rfq: cmtp logo and site skin

Summary

This is a Request for Quotation on the following elements of the Center for Medical Technology and Policy website. It consists of three main elements:

1. Organization logo
2. Website navigation elements and color scheme (includes portlets)
   
3. Home and category page templates

All screenshots and visual elements will apply to the development (Plone-based) CMTP site. The standard layout is a three-column "flowing" layout (no fixed widths for the content area). Right- or left-column portlets can be turned off or added at any level of the site, so the design should be simple and flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of screen sizes and content layouts.

Organization Logo

The first component of the website design is the organization logo. There is no expectation of continuing to use the existing flag graphic, nor any of its associated design elements. The logo is intended to be in the header graphic of the website and should blend seamlessly with the website.

Website Navigation Elements and Color Scheme (includes portlets)

The core website components are shown in the  screenshot at right, and consist of the following elements:

• Major site section tabs
• Personal navbarbar (shows login, user name, etc.)
• Portlets (in screenshot, the entity labelled "site resources")
• Breadcrumb trail

Outside of the logo, all elements are constructed from CSS-styled text to simplify updating and site management. Small helper graphics are allowed to enable "sliding doors" effects or rounded corners, etc., but should not be used for any text content

Home and Category Page Templates

The Home and Category page templates should extend the visual metaphor established in the major navigation elements.

Templates can include special icons/page sections and inline or box-level text formatting (heading, subheading, unordered lists, etc.)

Category page template

The Category pages address major areas/directions of the CMTP website. There are two intended audiences for the major site subsections: a "public" face explaining mission, major publications and information for the public, as well as a major collaborative area for group members in that area of study. For example, the Technology Policy Collaborative will principally be an area for members to post items of interest, questions, pointers to articles, blog entries, etc. Only items marked as public will be viewable by non-members.

Home Page Template

The Home Page will often be custom-built using the built-in text editor, but should enable content authors to follow either or both of two-column or single-column treatments within the "content well" (the center portion of the page within the portlets). Pages will be built with a web-based text editor, so elaborate styling is not encouraged, but simple formatting elements to break the page into separate sections would be welcome.

Reference sites

Overall the staff notes that:

• Favorite websites are those that are clean; home page is not text driven but has more links to find information quickly on the website, backdrop is likely white, and navigation bars are a dark color that features white text. 
• 3 column layout seems to be best for giving the most flexibility to add additional portal
• We are open to any color scheme.  Some of our favorite websites seem to contain dark/royal blue or dark green supported with shadesof yellow or orange.
• Given the length of the name Center for Medical Technology Policy, we think it may be best to pursue a simple logo design that focuses on the acronym “CMTP” rather than trying to include the entire name.
• We have not especially liked having “model” shots of close-ups of doctors or patients be at the center of the page.  However, we realize that having images throughout the website is nice to visually offset text.  Potentially we can consider pictures of new medical technologies (e.g., scanners, surgical devices, computer monitors, microscopes, stethoscopes) or objects associated with advancements made in science (e.g., double helix of genes, chromosome markers, tumors, test tubes, micro plates) or generic picture of a researcher/clinician looking through a microscope or physicians operating on patients

 

The following sites have been seen by the staff and reflect some ideas they have been receptive to:

National Institute for Clinical Evidence (NICE)

Sean Tunis, Director of CMTP, really likes the NICE web site.  Perhaps we could adopt some of their design and functionality features for CMTPNET.ORG.  The NICE web site is currently used by many who we want to attract to our website. Sean hopes we can create a CMTP web site with a similar feel.  While the color scheme is not very attractive, we think the NICE website does a good job a presenting a great deal of information on its home page and pages throughout the website and still make all the information feel manageable to navigate.

Avalere Health

Avalere Health is a DC-based consulting company.  We like the look and layout of this website.  While the colors are not necessarily our favorite, we enjoy the simplicity of the pages.  It gives the entire website a nice clean feel.

Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE)

CHE is a national collaborative to bring together all stakeholders related to issues with health care and the environment.  The top half of this page is great.  We like their logo, navigation bar, colors, and clean layout.  However, the bottom half of the page becomes way too text heavy and we don’t like the red headlines that don’t seem to match the color scheme. 

CMS or CDC

While there is a busy layout in both of these government sites, we do like the dark/royal blue and if no good logo image is developed for the CMTP, pursuing a simple logo that these that focus only on the acronym “CMS” or “CDC” seem appealing.

California Technology Assessment Forum

CTAF is a new tech assessment group in California.  This webpage is strong and we really like the logo. It is a very clever play on the double-helix shape of our genes and creating an image that incorporates and focuses on the acronym “CTAF.”   However, this is the logo/image for many new organizations focused on medical technology. Additionally, we do not like the “model” shot of the female physician on the front page 

Center for Global Development (CGD)

CGD is a not-for-profit think tank focused on poverty.  While this website has a lot of stuff on its homepage, we think, similar to the NICE page, it has done a good job at laying it out such that it still feels manageable and be easily navigated.  We also like the logo.   

UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

If we want to incorporate images of people in the logo, we would prefer to do it as images such as the that found in this UCLA logo.  Another example is the OHSU Center for Evidence-based Policy logo.

Health First Europe, Eucomed, or Medical Technology Group

These websites feature some pictures that we think are similar to the images to those that might be useful with which to populate the CMTP website.  Additionally, we like the colors and look of the Health First Europe website as well as the Medical Technology Group.

 

About CMTP

The Center for Medical Technology Policy (CMTP) was established on Jan 1, 2006 and is supported by grants from the California Healthcare Foundation and Blue Shield of California Foundation.  The mission of the new Center is to promote the parallel goals of robust innovation, rapid dissemination and efficient, evidence-driven use of new medical technologies.  While substantial increases in funding of basic sciences, clinical research and translational research are having the desired result of expanding the pipeline of potentially valuable new medical technologies, there has not yet been a comparable focus on building the capacity to produce the evidence base that will support informed adoption and use of these technologies.  As a result, health care decision makers (physicians, patients, health plans) are routinely faced with difficult decisions concerning medical technology without sufficient, reliable information.

The CMTP will serve as a forum in which decision makers, stakeholders and experts can work together to select and design real world evaluations of the risks, benefits and costs of new and emerging medical technologies.  The CMTP will provide close oversight of study implementation, which would be performed by partner organizations that are proficient in conducting real world prospective studies.  By establishing an institution dedicated to the rapid and efficient production of new evidence that meets the critical information needs of health care decision makers, we hope to support more rational, appropriate and cost-effective use of new and emerging technologies.