Tamsin SlatterWhen Tamsin Slatter began using Vectorworks around 10 or 11 years ago, she had been taught to believe that design software could not be creative when it came to garden design
Slatter, U.K. director of customer success for Vectorworks, originally had worked in the corporate world of IT before she retrained as a garden designer, where only hand drawing was taught. After starting her own practice, she came upon Vectorworks and fell in love with the product.
“I love the idea that I could create 2D and 3D at the same time and all the boring parts, all the numbers it would just give those to me,” Slatter said. “The reason why I went for it all those years ago was the ability to create planting plans with ease and I could run a report saying how many plants I’d used.”
As Slatter continued to advance her skills in Vectorworks, the company approached her about creating the getting started guide for Vectorworks Landmark. She is also now the Vectorworks trainer for The London College of Garden Design and provides the e-learning online course materials for the Oxford College of Garden Design and other design colleges.
Slatter writes regular tutorials for Vectorworks Service Select subscription service and recently her company, Design Software Solutions, was acquired by Vectorworks to serve as its office in the U.K.
“With more than ten years of experience helping users make the most of their investments in Vectorworks software, Design Software Solutions has provided significant input to the growth of the U.K. market while also providing valuable support and training materials,” said Biplab Sarkar, CEO of Vectorworks. “Tasmin and Adrian Slatter and their dedicated team have the right mix of experience and passion for our products to help us to provide top-quality support for our existing community of designers and resellers in the U.K., while expanding our user base even faster than we have to date.”
Vectorworks helped Slatter structure her design process and allowed her to manage more than one project at a time compared to hand drawing, which a problem she often hears from customers in the U.K.
“One woman could cope with about six projects at a time,” Slatter said. “Her business could only be her. She couldn’t grow. She took on Vectorworks and I trained her and within a year they had 29 projects and were opening another office.”
Slatter says she recommends Vectorworks to landscapers because the software is powerful, yet easy to use once you’ve got a grasp on how the tools work.
“It’s also the ability to reuse resources,” she said. “You can reproduce things; you’re not having to repeat yourself. I like style of drawings that looks really good and it’s possible to have your own style in the software.”
Some of the tasks that Slatter points out as easier in Vectorworks are counting things as the software is able to keep track of what has been used and designers can collaborate with others regardless of their file types.
Slatter encourages those who are new to Vectorworks to just play with it.
“We have a huge amount of training content,” she said. “Use the resources out there; get out there and connect with other users. As well as formal training there is so much available.”
