Should you use Affinity Designer, Photo, & Publisher?

Amazing video my dude. i switched to affinity suits yesterday and I'm super happy with my choice, i don't need the unnecessary advanced features adobe has for my web design & development work so affinity is a breath of fresh air, and its just waaay smoother without the bloat adobe has, overall i really recommend affinity suits to everyone who isn't forced to use adobe in his workplace, specially for freelancers like myself. ofc its good to know both like i did but at the end, Fuck Adobe.

Honestly, I find Affinity products alot easier to learn compared to Adobe products. I struggle to learn phototshop many times with overwhelmed accumulated controls and settings which has been inherited for many years .
Affinity is easier and took me a day to familiar alot of its basic controls..

I'm trying to learn graphic design to make polished board game prototypes and any of the pricing options for Adobe are incredibly cost averse to use.
A program suite that may take a little more time for the same results and you get to outright own it for $165? That's what I thought Adobe Suite was going to be! The choice was a no-brainer for me.

well, even if i were a student i could not afford to buy neither to pay subscription to adobe. Since i've discovered affinity on my iPad o thought it was a great alternative. I am still a chance for affinity serif to add those missing features that adobe has. Since I've bought the universal license for the version 2 of AFdesigner, they have added other features like mesh tools, and shape builder for affinity designer and so on, but still they need to work on adding more features in development. I admit that in order to use the autotracing, i had to use the inkscape and save it in a format to work in AFdesigner.

I'm a scientist, and i need vector based applications for making and arranging my diagrams and figures. I use Affinity Designer, and I'm absolutely happy with the outcome. I'll never go back to Adobe. They're expensive, and we need to support alternatives for keeping a healthy competition in the market.

I personally can use both apps. But i refuse to pay subscription from my pocket. And if I can I use affinity and its brilliant on iPad. Second part is this auto filters and pictures mashing forcing what everyone calls "ai". I get paid for human interaction and creativity not factory level one clicking applying edits. Photoshop is losing identity with that and costumers to. If me or my clients wanted quick auto filters there is already 10000x apps on mobile and probably browser based to.

Is there a color separation workflow for screenprinting/transparency screen exposure in any Affinity program?

I wish Affinity Designer was on Android 😥

Affinity on ipad will make you never look back to other tablet, it brings me my more productive side.

What I found with Affinity Photo and Designer: They use effectively the same file format! Extensions are different, but you can work on them with the other app without problems. Features differ, so AP is better with image editing, AD is better with vector work – and that's the beauty of it: Just switch between both on the same file whenever you need! (Haven't tried it with Affinity Publisher, but maybe it would work there too.)

How do we script for Affinity? Is it possible?

I switched from adobe to affinity

No offence but Quark is way better than Affinity publisher. if you can't afford adobe price i get it, but it doesn't mean Affinity is better than Adobe. Affinity needs 5-10yrs before it catch up to adobe.

By reviewing the whole suite rather than just an app that the author found useful , and by saying how much it costs! ($89.95!), all credibility went out the window. It's an ad.

Affinity Designer has the non-destructive warp tools in v2

While Adobe are trying to limit SVG support in Photoshop (presumably to force people onto the full Creative Cloud subscription), Affinity have Studio Link that gives you publishing, vector and raster grpahics advanced features all in one package for a fixed fee.

I am just possibly switching from CorelDRAW to Affinity after using CorelDraw for nearly 30 years... trialing them now... and I like what I see... very similar to Corel. I will miss the CorelDraw image Tracer as well even InkScape can trace

I have purchased the big 3 from Affinity but there are just a handful of small details that prevent me from using them full time. Simple, small things that Photoshop users are so accustomed to and would seem easy to add, things like a "Revert" option. There are many more, but it's tiny things like this that can surprisingly trip users up when working fast.

After using PS for so many years, muscle (and brain!) memory are second nature in my workflow process, why not just copy these small details to make the transition smoother? BTW, I still use PS CS6... I refuse to use Adobe's "rental" software. Love Affinity, hopefully they continue to evolve.

The affinity apps seem like they all have the same features, just in a different UI for each. Are they actually the same app just remasked ? Or do each of them actually have different features not offered by the other?

That was a very clear talk. You included a nice medium level of detail. You didn't look as if you were reading, but there were almost no "ummm"s, "like"s and "I mean, you know, it's kind of like"s, which not many of us can dispense with when talking off the top of our head. I wish I could present like that. Even if I manage to avoid filler words, my delivery is very jerky because I keep stopping to choose my next word.

Yes! Used Adobe for 22 years. Switched myself & my company to Affinity this year & not looking back. Love it! Thanks for the video!

