Lisa Michelle Johnson is the president and a certified residential real estate appraiser at LMJ Appraisals

Eric Vazquez works with a North Carolina Community Health Center

Adam Glove's 'Dream in Gold' Gala was One of the Hottest Events in Hollywood with a Packed House

Just when former runway model Krystle Kelley thought her modeling career was behind her, life had other plans. At 38, Krystle is stepping back into the spotlight.

Photo credit: AJ Caneria  Editor’s Note: Social Skills is a bi-monthly feature in RISMedia’s Daily News focused on social media and digital marketing tips, trends and solutions for agents and brokers. As a real estate professional, attending industry events like RISMedia’s 2024 CEO & Leadership Exchange offers unlimited opportunities to expand your network and elevate…

The post Social Skills: Harnessing the Marketing Power of Industry Events appeared first on RISMedia.

As Trump’s victory over Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris became apparent on Wednesday, bond markets reacted sharply. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 4.479%, its highest level since July, according to news reports. Mortgage rates responded in kind, with the average 30-year fixed rate rising to 7.13% on Wednesday, up nine basis points…

The post How Industry Experts See Trump’s Return to the White House Impacting Housing appeared first on RISMedia.

Australia's apparel and clothing imports rose 3.43 per cent YoY to $3.368 billion in July-September 2024, despite a slight drop in September. Imports of textile yarn and related articles also increased by 4.11 per cent, while fibre imports fell 6.06 per cent. Exports of textile fibres saw a 7.69 per cent decline, continuing a downward trend from the previous fiscal year.

Online influencers are an increasingly important way for companies to find new customers and drive sales. Whether you're a marketer who wants to more effectively use social media or a consumer targeted by influencer content - in good ways and bad - you'll benefit from better understanding how the industry works. Emily Hund, researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that it was born from not only increased connectivity but also Great Recession job cuts which forced people in creative fields to innovate. She argues that these are entrepreneurs who now have an impact on many different sectors of the economy and offers advice for both them and the brands wanting to develop better influencer marketing strategies. Hund is the author of the book The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media.

The debate around NAR’s Clear Cooperation policy continues among brokers, MLSs, and other real estate industry players. Opinions are sharply divided on this policy, which dictates how and when property listings are created and shared. This polarizing debate threatens the MLS operating model that has successfully served agents and consumers for decades with the most…

The post Technical Capabilities Can Help the Real Estate Industry Navigate Clear Cooperation appeared first on RISMedia.

EDANA’s Sustainability Forum, themed 'Building a Sustainable Future Together,' convened leaders in Brussels to discuss clean energy, corporate sustainability, circular economy, and EU policies. Highlights included sessions on renewable investments, sustainable practices, and regulatory impacts, emphasising industry-wide collaboration for environmental progress.

The 21st International Istanbul Yarn Fair, Türkiye’s largest yarn-focused event, will run from Feb 26-28, 2025, aiming to foster industry growth. Occupying over 50,000 sqm, the event will feature 500+ exhibitors showcasing innovative yarns. Aiming for 20,000 visitors, the fair supports industry growth by fostering collaborations and showcasing products meeting global standards.

Page Industries Limited has reported revenue of ₹12,463 million (~$147.7 million) in Q2 FY24, a YoY increase of 11 per cent, with sales volume rising 6.7 per cent to 55.2 million pieces. EBITDA grew 22 per cent YoY to ₹2,815 million (~$33.4 million), with a margin of 22.6 per cent. PAT was ₹1,953 million, up 29.9 per cent. For H1 FY24, revenue was ₹25,238 million, growing 7.3 per cent YoY.

Real estate and technology industry veterans Danielle Wilkie and Heather Frick have announced the launch of The Helm—a coaching platform powered by trusted female minds in real estate.  The Helm addresses a need for a more distinct coaching platform tailored to fit the occupational needs of seasoned female professionals within the real estate industry, as…

The post Real Estate and Technology Industry Veterans Launch The Helm appeared first on RISMedia.

Page Industries Limited has reported revenue of ₹12,463 million (~$147.7 million) in Q2 FY24, a YoY increase of 11 per cent, with sales volume rising 6.7 per cent to 55.2 million pieces. EBITDA grew 22 per cent YoY to ₹2,815 million (~$33.4 million), with a margin of 22.6 per cent. PAT was ₹1,953 million, up 29.9 per cent. For H1 FY24, revenue was ₹25,238 million, growing 7.3 per cent YoY.

Dorel Juvenile is the world's leading juvenile products company. When they wanted to develop a new infant car seat, they turned to Pennsylvania-based ID firm DesignThink.

