Rebranded Lab Tests Online Emphasizes The “Medicine” In Laboratory Medicine: New Interactivity, Cleaner Look Among Other Changes
Chicago, IL, July 20, 2009 After 9 years and more than 200 million pageviews, AACC formally unveiled a rebranded and redesigned Lab Tests Online (www.labtestsonline.org) at its 61st Annual Meeting for clinical laboratory scientists being held in Chicago this week. The new branding includes a new logo based on an ancient symbol of medicine that is commonly used by major medical organizations around the world.
The new brand combines the name of the site, “Lab Tests Online”, with a custom version of the widely accepted and recognized symbol of medicine, the Staff of Aesculapius. This is a wingless staff with a single serpent wrapped around it that is named for an ancient Greek god of medicine. Logos for the American Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Medical Council of New Zealand, and the World Health Organization all use a variation on the Staff of Aesculapius. The logo designed for Lab Tests Online includes a serpent wrapped around a test tube. As a showcase for laboratory medicine, Lab Tests Online now more than ever emphasizes that laboratory medicine is a vital part of the medical system.
The rebranding is part of an upgrade to Lab Tests Online that improves on the site’s navigation and visual design to enhance the user experience. The site received accolades as “a masterfully simple page” when it launched in 2001. Users who prefer not to scroll through the site’s long menus of test and condition descriptions can now select the first option in each menu to view an easily-navigated index listing the articles. The new Test Index even includes alternate names for the items listed in the menu – an especially important feature given that laboratory tests may be referred to differently in different labs and regions of the country.
A new font and increased line spacing makes reading some of the more text-heavy pages more effortless, and a new “expand table” option does exactly that for the bigger, more information-packed tables on the site. The expanded table view allows the table to display using the full width of the computer screen, which reduces the need for scrolling and makes it easier to read across each row.
Lab Tests Online’s redesign reflects AACC’s commitment to sustaining this highly regarded patient resource for information on all kinds of blood, urine, and other tests. Traffic to the site continues to increase and now hovers around 1.4 million users each month, and AACC and its partner associations continue to add new material to the site. In addition, Lab Tests Online has been translated into seven languages by partners in nine countries around the globe. AACC expects that another three sites in three more languages will launch before the end of the year.
