Designer Genes.(design is critical component in sales and marketing strategies)

Tape-Disc Business, August, 2000 by Daley, Dan

The business models of the replication industry have evolved over time, transitioning the optical disc from high-value item to commodity, and replacing the original emphasis on engineering with a focus on marketing. A glance at the way the equipment of the industry now looks indicates that this evolution has extended itself to include the esthetic of the industrial design as well.

It is inevitable that design becomes a critical component in sales and marketing strategies under these circumstances. What starts as a utilitarian box designed solely for the purpose of holding the technology that is the object of the initial design mutates naturally and progressively from a situation where form follows function to one in which style and substance are balanced, then...