DesignThink as the Innovation Incubator for the Ultra Lightweight Maxi Cosi Coral XP

A Cold January Day in 2017

The team at DesignThink was asked to visit Dorel Juvenile Group USA to review a "Special Project". The development team at Dorel JG wasted no time introducing us to their latest infant car seat (ICS) project. They were experimenting with the idea of developing a seat that would reduce the struggles parents faced when trying to transition their baby from the car and carry their baby in the removable seat portion of the ICS. The team at DesignThink has designed several car seats over the years and we instantly recognized the unique opportunity, as well as the challenge that this project offered, and were eager and excited to get started.

Our Role as the Innovation Incubator

We partnered with Dorel to act as the innovation incubator to lead the project team through the fuzzy front-end and define the product's overall features and characteristics of use. Upon successful concept definition, the project would be positioned under the Maxi Cosi brand and ultimately transferred to the Maxi Cosi team in Europe and a European design group to carry the innovation to production.

The Problem at Hand

By removing the seat from the base that is installed in the car, parents can take the baby with them while running errands or visiting people and places. However, a problem associated with this system is that some removable seats can weigh up to 16 lbs. and the baby can weigh up to 35 lbs. for a combined arm-crushing weight of 50+lbs.!!

We established two primary goals: 1) reduce the overall weight of the seat to lighten the load, while maintaining structural integrity as to achieve a top crash test rating, and 2) develop new methods that enable parents to more easily lift the seat when moving in and out of the vehicle and when transporting the child in the seat.

Our Approach (Decades of Experience and User Understanding Put to Test)

DesignThink is one of the leading firms in car seat development having brought several seats to the market and has a long history of creating break-through innovation, but this project pushed our team in new ways. The structure for the project utilized DesignThink's simplified "DEEP" process;

Define that for which we will solve

Express possible solutions as quick thumbnail stories

Explain the "what – why – wow" related to user needs

Prototype to demonstrate the merits of the idea

How the Project Unfolded

A series of innovation workshops were hosted at our studio to enable the team to think and problem solve with product at hand. The objective was to think in the "ideal" (do not worry about cost and construction initially) and to "fail fast" (explore, evaluate, and evolve). The following provided the high-level framework for how the team identified and pursued their ideas.

Established Design Targets

Led by our usability team, along with team members from Dorel, we hosted a several day innovation workshop at our studio. We began with a collaborative defining of the design targets based on use, expectations, pain points, and opportunities, which we affinitized and moved directly into physical prototyping to address and evaluate how well the concepts improved the user experience during day-to-day interactions.

DEEP: Innovation Workshops to prototype your idea. You are encouraged to be chaotic and messy! Fail fast! Dorel made sure plenty of product was on hand to fuel the innovation.

Inutitive Carry

Enhanced Confidence

Improved Transitions

Development of Design Targets

Role-Play is the Best Way

To truly understand and empathize with users, we role-played, exploring typical use-case scenarios to inform our ideation. Placing ourselves in the same situations helps us quickly evaluate and improve our concepts.

Handle-Carry:

Evolution for improved ease when attaching the seat to the base and removing the child from the vehicle

Cradle-Carry:

Exploration to improve how parents can bond with the baby in a more natural holding position

Cross-Body Strap:

Exploration to provide alternate ways to carry the baby while reducing the effects of weight and fatigue on the parent

Iterative User Evaluation Cycle

Our early thoughts and ideas were evaluated by the team and with parents in our research lab. These ideas were then refined to strengthen the evolving direction. The learnings obtained through this method enabled the team to focus on the most meaningful directions and build their value. Listening, understanding, and empathizing allowed our team to develop new ideas in this category that were previously unexplored.

DesignThink presents the refined design direction.

A series of prototypes and user evaluations enabled us to reach a stage of concept definition for an ultra lightweight car seat that provides parents with improved ways to carry, hold, and secure their baby.

Our Results

User-Centered Insights lead to Market Defining Solutions

Having developed many juvenile products such as car seats, strollers, and highchairs, DesignThink understands the day-to-day challenges parents face, both physically and emotionally. We embarked on this project with Dorel to define a new car seat with features that take into account those challenges and offer relevant and meaningful solutions. Exploring innovation that is rooted in user insights enabled our team to quickly define those solutions and overcome technical hurdles to deliver new experiences to address real problems faced by parents when using an ICS.

Defining the Direction

As mentioned, DesignThink was hired as the innovation incubator in the fuzzy front-end to develop and define a new architecture for this seat. Our work was documented and handed off to the Maxi-Cosi team in Europe. The output of our innovation incubation became the driving framework used by the teams in Europe to create a truly meaningful and relevant solution for parents in this category.

The DesignThink team is very proud to have been selected by Dorel to play such an important "behind the scenes" role in setting the direction for, and contributing to the success of, the Maxi Cosi Coral XP.

