How to design a floor plan

In this article, you can learn how to work with basic designing tools, create booths and draw objects. Alternatively, you can have your floor plan professionally designed by our team in 5–7 business days.

Designer screen

Adjusting measurement unit and grid

At the bottom right corner of the Designer , you'll see a window to switch between meters and feet. The same window allows you to choose the grid size: 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5 or 10.

Close up of bottom right hand corner of Designer with grid options in box with arrow pointing to it

 

A larger grid size will help you align bigger objects, while a smaller grid helps you align elements with better precision.

Examples of various grid sizes from .1 to 10

Using basic tools

The Select tool allows you to drag your mouse over one or more objects to select them.

Select tool icon

The Pan tool lets you click and drag to move objects around the grid.

Pan tool icon

This tool will Undo/Redo a movement. (Shortcuts: Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y)

Undo and redo icons

This tool will Copy/Paste any selected object. (Shortcuts: Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V)

Copy and paste icons

This tool will Flip an object horizontally or vertically.

Flip horizontal and flip vertical icons

This tool will Rotate an object. Holding Ctrl makes objects rotate around their own axis.

Rotate 15° clockwise and rotate 15° counterclockwise icons

Working with booths

How to add and edit a booth

To add a booth, click and drag it from the toolbar. A default booth is 10 x 10 ft (3 x 3 m). Click on the booth to move it or resize it. You'll also see the pop-up window on the left with booth properties, where you can rename a booth, assign its type and add a price or an exhibitor to it.

Designer screen with central large gray booth and boxes around gray booth tool and booth pop-up window with arrows pointing to them

 

If you click the arrows on the booth, the new booth will be named sequentially and perfectly aligned.

Close up of Designer screen with three booths and circle around rightmost booth arrow with arrow pointing to it

 

Read how to create an L-shaped booth here.

How to customize booth colors

Using hex color codes, you can customize booth colors. Copy and paste any color code, and you can customize available, on hold, and sold colors in booth properties.

Close up of Designer screen with large pink booth and booth pop-window with boxes around color choices and color code with arrows pointing to them

Editing booths in bulk

How to select a group of similar booths

If you want to edit all booths of a specific color, type or price, click on one booth and then click the Select all such booths button on the right. Any changes will be applied to all selected booths.

Close up of Designer screen with large pink booth and booth pop-window with box around select all booths icons with arrow pointing to it

How to rename booths in bulk

If you need to rename all your booths, you can use the Bulk rename tool. Click the tool, enter the starting booth name/number, and then click on multiple booths one by one to rename them in order.

Close up of Designer screen with bulk rename icon and set up booth name/number pop-up in boxes with arrows pointing to them

How to search for a booth

The search bar allows you to search for one or multiple booths by name, and they will be highlighted.

Close up of Designer screen with eight booths highlighted and search bar in box with arrow pointing to it

Working with stages and other spaces

Other spaces are used for stages, conference rooms, food courts, etc. It is possible to add descriptions and show schedules for such spaces. Exhibitors cannot reserve them but the organizer can manually assign a specific company or sponsor to any other space.

See live example

How to add other spaces

You can drag and drop other spaces in a similar way as you do booths — choose the green booth icon under the grey one on the toolbar:

Designer screen with green booth icon in box with arrow pointing to it

 

You can also convert an existing booth into the other space. To do that, click on it and change the type in the booth properties window:

Close up of Designer screen with booth properties window and "booth" in box with arrow pointing to it

How to add descriptions and schedules

To add a description or a stage schedule, click on the space, then click Enter description. You can add a text and/or hyperlink it if you have any online seminars.

Close up of Designer screen with "enter description" in box and arrow pointing to it and open "space description" window

See live example

How to show a sponsor of other spaces

You can highlight a sponsor of a particular space or a pavilion by adding their icon and (optionally) text with the company name directly on the space or next to it.

Sample sponsorships

 

It's also possible to hide the space's name and only leave the text if you toggle Hide labels in the space properties.

Close up of Designer screen with "hide labels" in box and arrow pointing to it

Adding images and logos

You can add an event logo and custom icons to your plan. It's also possible to upload a background image (PDF, PNG, JPEG, etc.).

Working with background shapes

These tools are used to create different shapes for the floor plan backgrounds, pavilion outlines, walls, columns, etc. You can resize any shape by clicking and dragging the blue dotted corners or changing parameters in the object properties.

Designer screen with several shapes and different shape tools and Bézier curve pop-up box with box and arrow pointing to it

Working with text

You can add text to your plan for aisles or entrances or make a map legend. You can also customize the font, size and color.

Designer screen with "Hello" written in large letters and start draw text tool and text properties in box with arrows pointing to them

How to change the font

You can customize the font of the background text, booths and other spaces.

Version history

Don’t forget to save your progress by hitting the Save button. All versions are saved, and you can return to a previous version anytime by clicking the round arrow beside it.

Save and previous saves tools in boxes with arrow pointing to them

 

Hover over the version history to see the email of the teammate who saved this version.

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