New Interior Design Technology Lets Customer See 'Whole Picture'

Furniture World Magazine

Masterplan Magnetics, producers of the popular The BoardTM interior design and sales tools announce its newly-formed company, ViewIT Technologies Inc. The new entity’s role will be to manage and market DesignLinx Online, a state-of-the-art 3D online interior design and sales system. The DesignLinx marketing concept focuses on increasing the average ticket size by moving from a ‘commodity-type’ transaction, where competition can be furious, to the more profitable ‘emotional’ sale where the customers love it so much, they want it all. DesignLinx Online creates virtual room design scenes using generic and ‘real world’ items such as furnishings, fabrics, flooring and lighting to bring room designs to life. Ross Barlett will act as ViewIT’s president and director of research and development for DesignLinx and will continue to lead Masterplan Magnetics’ award-winning development staff. Partner Donna Barlett will head ViewIT’s sales team under the same ‘don’t just sell a sofa, sell the whole room’ philosophy that helped make Masterplan the furniture sales tool industry leader. “With today’s unlimited furniture and accessory options, the selection process is often tedious and overwhelming. No wonder the customer becomes confused,” Donna Barlett said. “Now instant gratification can be attained with DesignLinx because it lets them see exactly how all elements of a proposed design will work together. Then, it’s simply a matter of closing the deal.” Touted to create the ultimate ‘buying experience’, DesignLinx lets industry professionals work with customers to design and view exactly what their living space will look like from any angle. If they want to change the fabric on a chair, the interface permits the user to drag a new fabric over the item. The easy to use design tool uses familiar ‘drag and drop’ commands to create a scene, furnish it and paint it. The online interior design tool will soon be available to furniture industry professionals, including interior designers, retailers, decorators, etc., on a monthly subscription basis for around $40 per month. Additional information can be found at www.designlinxonline.com.