the baltimore family planning toolkit

supports Baltimore women in choosing what fits their needs.

This family planning toolkit was created in partnership with Baltimore City Health Department.

It is the result of a year’s worth of research, prototyping, interviews, and pilot sessions.

The Baltimore City Health Department noticed a lack of family planning education resources and medically accurate conversation that reached the black community of Baltimore.

They approached our class at MICA to design a resource to support Baltimore women in choosing their own family planning strategy, in whatever way suits them.

The end result is a toolkit containing life-size demos of the methods, conversation starters, and medically accurate information that fits in the bag of any Baltimore home visitor or educator.

It’s approachable, friendly, and meets Baltimore women where they are.

The toolkit’s birth control method guide contains medically accurate information, but is designed to be readable.
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The index tabs allow for multiple entry points, which is crucial for not overwhelming the reader.

The toolkit also contains “What I care about Cards”, which builds conversation and language for the women to use when speaking to their provider about what they want out of their birth control.

Unlike traditional resources, it prioritizes the individual needs and contexts of the women over sheer lab-based efficacy.

We met with over 140 Baltimore for Healthy Babies (BHB) partners, 25 BHB moms, and 6 medical advisers.

The toolkit will be implemented across Baltimore over the next year.