Maria takes a look at more products from the Hot Product Sneak Peek at CHA Mega Show 2016, including the PenBlade and Beadalon's Bangle Bracelet Weaver.

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This really easy Christmas Paperclip kids project can be used to decorate their notebooks & planners!

The Philippines’ apparel exports are projected to reach $1 billion next year, backed by an expected boost from the FTA with South Korea expected to be effective in Q1, the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines said. It believes the FTA will attract South Korean players to set up units in its economic zones and domestic manufacturers can penetrate the zero-tariff Korean apparel market.

Seventy-four per cent of online products in the UK feature green claims, averaging 2.9 claims per product, according to BRC and Provenance research. Nature-related claims were most prevalent, while carbon-related claims were few. To support compliance, BRC and Provenance are launching Retailer Green Claims Forum, promoting transparency in green marketing.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released its annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2025. Detailed information about the adjustments and changes to the over 60 tax provisions impacting taxpayers can be found in Revenue Procedure 2024-40. The adjustments described below generally apply to income tax returns that will be filed in 2026 for tax...

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Managing new entity and payer enrollment with payers can be a complex, time-consuming process for health care organizations. Whether launching a new practice, merging with another entity or expanding into new markets, the administrative burden of enrolling with insurance payers and Medicare/Medicaid is significant. From navigating payer-specific requirements to meeting tight deadlines, it’s easy for...

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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.

There have now been four or five years of huge ocean freight rate volatility, according to Drewry, which has cautioned its customers to expect little change in 2025, likely the fifth year in a row of high volatility. Shippers need to be aware that the shipping industry will continue to be disrupted and there are risks and a need for contingency plans and active vendor management, cautions Drewry.

Global cotton markets saw slight declines and stabilisation in recent weeks, with NY/ICE December futures trading between 67–75 cents/lb since June, now at 71 cents/lb. The global A Index dipped from 85 to 83 cents, while China's index dropped from 101 to 97 cents due to a weaker yuan. Indian and Pakistani spot prices also declined, but both rupees remained stable against the dollar.

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.

Anders was approached and selected by the producers of the television show “World’s Greatest!…” to be featured on a segment for the accounting industry. Anders is honored to be recognized on the World’s Greatest! TV Show, an award-winning National Television Series airing on the ION Network. The segment gives a glimpse into the collaborative and...

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Anders was recognized on Missouri Lawyers Media’s 2021 Reader Rankings list for Forensic Accounting Providers. As one of the top three firms honored on the list, Anders was nominated and selected by the readers of Missouri Lawyers Media in an annual ranking of top businesses and firms in the legal profession. The Anders Forensic and...

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We all know that the past year has driven innovation throughout the economy. As business conditions shifted in early 2020, innovators across the globe were forced to use any means to keep their organization open. The digital transformation we have seen in our society over the past year is not going away anytime soon, so it’s important for leaders and visionaries...

The post 10 Ways to Automate Business Processes Using a Tool You Already Have: Microsoft Power Platform appeared first on Anders CPA.

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Thank you so much for your comments on the most recent life change I wrote about, I am grateful to all of you for your encouragement. How nice it is to know I have so many friends out there that have been visiting for so long. I’ve assembled table linens and dinnerware so I’m ready…

This release describes how e-cigarette affect middle and high school students

This release explains the latest campaign for TIPS from Former Smokers in it's 5th year.

More than 1.8 million smokers attempted to quit smoking and an estimated 104,000 Americans quit smoking for good because of the nine-week-long 2014 Tips From Former Smokers ( Tips ) campaign.

Data regarding smoking, quantity and access to cigarettes by youth in 45 countries during 2013 and 2014.

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Amanda Manley got a job at Tesla for $19 an hour and quickly became a die-hard employee, but she now says working there is not for the faint of heart.

US stocks have been on a roll since Donald Trump's victory. A bullish investment chief shared three concerns that investors should keep their eyes on.

Google's new Learn About tool offers an interactive approach to learning about topics, including heady questions like whether money buys happiness.

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These are today's mortgage and refinance rates. Mortgage rates remain elevated thanks to uncertainty around how inflation will trend in the coming years.

Open a new bank account today and earn a top interest rate. Our experts have researched the best rates on checking, savings, and CD accounts to help you maximize your earnings.

It has been estimated that by 2024, consumer retail spend via chatbots worldwide will reach $142 billion?up from $2.8 billion in 2019

Leveraging this finding of the brain's superior ability to recognize patterns, a next-generation viewer uses three progressive panels to display search results and document pages as visual thumbnails

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