User-friendly! A conversation with Freedom Australia

Freedom is a major furniture and homewares retailer with locations across Australia and New Zealand. I recently spoke with Courtney Olds, an interior designer at the Freedom store in Victoria, Australia, to learn how and why she uses magicplan to help her customers.

Will you please tell me about your role at Freedom?

I am an interior designer. So, I help customers design new homes and redesign their existing homes.

What is your process for working with a customer?

I will go to a customer’s home for an initial consultation, and I’ll have a chat with them about what they would like to see in their space. I learn whether they want new pieces, or if they're happy to work with existing furniture and just want accessories, such as artwork or other decorative pieces. Then I'll take measurements and use magicplan to create a floor plan. That really helps me piece everything together, from furniture to accessories, so that I can develop a plan.

When the plan is ready, I present it to the customer. I’m able to show them, visually, how certain new items will intertwine together with their old items in the space. If the customer is happy with the plan, then we order all the new pieces. When those arrive, we install everything and make their house beautiful.

How do you present your visual floor plan to the customer?

I always present a mood board that will give them a rough idea of color and texture, and shows how things would work with their existing pieces. But then I'll also show them the visual floor plan, to show how exactly different pieces would fit in the space. My role is not just knowing how to incorporate the old with the new, but also making sure that everything is going to fit perfectly and not be too oversized.

With magicplan, you can easily put in block images representing different pieces of furniture, and then move those around. That’s been really helpful in just being able to quickly show a customer how you can manipulate the space and how you can go bigger or smaller.

What process did you have before you implemented magicplan?

I was using the industry-standard design software whilst I was at university and doing interior architecture and design. But I found it was quite clunky and slow. You have to draw out every single line – your initial inside and outside wall lines – and then cut and crop out doorways and windows. Then you have to create every piece of furniture by individually draw out each line. It’s just time-consuming and difficult to use, and quite tedious when you’re having to sit there with the customer while you're drawing.

Whereas, I find that magicplan is just so much quicker and easier. It saves so much time, and the customer can see what you're doing. They don't get confused and lost. I've even found some customers will actually join in and move things around with me. So that's always been a lot easier – to be able to invite them to actually visualize and manipulate the space with me, as opposed to me just sitting there working and disconnecting from them.

Do you and the other Freedom designers just use iPads, or do you use computers as well?

We solely work off of our iPads because our computers are quite outdated. Plus, it's easier to walk around the showroom with an iPad and really be able to connect with customers.

How did you learn how to use magicplan?

Mostly, I started off at home just kind of playing around with magicplan, mapping out my own bedroom. It came quite naturally to me because I was so used to using a program that was more difficult. It t was pretty self-explanatory and easy to use.

What is the key benefit for you while using the magicplan app?

I think the best part is the fact that it is so easy to use, and you can really stay connected with your customer and get them involved. That is so important because, at the end of the day, it's their home and you want them to feel that they are part of the design process.

In your opinion, what is the best thing about using magicplan?

The best part of magicplan is the fact that everything is preloaded and so easily customizable. You can literally plug anything in and put it in pretty much any dimension.

Is there a magicplan feature that you have not yet tried that you would like to use?

The 3D tool would be amazing to really focus on and learn how to use, because I think that would be even more of an added benefit when presenting to my clients.

Would you recommend magicplan to other interior designers?

magicplan is something I definitely use every day. It has been one of the best time savers for me and it’s user-friendly, so I would definitely recommend downloading it and using it. I actually tell some of my clients to download it themselves, so that they can use it when they're out shopping or changing things in and out of their rooms.

If you could describe magicplan in one word, what would it be?

I think the number one thing that comes to mind is “user-friendly.”

Thank you so much, Courtney at Freedom in Victoria, Australia!

You can also check out how magicplan helps Discreet Restoration to easily explain their work process to customers.

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