Classy Awards: Winner - Firefly
DtM was selected from a record 1,300 applications to be recognized as one of the 6th Annual Classy Award Winners.
“The Classy Awards team spends a year extensively researching social innovations from around the world, and this year’s pool of nominees was one of the strongest we’ve ever seen,” said Pat Walsh, Co-Founder and CIO of Classy.org. “We’re so pleased to have named Design that Matters’ Firefly Newborn Phototherapy program as one of this year’s winners, and to play a role in recognizing their efforts to improve how rural hospitals operate. We were really impressed by how user- friendly yet impactful the Firefly unit is, and are proud to have been able to honor Design that Matter’s work here at the Classy Awards.”
ISHOW: Finalist - Otter
DtM's Otter Newborn Warmer was a finalist for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) iSHOW competition in Washington DC. The ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) is a global competition for hardware-led ventures. ISHOW focuses on the design and engineering journey of taking physical products to market.
Core77 Design Awards: Notable - Firefly
DtM's Firefly Newborn Phototherapy was recognized as a Notable Design by the Core77 Design Awards 2016. We love the Core77 Jury commentary from Maria Guidice, Autodesk VP of Experience Design and John Bielenberg, Partner at Future Partners:
Maria (to John): You had a good way to encapsulate this particular project. What did you say about it?
John: Yeah, so the brief is "blue light on babies," and then design the sh*t out of it.
Maria: That's exactly. This solution, they designed the sh*t out of it. That's why we liked it. It was just well-crafted. It was something that already exists in hospitals, but they kind of upped it to 11. You know, the Spinal Tap reference.
John: This gets the Spinal Tap award.
Maria: Yeah, they took this solution to an 11.
National Endowment for the Arts Grant
The National Endowment for the Arts will provide funding support to Design that Matters for the development of Otter, a durable, portable, cost-effective newborn warmer. The NEA’s flagship grant category, Art Works funds projects designed to achieve one of four outcomes; creation of art, public engagement with art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts.
“The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Supporting projects like the one from Design that Matters offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”
“DtM is honored to be a grantee of the National Endowment for the Arts,” said DtM CEO Tim Prestero. “Design--the translation of user needs into context-appropriate products--is our core competency, and we are applying this expertise to create a newborn conductive warmer designed specifically to allow rural hospitals with limited resources and inexperienced staff to successfully treat premature newborns who are especially vulnerable to hypothermia. It’s fantastic to have the NEA as a partner in this project.”