Innovating Home Design: An Interview with Alexey Sheremetyev, Planner 5D Founder

Driving Innovation in Home Design

Alexey Sheremetyev, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Planner 5D, combines his passion for innovation and user-friendly design solutions to revolutionize home, landscape, and office planning. His focus is on new product ideas, maintaining strong business relationships, and ensuring customer satisfaction.

What is Planner 5D?

Planner 5D is a versatile design platform that enables users of all expertise levels to create professional floorplans, 3D renderings, and virtual reality tours. Powered by artificial intelligence, it offers intuitive tools for layout suggestions, furniture placement, and style matching, simplifying the design process. Additionally, the platform provides an Interior Design School to help users enhance their spatial planning and aesthetic skills.

The Origin Story

Alexey’s inspiration came during his own apartment renovation in 2010-2011, when he noticed a gap between complex CAD tools and overly simple 2D apps. His goal was to create a tool as playful as a game like The Sims but precise enough for contractors to rely on. This vision led to the creation of Planner 5D in 2011.

Leveraging UI/UX and Product Management Experience

Alexey’s background in UI/UX shaped the creation of an intuitive interface that feels natural to users, while his product management expertise ensured features deliver real value to both users and the market. Being the platform’s first user himself, he rigorously refined Planner 5D to meet high standards of usability and accuracy.

Early Challenges and Technology Choices

The early focus was on ease of use and cross-platform compatibility. Starting with HTML5 enabled the team to deliver Planner 5D on any device via browsers without additional plugins. Over time, native apps were developed for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and VR/AR platforms.

Evolution and the Role of AI

Planner 5D has grown from a simple 2D tool to a sophisticated platform with AI-powered features like floor plan recognition, automated furniture arrangement, and generative AI room design. AI now forms the backbone of the workflow, assisting users with layout optimization, style presets, and photorealistic renderings.

AI Features Enhancing Design

Smart Wizard and AI Designer: Provide ergonomic spacing and initial design drafts to overcome blank-canvas hesitation.
Floor Plan Recognition: Converts photos or PDFs into editable 3D models, saving time and preserving scale accuracy.
Design Generator: Helps non-designers articulate preferences and quickly iterate on designs.

Personalization and User Control

AI at Planner 5D acts as a co-designer, enhancing creativity rather than replacing the user. Contextual data like home location and property type refine AI suggestions, but users maintain full control over every design element.

Expanding User Base

Planner 5D serves beyond homeowners, including students (with educational licenses), realtors (with tools like Home Scanner for iOS), contractors, and professional designers. The platform is evolving into a comprehensive ecosystem for collaboration and business management.

Balancing Vision and Execution

Alexey balances long-term industry foresight with short-term product delivery by setting clear quarterly objectives aligned with the company’s mission to make design simple and smart. Regular user feedback and technology monitoring ensure the roadmap stays relevant.

Future Technologies

Upcoming integrations include advanced generative AI for conversational design assistance and real-world data layers such as climate analytics and building data to provide tailored, practical design suggestions.

Looking Ahead

Planner 5D aims to continue evolving with AI advancements to make home design seamless and impactful, transcending devices and delivering smooth user experiences.

For more information, visit Planner 5D.