It takes a Village to Design a Car Seat

Snapshot of the iterative concept development that led to the final product

You can see more of DesignThink's work here.

APTEXPO 2024 has opened at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, gathering over 300 international delegates and exhibitors to discuss industry resilience and sustainability. The event spans three days, featuring keynote speakers, panels, and over 200 exhibitors. Focused sessions address global market trends, digitalisation, and cooperation to build a stronger Asia-Pacific textile network.

Thank you Australia! Public helps NFSA restore Proof

Australia donates rare 1920 film to the IFI Irish Film Archive

Peter FitzSimons to discuss race relations in Australia at the NFSA

Countdown to Sounds of Australia; nominate your favourites today!

Rosen Hotels and Resorts celebrated a milestone today as it announced plans to build a new skybridge connecting Rosen Plaza, its 800-room convention hotel, with the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC).

The North Carolina Industrial Commission opened registration for its annual conference being held Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at the Raleigh Convention Center. The 29th annual North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference will…

The Arizona Industrial Commission announced that it's Medical Resource Office has added training opportunities for providers, payers and third-party administrators. The training course for providers is comprised of four, 30-minute webinars…

In this tutorial, we will create a retro styled rocket in Photoshop. We will explore the importance of details in creating a complex illustration, as well as how to create realistic surfaces.

Anthony Ventura, an award-winning Canadian artist, is known for his highly detailed and expressive illustrated portraits. A graduate of Sheridan College’s Illustration program, he has worked with major clients like Playboy, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, Doritos, and ESPN, with standout celebrity pieces featuring Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Nikki Sixx that showcase his exceptional linework […]

Early 20th-century cigarette ads glamorized smoking as a symbol of sophistication, elegance, and modernity, using stylish imagery and catchy slogans like “More doctors smoke Camels” and “It’s Toasted” to imply quality and safety. These advertisements, often featuring celebrities, marketed smoking as part of a glamorous lifestyle, making it appear desirable and socially acceptable despite the […]

Thomas Bohm rethinks technical illustrations and data visualizations, sharing interesting and uncommon examples of how to present data and information. Bar graphs and pie charts are great, but there’s so much more to explore!

The retro artwork that used to appear on old VHS tape covers has become an iconic design style that is often mimicked today. Follow along with this tutorial to create your own fun retro style poster based on the artwork of those VHS cassette covers. We’ll use Illustrator to construct the design with text and […]

The post Illustrator Tutorial: Design a Retro VHS Cover Inspired Poster appeared first on Spoon Graphics.

Follow along with this Adobe Illustrator tutorial to create a colourful gradient logo design. I’ll show you how Illustrator’s shape builder tool makes it easy to construct the basic vector logo design, then we’ll apply a vibrant colour scheme using gradients. Subscribe to the Spoon Graphics YouTube Channel Source File Download with membership

The post Design a Modern Gradient Logo Using Adobe Illustrator’s Shape Builder Tool appeared first on Spoon Graphics.

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In this tutorial we’ll be making a nautical scene with underwater elements. We’ll be using basic geometric shapes as well as creating our own brushes and doing some freehand drawing to create a unique ocean design. Let’s get started! Tutorial Details Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – CC Difficulty: Intermediate Topics Covered: Shape Building, Paintbrush Tool, […]

The post Create a Stylized Ocean Design in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Vectips.

In this tutorial we will be creating a cute smiling heart with floral decorations, that can be easily turned into a postcard by adding text to the composition. We’ll be using basic shapes and tools for creating the smiling heart itself and adding details. Let’s get started! Tutorial Details Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – CC […]

The post How to Draw a Smiling Heart for St. Valentine’s Day in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Vectips.

Follow this tutorial to create a trendy flat teacup logotype in Adobe Illustrator! We’ll be using and modifying basic geometric shapes, working with Align panel, Pathfinder functions and learning simple yet very useful tips and tricks. Let’s get started!   Tutorial details: Program: Adobe Illustrator CC Difficulty: Beginner Topics Covered: Logotype Design, Shape Building, Compositional Skills Estimated […]

The post Design a Flat Teacup Logotype in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Vectips.

