High-calibre presentations and layouts of your interior designs are crucial to winning projects. In a competitive industry, how you communicate your vision can make all the difference when pitching to clients, assembling a portfolio, and collaborating.
In this article, you’ll learn about five features in Vectorworks Architect that improve the quality of your interior design presentation layouts. Vectorworks Architect has all the tools you need within a single design software — there’s no back and forth needed between design software like SketchUp and AutoCAD to other programs like Photoshop, InDesign, etc.
Guides in Vectorworks Architect offer your layouts structure by helping align drawings and text elements for structure and consistency.
Guides allow you to create custom underlay grid types such as baseline, column, modular, manuscript, and composition grids help maintain alignment of your images, text, and technical drawings. These formatting elements ultimately polish up your presentation layouts and guide a client’s attention for better readability.
Importantly, your Guides can also be saved as a part of a template for future presentations, saving time and standardizing the quality of your presentation layouts.
Title blocks in Vectorworks are vital elements placed on sheet layers to automatically display important project details like the project name, drawing title, sheet number, revision history, and company branding.
Use the Title Block Border tool to place a title block on a sheet layer, choosing from pre-made styles or creating a custom design.
Beyond automation, title blocks enhance the professionalism of your presentation and reinforce your brand identity for clients.
Editing images in your layout presentations with the Edit Crop command is another great way to highlight the important elements of your interior designs.
With this feature, you can remove unwanted portions from images, focus attention on specific areas, and prepare your images for more polished presentations.
Within the Edit Crop mode, you’re able to use any closed 2D object to define the crop area — whether it be a rectangle, circle, or polyline.
Image Effects can boost your presentations, as well, helping your design images have greater depth and visual interest without having to leave Vectorworks Architect.
A black and white filter, for example, can create an emotional impact with a dramatic contrast between light and shadow.
Click here to watch a video that dives further into Image Effects.
Lastly, you should consider the use of colour in your presentation layouts. Vectorworks Architect supports CMYK, RGB, HSV, HEX, Pantone, and paint manufacturer colour options — helping you create cohesive color palettes and visual harmony. These colours can be customized to fit any branding, office standard, or personal preference.
There’s also a direct integration with NCS Colour, a Gold Partner in the Vectorworks Partner Network, at your disposal.
NCS+ Pro subscription simplifies your colour selection processes by allowing you to select, find, and fine-tune the selected colour directly in your Vectorworks design environment. You can explore over 2000 colours in the NCS colour library and easily adjust the hue or the nuance of the colour to find the perfect colour for your presentation layouts.
About Vectorworks
Exceptional design demands exceptional tools - a platform built to deliver absolute creative expression and maximum efficiency. Vectorworks believe your design software should offer the freedom to follow your imagination wherever it may lead you, to seamlessly share your vision at any phase, and to easily interpret the information needed to make the smartest decisions every time.
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Global design and BIM software provider Vectorworks, Inc., will host its global Design Days again, inviting architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture and design professionals to these worldwide networking and educational events. Customers can connect with peers, explore emerging industry trends, and get a firsthand look at the latest features in Vectorworks 2026, launching September 2025.
“Design Days are about fostering a global community where designers can exchange bold ideas, explore cutting-edge tools, and shape the future of design,” said Vectorworks Senior Product Marketing Director Rubina Siddiqui, Assoc. AIA. “This year, we look forward to highlighting powerful updates and features that help architects, interior designers, and landscape professionals design more sustainably and creatively.”
Along with networking opportunities, attendees will hear success stories from industry peers and gain insights from Vectorworks senior leadership on the future of design and technology, including highlights from the Public Roadmap.
Vectorworks Design Days 2025 schedule: • Design Day London: October 14, 2025 • Design Day Vancouver: October 30, 2025 • Design Day Tokyo: December 5, 2025 (Architecture only) • Design Day Sydney: May 2026
Registration is free for each Design Day event. Prospective attendees can secure their spot through the registration page.
Connect with peers, explore emerging industry trends, and get a firsthand look at the latest features in Vectorworks 2026, launching September 2025.
SBID Members earn 2 x CPD points for attending!
