we live in. Despite increased awareness around the topic of inclusivity, statistics from Design Can and the Design Council suggest that this is slow to translate to real change.
As an industry that thrives on creative innovation and diversity of thought, there is a need to think pragmatically about what can be done to tackle the problem head on and bring about real, tangible change. Fiasco’s wider ambition is to inspire others to find similar opportunities that help level the playing field and make our industry a more exciting place to be.
“As a studio we have a deeply held belief in the positive power of creativity. By thinking creatively, we can find solutions to the problem of diversity in the industry. Progress may be slow, but it is possible. It starts by challenging ourselves to do better.” – Nathalie Crease, Head of Marketing, Fiasco Design.
Fiasco Design’s Open Internship programme is now accepting applications. You can find more information and how to apply via: fiasco.design/open-internship
Launched in 2018, Studio Floc is the brainchild of our founder Florence Cassell. Armed with a loyal iMac and a vision to design for good, she started the journey that we’re now on as a growing (and currently fully female) team – supporting great people doing great things in the world through effective and beautiful design.
We’ve taken the time out of our regular routine to learn from her experience and be encouraged by a real life, real time example of a female business owner.
What inspired you to set up your own agency?
Hello everyone – Florence here! Great question – two key things come to mind. Firstly, my experience of starting out as a designer was a tough one. Most of the agencies I worked in created harsh and very isolating environments. I’m grateful because I did learn a lot in those early days but I believed it was possible to have an encouraging and honouring studio culture whilst still achieving excellence. This inspired me to start Studio Floc. My aim is to create a place where my team and I work hard and efficiently whilst also encouraging and supporting one another.
And then secondly, I’m passionate about playing my part in making the world a better place and love to use design as a tool to do that. Last year we had the privilege of rebranding Love Your Neighbour, an incredible charity who are committed to helping people overcome pressing social challenges by tackling the root causes of poverty through crisis support, debt advice, employment training and community care. We’ve been able to give them a visual language to communicate their message effectively in order to impact more lives. So good. I appreciate that we’re only one agency empowering a select handful of clients but imagine the world we’d live in if everyone played their part.
What has been your biggest challenge as a female founder?
When I was about to start Studio Floc back in 2018, only 16% of founders in the UK were female. I was surrounded by and learned from men. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot from those guys and many of which I still turn to for advice and are supportive in all I do. The presence of men has never been the issue, it has been the lack of women to encourage, trail-blaze and to be inspired by that has made the journey more difficult.
What has been your biggest learning point as a female founder?
I continue to lead the business that I feel called to run even though historically (and sometimes discouragingly) the odds aren’t stacked in my favour. Oh and the other thing is that Imposter Syndrome is a bitch. It has taken me a while but I’m still improving my ability to differentiate the helpful, guiding voice in my head from the unhelpful, self-doubting one. If you’ve got the tools there in front of you but need that extra push of confidence, just be bold and go for it.
I would highly recommend checking out Craig Groeschel’s book ‘Winning the war in your mind’ if this is something you struggle with.
Do you have any advice for women starting out in business?
Three key things – firstly, surround yourself with a support network of friends/mentors who will encourage you on the journey. Secondly, never stop learning. And thirdly, in my experience, more often than not, people respond to expertise delivered with confidence, not gender.
Driven by purpose, we use creativity to enable the makers, equip the innovators and empower the world-changers. We specialise in branding, print and digital design.
Have questions for our founder? Looking for help with branding, print or digital design work? Let’s chat! Get in touch at [email protected]
Striving to make post-caesarean care more wonderful
Imagine if we could re-address how we care for women approaching and recovering from a C-section. What if it was more considered, or even more wonderful? Rather than expecting them to have a typical post-partum pattern, why not acknowledge the extraordinary, and at times, unwanted circumstances they’ve been through?
Image credit: Erin Patel http://www.erinpatel.com/
Whilst every 4th trimester comes with extreme challenges, the nature of recovering from major surgery whilst entering a new life chapter gives rise to a complex layering of physical and emotional effects, which have been underserved.
According to the WHO, caesarean sections are rising globally, now accounting for 21% of all childbirths and is set to increase to 29% by 2030.(1) With those significant numbers and the clear gap in support, it’s time to start seeing these women.
Uncovering more
We explored this in more detail by sitting down with five women who gave birth via c-section, between 4 months and 8 years ago. Their experiences covered emergency intervention and planned surgery.
