Interior designer tools: the must-have list for every professional 

The importance of Interior design software, both 2d and 3d

Old school interior designers will talk about high quality 2D and 3D drawings and elevations completed on drawing boards adorned with hand scribbled notes discussing the color schemes and design ideas. A modern interior design business is reliant on high quality designer apps and design software such as HomeByMe, that can help provide real time design images. The HomeByMe app focus on 3D modeling, 2D and 3D design as well as furniture and accessories, lighting and color schemes. A 3D home planner can give an accurate representation of the finished space and can also regularly be changed relatively simply to suit the clients design ideas; 

•       Color schemes
•       Furniture layouts
•       Lighting plans
•       Mood Boards
•       Full room designs

Can all be created at an incredibly high quality in a fraction of the time. Notes, inspiration images and the whole scheme can be presented to clients in meetings on social media and to team members to allow collaboration and feedback as well as posted to websites and social media for company advertisement. This massively increases efficiency and can massively reduce some of the difficulties involved with project management and client interaction. 

HomeByMe is one of the free design softwares that is at the forefront of challenging the industry norms. HomeByMe has the ability to create 3D modeling of a 2D floor plan and see in real time how the room design looks is a very important tool. We live in a very visual time. To be able to see the placement and effect of furniture and accessories in a room design, whilst also knowing the furniture is from highstreet retailers, makes modern designer apps very popular.

Mood boards can be created and the design ideas, color schemes and room designs can presented almost instantly in an intuitive and online design tool. The software being online mean that it can be viewed and walked around virtually and remotely by the client. Being able to see a high quality 3D model of the design scheme in real time is invaluable.

How does Social network and a website creation influence an interior design business?

Client satisfaction, job completion and the realization of design ideas is all part of running a successful interior design business. Once you have used free interior design software, 3D modeling software, interior design apps and designer apps to place your design ideas in to mood boards and room designs there needs to be a place to display the high quality work. There are a few ways to do this;

•       Physical or online portfolio
•       Website
•       Blog
•       Gallery
•       Social Media

Online portfolio services such as;

•       Portfoliobox
•       Format
•       Wix

Provide a platform to create spaces to view work. These platforms provide ready made templates to create portfolio style spaces, gallery style spaces or full interactive websites. Although there are no free version platforms the above services offer simple drag and drop options. This allows mood boards, room designs, 3d modeling screenshots and other design based images and information to be simply formatted for potential clients to view.

Just as with interior design software there are industry standards in terms of advertisement and portfolio exposure that are being challenged. Websites, until recently have been what interior design business owners have used to drive business and display design ideas and finished projects. Social media is the modern free version. Harnessing the power of social media and targeting future clients is a vital tool for an interior designer. Floor plans, 3d modeling, color schemes, design ideas, furniture and accessories can all be advertised on social media for free. Being able to 3d model concept ideas and create 2D and 3D floor plans, elevations, design schemes and full room designs quickly and efficiently with purchasable furniture from retailers potential clients can use further increases your potential exposure.

Project management and the importance of management software

Design tools, 3D modeling, 2D and 3D drawings, designer apps and interior design software all help to create and design an interior space. The online design tools and free interior design software have meant this is more accessible and intuitive than ever. However, the design is just part of the process. As an interior design business you may have;

•       Team members
•       Manufactures
•       Suppliers
•       Fitters
•       Tradespeople

As a project manager or owner of an interior design business you will need to organize each stage of the process to ensure that the design is high quality and realized within a deadline. Project management is incredibly challenging and the numerous factors that can delay or cause difficulties within a project are endless. Team members require organisation, communication and a real time update on delivery times, design changes and design ideas. Management software has been developed in order to help deal with these issues. Project planning, project management, resource allocation for team members and scheduling are the main management software concerns. Software such as; 

•       Trello
•       Hive
•       Asana
•       Workfront

Are used by interior design businesses to maximise efficiency. A lot of these softwares have a free version. Reducing the potential risk of missing deadlines and the impending cost as well as using the software for free can help increase the profit margin within an interior design business.

Designer apps alongside the free online design software, online interior design tools as well as free version management software have revolutionized modern interior design. These are the must haves for any interior designer.