New, so-called direct manufacturing methods will soon let individuals make products at home using high-tech, smaller versions of industrial equipment. Smaller tool and die shops are now using laser sintering machines, previously the province only of large manufacturers, to "print" or build 3D parts directly from CAD models. Rust Belt methods are left in the dust as companies increasingly scramble to distinguish themselves from competitors. Design thus plays a more sophisticated role in developing products that will sell. In fact, the cover of a recent magazine* states, "Design drives spending, saving, and desire." Top better understand the subtleties of design, MACHINE DESIGN magazine now includes a monthly column covering topics on Industrial Design. Due to print soon, one column will report how "shape speaks a language that is understood on an instinctual level." In other words, visual cues speak volumes.
..........Innovative design might be a matter of targeting the primal brain?
