“There’s no such thing as a dumb user… there are only dumb products”
-Timothy Prestero

A couple years ago, we picked up on the NeoNurture, an infant incubator designed by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based non-profit Design That Matters. Since then, founder and CEO Timothy Prestero encountered several real-world problems—non-medical ones that were obstacles for the production of the equipment—useful lessons for DtM’s current project, the Firefly.

In his recent TEDxBoston talk, Prestero relates that the NeoNurture was the equivalent of a concept car in the medical equipment category: it was too beautiful for its own good. He draws on his experience with the NeoNurture to illustrate the difference between designing for inspiration and designing for the real world. The video is well worth 11 minutes of your time:

The results, of course, speak for themselves: the double-sided LED phototherapy lamp has proven itself in the field since its introduction in December of last year. And while Prestero’s talk is called “Design for People, Not Awards,” we’d like to congratulate Design That Matters for their recent wins in the National Design Awards and 2012 IDEAwards.