Registration closes 7 October. Only a limited number of tickets are available.
Planted Community is proud to announce a new partnership with global design and BIM software provider Vectorworks to launch Design for Regeneration, an exciting UK-wide student design competition seeking to champion the next generation of regenerative designers.
Undergraduate students from across the country are invited to submit work for the Design for Regeneration competition, which reimagines the built and natural world through regenerative design.
The competition is open to students studying architecture, interior and landscape design, furniture, product and industrial design. The winner will receive a £1,000 cash prize, a one-year subscription to Vectorworks Design Suite, and a two-night stay in Planted’s luxury off-grid cabin at River Cottage, Axminster.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Vectorworks on Design for Regeneration, a competition that will showcase the very best in emerging British design talent,” said Planted co-founder Deborah Spencer. “It provides a vital platform for young creatives to demonstrate how regenerative thinking can shape a healthier, more sustainable future.”
“We are committed to nurturing new approaches that centre nature and sustainability at the heart of design, helping to safeguard the planet for future generations.”
Projects will be judged on creativity, innovation, material choices, aesthetics, and crucially clear regenerative intent. The panel will look for designs that not only minimise harm to natural ecosystems, also actively contribute to their restoration and renewal.
As a leading platform for sustainable design, Planted connects people, businesses, and ideas through events, content and collaborations that promote nature-based solutions and regenerative practices.
Deborah Spencer, whose career began at New Designers held at the Business Design Centre and who later founded the award-winning designjunction before co-founding Planted will lead a distinguished judging panel. The panel includes fellow Planted co-founder and former Sunday Times journalist Sam Peters, biophilic design expert Oliver Heath, and River Cottage CEO Stewart Dodd.
Entries must be submitted by Wednesday 31 July 2025. Finalists will be announced in early September, with winners revealed at the Vectorworks Design Day conference at the Royal College of Physicians in London on Tuesday 14 October 2025.
“At Vectorworks, we believe the future of design lies in regenerative thinking that not only respects but actively restores our natural world,” said Tyler French, Vectorworks Academic Marketing Manager.
“We’re proud to support Design for Regeneration in partnership with Planted, a leading platform for sustainable design that shares our commitment to driving positive change. Together, we aim to empower the next generation of designers with the tools to shape a more regenerative built environment.”
Students can enter by submitting their project via the official competition entry form, available at: www.planted-community.co.uk/vectorworkscompetition
Submissions must include: - A short project description (max 300 words) outlining the regenerative intent - Supporting visuals (drawings, renders, models created in Vectorworks) - A brief biography and course/university details
All entries must be received by midnight on Wednesday 31 July 2025.
We love talking to clients about their vision for a project – the layout, the bespoke pieces, the textures and finish. But what if you could actually see all those things in the space itself? Enter 3D visualisation…
Essentially it’s creating a three-dimensional preview of interior spaces using computer software. It offers a more realistic, detailed, and immersive view of the final design than two-dimensional drawings.
At Lewis Knox we use 3D visualisation tools to help clients get a better understanding of complete scheme designs and also to explore specific bespoke pieces like furniture and joinery to help them explore how they will work.
Some people are great at creating mental pictures, but it can be a challenge for others. 3D visuals can do the hard work for us.
2D drawings and floor plans can be tricky to interpret but in 3D our clients can walk through the space, explore different viewpoints, zoom in on specific details, and really interact with the design.
"When it’s the first large scale project a client has worked on with an interior designer we often find that 3D models make a big difference." - Simon Knox, Founder & Interior Architect
Whether it’s materials, lighting, colours, or furniture, seeing the scheme in 3D gives a more realistic representation and helps clients to explore different elements in the design before committing to them.
At Lewis Knox everything we do is centred around collaboration. 3D visualisation helps us to build a deeper relationship with clients and bring them into the design process. It makes it easier for clients to engage at different stages, to give detailed feedback, and to trust the process.
And when you can see things in detail it leads to better – and faster decision making. Seeing the impact of choices around layout, materials, palette in a 3D visualisation helps to anticipate challenges and mitigates problems down the line.
