When's the last time a barcode caught your eye? If you lived in Japan, it could have been fairly recently. D-Barcode is a Japanese design firm that has been mixing it up in the barcode world since '05, and — as you can see from the samples above — the end result is a lot more interesting than a uniform series of lines. It can be pretty pricey, though: $1,500 for a design, and $200 a year for licensing fees. If you want a code all your own, that can even cost as much as $4,000. That begs the question — what's a unique design worth?

Granted, Japan is the undisputed king when it come to eyecatching design in packaging, and these barcodes are an extension of that. For me, a cleverly designed product can tickle all the right places and get me to make the purchase. What about you? Does design and attitude factor into your decisions when choosing a product?

Fast Company, via swissmiss