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SmartDraw.com Lists Top Tips for Effective Space Planning

San Diego, CA.—April 29, 2008 - SmartDraw.com, makers of SmartDraw, the first program to automate the process of creating business graphics, today released its list of "Top Tips for Effective Space Planning." SmartDraw, the world's most popular business graphics software, is downloaded by more than 2 million people every year and is widely used to create polished, professional looking space plans and floor plans for various facilities, homes, and offices.

  1. You can save yourself a lot of time and trouble by taking careful measurements and thinking through the following issues before you start drawing. When measuring existing spaces, lay your measuring tape flat on the floor and measure room dimensions in several places, especially where furniture will be a tight fit. Don't assume your walls are parallel.

  2. Before laying out furniture, look for projecting windowsills, and note the location of electrical receptacles, light switches, vents and thermostats.

  3. When placing a desk, ask yourself, "What do I want to be looking at when I sit there?"

  4. When planning an office, first determine whether the occupant's back will be toward the door. Some people feel very strongly about this. Other design decisions will flow from this basic choice.

  5. To reduce glare, try to avoid having computer monitors directly facing windows.

  6. Leave enough empty space in front of filing cabinets to fully extend the drawer, plus at least 18 additional inches if the drawers will be accessed by a person standing in front of them.

  7. Allow adequate working space at desks or cubicles. The distance from the working side of a desk to the nearest wall or furniture should be at least 42 inches (and most people find 54 or 60 inches more comfortable).

  8. The walkway between a piece of furniture and a wall should be at least 30 inches in a residential space (36" is preferred). In a public space it should be at least 36 inches (42" is preferred).

  9. To get a feel for the width of a walkway before placing furniture, put a tape line on the floor to see how different dimensions would feel.

  10. When placing furniture on a residential plan, remember that most furniture will actually sit 2 or 3 inches from the wall.

  11. Don't line all the furniture up along the walls. Break up spaces by placing pieces out in the room. Setting rugs, sofas, or other furniture at angles can help avoid an overly rigid feel.

SmartDraw, which offers a free trial on its website, offers hundreds floor plan templates that users can modify to quickly create the graphic they need. This includes floor plans for corporate and office layouts, emergency evacuation and planning, home floor plans and room layouts, hotel floor plans, restaurant floor plans, landscape design, retail plans and planograms, store layouts and facility designs, and more.

SmartDraw includes hundreds of life-like textures that users can add to plans such as wood, granite, and marble, as well as built-in photo software making it a snap to incorporate photos into designs. SmartDraw captures images from cameras, lets users crop and scale them, adjust color and brightness levels, and drop them directly into organization charts, and other illustrations.

In addition, SmartDraw features built-in-themes with professionally-designed colors, schemes, and effects for polished results anytime, as well as one-click copy to MS® documents such as Word® and PowerPoint®, as well as PDF.

Readers can check out a complete list of new features in SmartDraw 2008 at: http://www.smartdraw.com/product/upgrade/index.htm. In addition, users can download a free trial of SmartDraw from the company's website (www.smartdraw.com), and may also purchase online. Individual licenses start at $297. The company also provides variety of options for multiple-seat licenses, including an annual subscription agreement for company-wide usage starting at $2,995.


About SmartDraw.com
SmartDraw.com is the creator of SmartDraw, the world's most popular business graphics software and the first program that makes it possible for ordinary computer users to create presentation-quality business graphics in minutes. Each year more than two million people install and use SmartDraw and the company counts more than half of the members of the Fortune 500 as loyal customers.

Founded in 1994, SmartDraw.com is privately-held and based in San Diego, CA. In addition to SmartDraw 2008 for general business and home use, the company also offers SmartDraw Healthcare and SmartDraw Legal editions which include graphics and applications unique to their respective fields. For more information on the company or to download a free trial of SmartDraw, please visit www.smartdraw.com.



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