This is particularly useful when developing bespoke pieces. It’s hard to see in 2D the functionality of a bespoke kitchen for example, but a 3D visualisation allows clients to see how individual pieces fit together and work.
3D bridges the gap between expectation and reality. When everyone has a detailed and realistic understanding of every aspect of the design – and from every angle – there are no surprises when the project starts to take shape.
"We’re working on a large-scale residential project at the moment and while the clients loved the scheme in 2D it was on a different level in 3D. She was so happy to see her dream dressing room in three dimensions that there were almost tears!" - Simon Knox, Founder & Interior Architect
We’re always looking for new ways to be creative and to collaborate with clients – and that includes AI. There is definitely potential in the future for AI to play a role in creating 3D visualisations, but the technology isn’t there yet. While from an initial concept perspective we do use Midjourney to explore initial ideas and trends with clients when it comes to architectural accuracy there are too many handrails flying into walls and disappearing staircases in current software.
Got a project you want to discuss? Interested to see your vision in 3D? We’d love to hear from you. Call us at the studio on 01829 271585 or drop us an email: [email protected].
About Lewis Knox
A dynamic interior design studio providing bespoke architectural and interior design services. More than 30 years experience in the luxury residential sector.
CAD blocks — known as “symbols” in Vectorworks Architect — play a crucial role in modern interior design workflows, providing reusable, pre-drawn elements that streamline the design process. These standardised components help you maintain consistency, improve efficiency, and reduce repetitive work.
Continue reading to explore the significance of CAD blocks, their role in BIM workflows, and how you can maximise their potential through symbols.
CAD blocks are pre-drawn objects in design software that provide 2D and/or 3D representations of design elements such as furniture, appliances, and more.
CAD blocks streamline the drafting process by saving time and eliminating repetitive drawing tasks, allowing you to focus on creativity and problem-solving. They also promote organisation and standardisation, helping ensure consistency across projects while reducing the likelihood of errors such as misaligned furniture layouts, inconsistent fixture placements, or incorrect scale proportions. Additionally, CAD blocks provide flexibility through customisation to suit specific project needs, whether by adjusting dimensions, materials, or configurations. This adaptability makes CAD blocks useful for maintaining precision and design intent throughout interior design projects.
Symbols in Vectorworks Architect are classified into the following: - 2D symbols - Used for plan graphics and schematics. - 3D symbols - Used for modelling and visualisation. - Hybrid symbols - Combine both 2D and 3D components for better BIM integration.
A key feature that enhances your efficiency with symbols is the Generate 2D from 3D command, which automatically creates plan graphics from 3D models, saving time and providing better control over symbol detail. With greater control over detail, you then have more options for different graphic outputs at different scale drawings.
Concerning graphics, you can also take advantage of various graphic tools, such as drop shadows, gradients, and custom pen attributes, to enhance the visualization and presentation quality of your symbols. You can also import images as a resource, which can be attached to your symbols to customise and enhance your branding.
Additional data can correspond with your Vectorworks symbols via an attached Record Format. Within these, you can specify things like what department in the store a piece of furniture may be in, the manufacturer, and more.
By maintaining a well-organised and properly scaled symbol library, you’ll have consistency across projects and enriched, imported CAD blocks with additional data, improving their functionality within a BIM environment.
You can build bespoke custom symbols from scratch in Vectorworks Architect or simply choose from a rich library of pre-built symbols from recognised brands like Knoll, Geiger, and Herman Miller. Then, using the Resource Manager, you can improve your BIM workflow by adding relevant information to items such as doors, cabinets, and chairs, ensuring they comply with industry standards.
Brands like Starbucks EMEA leverage symbols to standardise their design processes and accelerate workflows. By creating a well-organised library of reusable symbols, they can design consistently across their retail spaces worldwide. Watch the full customer story.
Join AI and design experts Luis M. Ruiz, senior Vectorworks Architect product specialist; Benjamin Guler, partner and CTO at EvolveLAB Veras; and Joey Swerdlin director at Morpholio, to explore how the integration of BIM software and AI-powered visualisation apps are revolutionising the way interior designers conceptualise and visualise their projects.
