Apps

From a thread on the handihealth discussion group. @medicine20 tweeted ‘The reason Silicon Valley hasn’t built a good health app’ The general thrust of the article is that current crop of popular mHealth reflect the needs and desires of particular socio-economic groups: white, suburban, materially secure, educated technologists creating apps that compliment the gym going, lifestyle jogging hipsters. Apps become the technological expressions of the ‘quantified self’ of the developers - “Homogenous teams of innovators make products for people just like them. And that’s a problem.” Perhaps this ‘quantified self’ analysis misses for the point, for not just the old and cynical but for the vast majority of the population : “After all, we build what we know.” ...

A single corporate identity for the NHS was introduced in 1999. This replaced the 600 or so logos within the NHS, all competing with each other for the public’s attention. This competition made it difficult for people to distinguish NHS services and communications from those of commercial companies or charities. The single NHS identity was created to address these issues of identity and to improve recognition and accountability. There are guidelines for print, web and powerpoint presentations; colours and branding for each of the organisation types, from dentists to foundation hospitals....