Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting award-winning projects and ideas from this year's Core77 Design Awards 2012! For full details on the project, jury commenting and more information about the awards program, go to Core77DesignAwards.com

• Philips Sparq
• Designer: Philips Design, Philips Design Healthcare team & Modo, Inc.
• Category: Equipment
• Award: Professional Notable

The Sparq mobile ultrasound system offers a new ultrasound experience. It allows for the scanning and interpreting of ultrasound images at the point of care as simple as possible. Users with limited experience or training who just need basic functionality and ease of operation can use this system with ease. Immediate clinical decisions can be made faster which gives the doctor more time to focus on the patient.

How did you learn that you had been recognized by the jury? We saw the announcement live on Core77.com—late at night!

What's the latest news or development with your project? New launches of systems like this in Healthcare are all significant, and it is still early days for the mobile Sparq ultrasound. However initial feedback is very positive—the system is being well received in hospitals, particularly with respect to user workflow.

What is one quick anecdote about your project? We wanted to progress fast with this project and get our idea to market as soon as possible. During the early creative workshops we explored initial concepts in enough depth to realize that the project was even more complex than we had originally thought. This enabled us to focus and tackle the right set of challenges to meet our customer needs.

What was an "a-ha" moment from this project? Our special moment was actually seeing the user interface coming to life. This is the heart and soul of the Sparq ultrasound. We took the risk and developed a completely new approach from scratch. This involved extensive research and testing, and the commitment of the entire team. And in the end it really paid off.