Ruiz, Guler, and Swerdlin will also guide you through the seamless integration of these cutting-edge tools, offering practical insights and hands-on demonstrations to enhance your design workflow. From creating intricate 3D models to crafting captivating mood boards, you'll learn how to transform your ideas into stunning visual representations with precision and efficiency.
SBID Members earn 4 x CPD points for attending!
Imogen Dent, Design Build Program Specialist at CEDIA, has given her insights into the industry.
CEDIA is The Association for Smart Home Professionals: first established in the US more than 30 years ago and now a global body.
A modern professional smart home provides entertainment, convenience, comfort, and security, all custom designed and tailored to suit the lifestyle of your client. CEDIA Smart Home Professionals ensure that the technology within your client’s home is safe, secure, reliable, and easy to use.
In the UK, there are more than 3,700 Smart Home Professional businesses designing and installing professional smart homes across the country.
If your clients are asking about how technology can be integrated within your interior design, then, you don’t have to be an expert, you just need to know where to find one.
CEDIA is built upon industry leading education and certification, and cutting-edge technology training to ensure that CEDIA members are well-placed to help designers include technology effectively and elegantly within their designs.
CEDIA offers a Finder Service on its website. This allows interior designers to locate their nearest Smart Home Professional.
A CEDIA smart home professional will make sure that the technology within a property is professionally designed and installed with systems integrated to optimise comfort, performance, reliability and ease of use.
They will also deliver a system that is perfectly attuned to the client’s lifestyle and family needs, and ensure that it blends with the interior design scheme within the home.
Integrating smart home technology for a secure and easy to use experience, and without compromising the home’s décor, demands the skills of a professional — someone who has the technical ability to bring everything together in a synergistic 'whole home' experience. This is where CEDIA members are your perfect professional partner.
Whether your client is building from scratch or renovating their home, it’s important to bring a CEDIA member onto the project design team early to provide expert advice and the necessary system design and planning skills. They understand that technology in the home is a significant investment and will be able to advise on the smart home solutions that are right for your scheme and your client’s lifestyle.
They are also the best-informed professionals and trained in the latest technologies, design, project management, and installation techniques to ensure the best possible professional smart home for your project.
CEDIA offers an extensive range of RIBA accredited CPD courses to help interior designers understand how they can incorporate technology successfully into their schemes. These cover everything from an introduction to the smart home to outdoor entertainment and from cinema and media room design to lighting control. More information can be found here.
Another highlight is the CEDIA Smart Home Awards which celebrate professionalism and excellence within the smart home profession. Interior designers can be inspired to kick-start their next project and find ideas and potential solutions to common interior design challenges when working with technology. Click here to find out more.
The 2023 Professional Smart Home Market Analysis from CEDIA gives a fascinating insight into the likely direction of this fast-growing sector. The four business categories expected to grow the most in 2024 are home cinema, media rooms, outdoor entertainment systems, and lighting/shading.
As homeowners experience the fantastic possibilities of a professionally installed entertainment space at home, alongside the rise of streaming technology, private cinema rooms are becoming sought after by more and more people. The picture quality delivered by native 4K projection systems is quite breathtaking and supported by the performance of exceptional immersive sound systems. The result is a visceral, emotional, and completely immersive connection with big screen movie, serial, or sports watching that is just incredible.
It’s clear that the home is now a multi-functional space that provides a place of rest and relaxation as well as a secure and practical home office, a learning environment, a cinema, gaming room and fitness suite.
A professionally installed smart home taps into this new way of life, by enabling multi-purpose use within the one space. Take media rooms as an example. These are versatile, multi-media and multi-functional spaces that can work as a home working environment during the day, but also provide a great area for TV viewing, listening to music, movie-watching on a drop-down screen and projector system or children’s gaming at other times. Their popularity is growing. Media room design and installation requires the services of professional smart home integration companies to make sure that the technology can deliver on the high-level versatility, reliability and ease of use benefits they demand.
