SketchUp-centred DTP Workflow
For all you SketchUp Retail, Shopfitting, Activation, Event and Experiential Designers, here is one stellar resource to review and or overhaul your SketchUp-> DTP Workflow.
Over the last few years, our studio has shifted from:
“design → artwork → hope it fits” to “design → export measurements → artwork that fits because the SketchUp components told us what is needed.”
It’s been a journey, especially in environments where print isn’t decoration… it is the space.
Retail lightboxes, Gondola Headers, Lightbox Signage, Cosmetic Counters, Wine Displays, Mall Kiosks; all the storytelling lives in the artwork, and the artwork lives in the space.
The turning point wasn’t better printers or better software.
It was treating SketchUp as the foundation of the DTP workflow, not just the 3D workflow.
Once we started building the substrates first (lightbox frames, Dibond panels, Perspex faces, vinyl areas), everything changed:
• Artwork no longer floated → it belonged.
• The Narrative responded to real scale.
• Designers didn’t guess → installers didn’t struggle.
• Production didn’t “fix the design” → it delivered the design.
The flow now feels simple and reliable:
🔹 Capture the real space
🔹 Model every print surface at true scale
🔹 Export placeholder faces to set up the artwork
🔹 Design in DTP software with exact dimensions
🔹 Bring final artwork back into SketchUp to test hierarchy & legibility
🔹 Render for approval
🔹 Deliver production-ready print packs
- No more reprints
- No more “panel C doesn’t match panel D.”
- No more installers calling from the store.
The digital conversation meets the physical world before production, not after.
For anyone wanting to build this kind of SketchUp-centred DTP workflow in their practice, I’ve started documenting it as a live Google Sheet Resource:
SketchUp → Artwork → Print workflow (Google Docs)
https://lnkd.in/djnswzfm
It’s not a list of software, it’s a step-by-step journey of how the space, the model and the artwork stay connected all the way to installation.
If you’ve built a digital-to-physical workflow of your own, I’d love to hear from you. Which step in your process made the biggest difference?
#SketchUp #RetailDesign #DTP #LargeFormatPrint
#BrandExperience #3DModeling #DesignWorkflow
#InteriorDesign #ExhibitionDesign #Affinity #Canva
#D5Render #StudioJDB