What we learned
Within our group, none of the mothers-to-be had spent significant time in the hospital setting, let alone faced the prospect of major surgery. They described feelings of shock, fear and helplessness, whether it was a planned or emergency C-section.
Birthing through caesarean section is not the ‘easy option’ and the road ahead is long. With every step afterwards, from 1 hour post operation to many months later, something else emerges: the need for self-administered stomach injections and a wound to care for, to potential unforeseen heavy bleeding, abdominal difficulties and deteriorating mental health.
The consequences are immediate and limiting. Our group described an undignified sense of failure, as simple tasks become challenging, and lifting, breast feeding or bonding with the baby can be tough.
With all childbirth, society has a tendency to focus on the new life. The baby’s condition is scrutinised, but the women are often considered secondary. The loss of identity many new mothers face can be exacerbated after such a procedure.
Whilst hospital procedures are for the most part out of our control, the period prior to admission and the time back home are rich in potential to serve mothers who go through a C-section.
The opportunity
Whilst there are plenty of services for women in pregnancy, general post-partum and some stand-alone C-section products, how can we create an empathetic, overall experience to ease post C-section mothers out of the professional but transactional experience they’ve just been through?
We think the key is a unique staggered experience – ‘the right thing, at the right time’ – reducing the complexity and overwhelm associated with the lengthy post-caesarean period.
What if there was a kit with physical and digital elements that are revealed over time?
It would address what might be needed prior to the C-section, on the first days back home, to many months later. By combining aspects of clear information & guidance, dignified care, a supportive ‘village’ and curated ‘me’moments we could enable new mothers to control their care and feel seen.
Lead up (pre-planned C-section)
Medical advice or a previous procedure can mean a C-section is expected, allowing for some planning and preparation.
Imagine if there was a printed guide that honestly summarised what to expect at each hospital stage: waiting areas, the operating theatre, and a post-operation ward.
We’re aware that those who have emergency intervention will not necessarily gain from this section.
Subacute (1 – 5 days back home):
The first hours back home can be emotionally overwhelming, physically tentative but also tedious and sedentary.
Imagine if the next chapter of the guide helped initiate light mobility around the home: how to comfortably hold & feed the baby and navigate basic tasks simply and safely.
Imagine if an adjacent phone app prompted women, or partners to administer the stomach injections on the right schedule.
Imagine if the medical compression socks given post C-section resembled lifestyle socks instead.
Imagine if those first nights navigating sleep with an abdominal wound were soothed with calming pillow spray and a personalised healing tea blend.
Early recovery (2 – 8 weeks back home):
As new life patterns form and the body improves, previous freedoms start to be recalled and frustrations of feeling restricted start to emerge.
Imagine if the guide clearly explained when and what exercise you can do.
Imagine if the app initiated a C-section community platform when the women was ready to share and learn from her experience with others.
Imagine if we could provide shaped scar strips, curated in different skin tones, to offer protection and reassurance to a delicate area.
Imagine if we introduced relaxing bath infusions, at the time it’s safer to take a bath, or a melt in shower version for those without a bath.
Long term realisation (3 – 6+ months):
The reality of the physical and psychological trauma can be delayed and understanding how to come to terms with it can fall into focus much later.
Imagine if the guide concluded with focused pelvic floor AND abdominal exercises, to reintegrate the abdominal muscles and increase strength.
Imagine if the app sent a scheduled notification at 3 months to suggest women seek out specialised physio or talk therapy and provided relevant local contact details.
Imagine if there was a nourishing balm to encourage loving touch of the sensitive skin around their scar.
Imagine if we included a reflection journal, to encourage quiet moments to acknowledge and process what has happened.
Image credit: Erin Patel http://www.erinpatel.com/
Who could ‘own’ this opportunity and deliver the most impact?
We think an existing brand could credibly extend into this space to bring new value to those who need it. What space that brand comes from, is up for grabs.
Could it be a trusted skincare brand with the existing knowledge of women’s bodies? Or could it be a FemTech brand, that already has the digital infrastructure and client base to make huge impact? It could even be a menstrual tracking app, who wish to bridge their audience through a gap in usage?
How could this approach be available to as many as possible? There could be private / public model, where for every kit purchased or gifted, a kit is donated to a state healthcare service or insurance provider – making sure we ‘see’ more women after their caesarean.
References