What does TOPICS credit for its amazing success? Read on.

Excerpt from interview with Greg James, CEO, TOPICS Entertainment, Inc. in the Eastside Journal

"The company has succeeded where others have failed," James said, "largely on the strength of its attention to quality packaging," something he said accounts for 60 percent of a product's salability.

Though the company comes up with package design concepts in-house, the final box design and creation are contracted out.

"Really, it's a better arrangement for everybody," James said. "Let the sales guys do the selling, the art guys do the graphics."
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Excerpt from interview with Greg James, CEO, TOPICS Entertainment, Inc. in the Puget Sound Business Journal,

"We focused on making better products with killer packaging for retailers. We leapt ahead of our competitors. It was just common sense."
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Excerpt from interview with Greg James, CEO, TOPICS Entertainment, Inc. in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Business Section

"With the exception of big companies such as Microsoft Corp., he said, most developers would finish up their software and then slap it into a box, putting little effort into the packaging. I realized that for the most part, developers didn't know anything about publishing," James said.
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So what does that say about Bassett & Brush? Here's the rest of the story.

In the spring of 1996 Bassett & Brush Design began working with Countertop Software, which would eventually become TOPICS Entertainment. The initial project, titled Math Resource Center, was a joint venture product between Countertop Software and Encore Software. Both were fledgling companies with the potential for phenomenal growth, but each was in search of a design firm that could deliver the level of packaging design needed to open doors and drive sales. The success of this first project prompted both companies to afterwards approach Bassett & Brush Design regarding a commitment to work on future packaging.

Since 1996, Bassett & Brush Design has almost exclusively created the packaging and related collateral materials for TOPICS Entertainment, helping the company rise in the marketplace. TOPICS has become the nation's leading publisher of language and reference software, with NPD Intelect® ranking TOPICS as the 9th largest consumer software company overall. With almost 200 titles in its portfolio, TOPICS Entertainment has sold over five million units! Truly TOPICS success has been our success, and we are proud to have been their partners.