We’re also seeing growth in outdoor lighting and entertainment systems. This technology helps people to be sociable and connect with their garden spaces in a positive way. Smart home lighting and entertainment allows your clients to use their outdoor spaces for longer - and in more ways - than ever before. Technology here also brings significant wellness and mental health benefits to consumers who are better able to connect with the outdoors, at home.
Meanwhile, smart lighting and shading is another major growth area. As well as delivering energy efficiency using dimming technology and location sensors, lighting control systems can create beautiful lighting scenes, designed for specific activities, or to highlight the beautiful interior design, architecture, or decoration of a home. Lighting can also be used to enhance the natural energy cycles of the human body – the so-called circadian rhythm – by mimicking the intensity and colour of the sun at different times of day, to help homeowners feel energised or relaxed, and support better sleep. Smart shading can have not only significant comfort benefits for customers, but can also help with energy efficiency of a home, controlling the climate by blocking heat from the sun, or opening to reap the benefits of the sun’s thermal energy.
Wellness touches every facet of the home and we see it becoming more and more important in the future. Homeowners are actively seeking solutions that can enhance air quality, optimise lighting, control temperature and manage humidity to create an environment that boosts physical and mental health.
As more and more consumers embrace integrated technology into their home and lifestyle, so we see our industry collaborating much more closely with interior designers.
Working together, we can create beautifully elegant interiors and amazing experiences enabled by professionally installed and integrated technology. It’s an exciting time!
We’re excited to continue to educate interior designers on the many ways that technology can enhance the lifestyle of their customers. Whether through inspirational case studies, video content, or CPD classes, CEDIA is constantly analysing the most important industry trends, and working to create ways to communicate these to key partners is the residential design and build industries.
We are excited to be an SBID Accredited Industry Partner which will give us the opportunity to connect with more interior design practices across the UK and Europe. We are looking forward to meeting interior designers at face-to-face events and helping them learn about smart home technology and the benefits it can bring for clients through our CPD programme.
About CEDIA
CEDIA is the Association for Smart Home Professionals™. Established in 1989, CEDIA remains founded on the principles of advocacy, connection, and education. Globally, CEDIA defends the rights of integrators in governmental bodies, gathers industry professionals and allied trades, and creates trainings, standards, and certifications to ensure the smart home industry advances and draws fresh talent.
Latest Version Sets a New Standard in Design Software, Equipping Designers with Powerful and Interactive Toolsets.
Global design and BIM software provider Vectorworks, Inc. is excited to announce the release of Vectorworks 2025, the latest iteration of its comprehensive design software suite. Featuring an array of interactive features and advanced tools, Vectorworks 2025 is set to transform how designers visualise and execute their creative visions and is a true sight to behold at every design stage. The 2025 release encompasses Vectorworks Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Design Suite, Fundamentals, ConnectCAD, Braceworks, and Vision, with the English-language editions of this version now available.
“Vectorworks 2025 represents a major step forward in how our users can approach design and visualisation, opening a whole new world of visual understanding, communication, and limitless potential,” said Vectorworks Chief Product Officer Darick DeHart. “We have carefully listened to our customers' feedback and are proud to have incorporated their voices, suggestions, and requests into many of the exceptional features in this latest version. We believe that this thoughtfully curated version will enhance workflow efficiency and empower designers to push the boundaries of their creativity.”
Vectorworks 2025 elevates the design software experience and allows designers to bring their best ideas to life without sacrificing quality or efficiency. Key enhancements focusing on intuitive visualisation and interactivity include Onscreen View Control for quick model navigation, Two-Point Perspective for easily creating architectural and photography perspectives, and Object Level Visibility for easily managing individual objects' visibility. Plus, the Vectorworks Cloud Document Reviewer streamlines the document review process for anyone from anywhere. Vectorworks 2025 also offers flexible room finish management and automated BIM data assignment for architects and interior designers, while landscape architects and designers benefit from precise 3D tools for curbs, edging, and borders, and enhanced sustainability documentation. The new version also highlights a more significant investment in entertainment products like Spotlight, Braceworks, and ConnectCAD to enhance workflow efficiency while maintaining quality, aiming to meet the specific needs of entertainment industry professionals. With updates designed directly from customer feedback, lighting, scenic, rigging, and event professionals will find features and improvements implemented specifically to address their most-used entertainment industry tools. Additionally, the latest version includes new developments such as Showcase previz mode, available directly within Vectorworks, and automatic GDTF fixture mapping, further ensuring streamlined workflows and enhanced documentation quality.