In an era where remote work continues to thrive, the concept of being a digital nomad has gained significant traction. As boundaries blur and opportunities become global, many adventurous souls seek to combine work with travel, exploring new destinations while maintaining their professional endeavours. Australia, with its stunning landscapes, vibrant cities, and thriving economy, often […]

The post A Digital Nomad’s Guide to Australia on a Subclass 600 Visa appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

The Restaurant (premium dining) industry Labour Agreement, also commonly known as the Fine Dining Labour Agreement is a specific labour agreement available in Australia designed to address skills shortages in the fine dining sector. This agreement allows fine dining restaurants to sponsor overseas skilled workers for specific roles that are otherwise difficult to fill within […]

The post Restaurant (premium dining) industry Labour Agreement appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

As we near Citizenship Day on 17 September, Australians have an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and importance of Australian citizenship and the responsibilities and privileges we have as citizens. Australian Citizenship Day was first celebrated in 2001. Every year on this day, Australia welcomes thousands of new citizens in local communities across the […]

The post Becoming an Australian Citizen by Conferral appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

Australia is a nation built on migration, with many citizens tracing their heritage back to different parts of the world. For those born outside Australia to Australian parents, citizenship by descent offers a direct route to becoming an Australian citizen. What is Citizenship by Descent? Citizenship by descent is a way for individuals born outside […]

The post Becoming an Australian Citizen by Descent – A Path for Those Born Abroad appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

Are you looking for a way to create an effective grid system in Adobe Illustrator? If so, then you've come to the right place! This quick tutorial will teach you how to make a comprehensive and visually appealing grid using the popular vector graphics software. While creating grids manually can be time-consuming, with this tutorial,...

The post How to Make a Grid in Adobe Illustrator (Rectangular and Polar) appeared first on Bittbox.

Ready to add the finishing touches to your design in Adobe Illustrator? But the objects aren’t properly aligned? Does your design look unprofessional because it isn’t adjusted properly? Well, worry no more! Because with just a few steps, this tutorial explains how to use Illustrator's Scale Tool to resize, adjust, and align your design perfectly.  ...

The post Scale Tool in Illustrator: What It Does and How to Use It  appeared first on Bittbox.

The background plays a significant role in making a design pop. As a designer, changing the background color is something you'll probably do frequently when working in Adobe Illustrator. There are several ways to change the background color in Adobe Illustrator. In this tutorial, we'll learn how to change the background color in Illustrator quickly...

The post How to Change the Background Color in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Bittbox.

When you're working in Adobe Illustrator, you may need multiple layers. And when we're talking about having multiple layers, it's easy to confuse layers with artboards. However, duplicating layers and duplicating artboards are not the same. You can have multiple artboards (or canvases) in Illustrator, and you can create multiple layers on a single artboard....

The post How to Duplicate a Layer in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Bittbox.

Who doesn't want their designs to stand out? If you want to make your design unique, you have to go beyond the same old shapes. In such case, the Free Transform Tool is what you need. This tool allows you to manipulate your objects and shapes in many ways. This tutorial will provide you with...

The post Guide to the Free Transform Tool in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Bittbox.

We all know that color is the essence of any artwork. It's the language through which artwork communicates its message and tone. And recoloring artwork can bring new life to a design, giving it a fresh and captivating look. Fortunately, Adobe Illustrator offers a fantastic tool that makes recoloring artwork easy, smooth, and flexible. In...

The post How to Recolor Artwork in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Bittbox.

The Slice Tool in Illustrator is an excellent tool for dividing artwork into smaller pieces for various purposes, like web design, logo creation, creating interactive elements, and more. It separates parts of an element that can be saved as individual images. In this tutorial, we'll discuss the concept of the Slice Tool and provide a...

The post How to Use the Slice Tool in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Bittbox.

I’ve recently created new illustration, Japan Earthquake 11-03-2011, that was inspired by the recent disaster in Japan. With this illustration I’ve joined force with To Japan with Love, a group of artists who are aiming at raising funds for Japan earthquake relief efforts. My illustration will be showcased at the art show (May 4th, 2011 […]

I just uploaded four of my illustrations (Koi, Peacock, Abstract Pheonix, and Japan 11-03-11) on Society6, a print shop that sell art prints on behalf of the artists around the world. You can get illustrations printed on various meterials: sketched canvases, posters, T-shirts, hoodies, laptop and iPhone cases.

Check out this awesome cake made by Elena based on my Phoenix illustration. According to Elena, it took her about a week, 5 hours each day, to finish it. I’m amazed with the details and colors she input on the work. It depicts the features of the Chinese phoenix. The cake was for a local cake […]

Below is the latest illustration, Redesign the Web Poster, that I did for Smashing Magazine’s poster design contest: Redesign the Web, Redesign the World. The work is done with Adobe Illustrator and then touched up with Photoshop.

About 12 years ago, in 2006, I had what at the time felt like the biggest technological change in my life. I switched from a PC to my first MacBook Pro. Switching computer operating systems at the time seemed like a massive chasm to overcome, but I did it and I’m glad I did. My …

Continue reading "The Apple TV 4K Device is a Deeply Flawed and Frustrating Product… for Me"