John Thomson, through a collaborative process that involved a staff representative from each of our sites and a Patient Partner.
Together, this team explored several designs reflecting core themes behind our work: collaboration, the patient-oriented nature of work, and our Maritime-wide focus.
“We wanted a visual identity that would help tell the story of what is important and unique about our work. Two designs stood out because they reflect the fact that health-related research is ultimately about and in service of people,” says Marina Hamilton, MSSU Director.
While the team was developing the draft designs, MSSU staff from across the Maritimes gathered in Moncton for their annual workshop. There, Carla Heggie, a long-serving MSSU Patient Partner, gave a moving address about her personal experience of the healthcare system. To illustrate the connection between patients and research, she said: “We are the data.”
Heggie later explained how this statement first came about and why it’s so important to draw a line between patients and data. “It’s about seeing the patient in research. The patient is always there, and so they need to have a voice in research too.”
This sentiment is the inspiration behind two short-listed designs that were presented to the MSSU Scientific Leadership and Executive Committees, and then put to an online vote open to MSSU staff and Patient Partners.
The new logo consists of the Maritime SPOR SUPPORT Unit’s acronym in English (MSSU) and French (USSM), along with a generic human face represented by graphic elements that are reminiscent of data. The elements of the human face are recognized across cultures and genders, and celebrates what connects us—we are all human and health is important to us all. Photography can be combined with the data graphics as a reminder of the connection between people and health data, and as a means of representing the diversity of people living in our region.
Visit the ‘MSSU Logo’ page to download the MSSU Logo Usage Guidelines and logos.