Vectorworks is committed to providing customers with resources to master new features and innovations. These resources are tailored to facilitate smooth exploration and adaptation to new features, ensuring users can fully leverage their productivity.
Vectorworks' Coffee Break sessions allow users to improve their skills without leaving their desks. These short, informal online sessions are designed to help users explore and master what’s new in Vectorworks 2025 in a relaxed environment. During these sessions, users can interact with expert Vectorworks trainers, ask questions, and witness some of the most exciting new features and tools in action. Upcoming dates include: - Oct. 3: Cable Tools - Oct. 10: Advanced Showcase Features - Oct. 17: Hardscapes & Landscape Areas
The premier learning platform for designers of any skill level, Vectorworks University, helps users expand their skills. It's the perfect destination to learn more about Vectorworks 2025 and its many new updates. Customers can find videos and courses on features in the new version by visiting the 2025 New Features collection. The University also contains a helpful selection of demo files created to show what's possible with Vectorworks.
The Vectorworks training program educates and inspires both novice and experienced designers. It provides the opportunity to acquire new skills, refine workflows, and explore innovative methods to make the most of Vectorworks 2025. For customers who prefer a more interactive approach, Vectorworks provides various in-person training sessions throughout the year, including: - Vectorworks Core – Newbury (U.K.), Oct. 21 –22, 2024 - Vectorworks Core – Newbury (U.K.), Dec. 2-3, 2024
More information on each training course can be found here.
To stay updated on the latest features of Vectorworks 2025, customers can subscribe to the official Vectorworks YouTube channel. The channel provides a wide range of educational content, including detailed New Feature Videos demonstrating the powerful capabilities and updates in Vectorworks 2025. It offers easy-to-follow tutorials, expert demonstrations, and tips for maximising efficiency, making it a valuable resource for designers at all skill levels. Customers can explore the newest tools, see how they are used in real-world scenarios, and gain insights to fully use the software.
Stay informed and inspired with the Vectorworks Newsroom. Subscribers receive the latest news, customer stories, learning tips, event information, and other important announcements from Vectorworks. It’s a great resource to stay up to date on future software updates and dive into in-depth success and learning articles highlighting the latest features of Vectorworks 2025.
With the release of Vectorworks 2025, all customers have access to the dedicated Vectorworks Technical Support team, which is ready to assist with any questions or issues they may encounter while using the latest version of the software. The support team is available to help users navigate new features, resolve technical challenges, and optimise their workflows. This personalised assistance ensures that every customer can take full advantage of Vectorworks 2025's powerful tools and enhancements.
"We understand that embracing new tools and features can feel overwhelming, which is why we are committed to providing our customers with the resources and guidance they need to succeed," said Juan Almansa, senior director of customer success at Vectorworks. "Through our Coffee Break sessions, Vectorworks University, personalised training options, and more, we aim to make learning Vectorworks 2025 an engaging and seamless experience. Our goal is to equip designers with the knowledge and confidence to fully leverage the innovations in this release and enhance their creative potential."
The Vectorworks Community Forum is an invaluable resource for users looking to explore Vectorworks 2025, offering a space to provide feedback, participate in general discussions, and troubleshoot issues across industry-specific forums. With sections dedicated to customisation options, workflow advancements, and resource sharing, users can connect directly with other community members to enhance their Vectorworks experience. The Knowledge Base offers more technical support, including answers to common questions, operating system requirements, video tutorials, and tech tips, ensuring users have access to the information they need to succeed.
The release of localised language versions will begin in October and conclude in the first quarter of 2025. Contact your local Vectorworks distributor for more information about the availability of Vectorworks 2025 in other markets. Vectorworks Service Select and subscription users can download Vectorworks 2025 once the product is released in their local markets.
To learn more about the latest release, visit vectorworks.net/whats-new or join the conversation on social media with #Vectorworks2025.
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