In future updates, I dream of adding animation functionality to Affinity Designer and Photo, just like in Krita and Clip Studio. Other than that, the Affinity ecosystem has everything I need. And with the release of the second version, it has become even faster and more streamlined.

I know it's a very minor thing but I wish Affinity would put in a "preview" button like Adobe has. Yes I know you can do split window to see before and after but I dunno I miss the simplicity of a preview button. Also a "revert" option would be nice too.

I am a long time Desktop Publisher and have used nearly everything that has every been released. MacPublisher 1,2 and 3, Pagemaker, Quark and mostly Ready,Set,Go, which was in my opinion the best of them all in the 80's and early 90's. I used Photoshop for photos. Illustrator back then and still today is a pain in the arse if you don't use it every day. In 2004 I jumped to InDesign and the suite. I mostly do publishing newspaper, flyers, and magazines. What's missing from Affinity? I agree the tracing tool is keeping me in Adobe. Just for simple black and white cartoons I draw up with Sketchbook, then trace to vector in Illustrator. What's missing in Affinity photo for me is upsizing an image and having it smooth out automatically like photoshop now does. Plus as you say, the AI selection tools. As for Affinity Publisher. Version 2 is still not what I like. 90 percent of what I do is in InDesign and here is the list of what I don't like in Publisher. 1. No links panel. It's called resource manager and it's a window that opens, not a panel that can stay open. 2. I cannot find a cut or scissor tool to cut a border outline, which I know I can do in Affinity Designer so no big deal. 3. Selecting a box outside the print area, turns cursor into a type tool. Strange, is it just me? 4. Some items outside the print area (pasteboard) disappear? is it just me? 5. The move tool and scaling is called transform and I found it quirky, I forget why now. 6. Corner tool is percentages instead of measurements? is it just me? 7. Layers for every box? I'm just reading this from a list I made and forget what this means.
Some of these things are simply learning a new tool. Which like you say at the beginning of your video, is quite easy coming from Adobe. But.. I'm getting too old to learn new tricks. LOL When Adobe tried and succeeded to oust Quark as number one, they truly went for it. They had a section to actually use Quark shortcuts. InDesign opened up Quark files. I'm not sure how much of the interface they copied but I know it was easier to switch from Quark (for me Ready,Set,Go) to InDesign than InDesign to Affinity Publisher. I am not a lawyer and am not sure why Affinity haven't more closely copied InDesign in where and what they call things. I know Adobe did it to Quark so? Different laws? Adobe is filthy rich and Affinity can't afford to fight it even if they are in the right? I would love to switch to Affinity. I have many thousands of files in Adobe and know of the idml and Markzware software. Which would be the way to go. Adobe though is getting REALLY good at coming up with ideas and features that keep you with Adobe. Small example is sky replace in Photoshop.

The problem I has is a lot of the tools in Photo are split apart compared to photoshop. My god the UI sucks too. I can't find the FX menu and it drives me insane.

Ive been trying to find a way to warp in afinity.... glad you made this. I agree with all of what you said. Its a great suite of software really.

These programmes were better to use when they were under the name of Serif but since changing over to Affinity you now have to have a science degree to use them......Totally Crap.

I am about 8 months into a job at a photo lab that has been around since before I was born. At work, I have access to Adobe CC for free. As a freelance graphic designer, I use the Affinity Suite exclusively and have been doing so for the past 2 years. It is nice to have access to Adobe's Creative Cloud and all the apps; however, when I switched to Affinity 2, I bought the option that gives me a license on all available platforms. I can use Affinity for my business at home on my Mac mini, on my iPad pro, on the go, and on the PC I use at work. I still use Adobe CC at work when I have to. Affinity has spoiled me with its speed and efficiency and makes my workday more seamless.

Can Affinity Publisher open the old Timeworks Publish it 4.7 files (DTP). I have a new computer with windows 11 but Publish it does not work. I'll wait to hear from you before making up my mind for purchasing new software. Thanks

I have the Affinity Suite and use Designer nearly daily for the last few years. I'm not a graphic designer, so this isn't part of my professional life. Instead, I use for personal/hobby ventures so I'm really happy to have a non-subscription alternative to Adobe that meets my needs. I wish they would make a DAM and give me Lightroom-esque RAW photo editing.

Hi I am not sure if you will see this but would you advise Affinity for someone (i.e. me) who is completely new to design. As someone who doesn’t own and has never used any of Adobe’s products, I can dive into the Affinity suite and pretend Adobe doesn’t even exist and develop my design skills and journey totally inside Affinity alone. Is it good enough for that in your opinion. Does this plan make sense. Thanks.

And one more important aspect. I use photoshop and Affinity for photo retouching. And I can use Affinity full functionality on iPad without any problems. What you can’t say about pretty much useless photoshop version on iPad

To your first contra: I use "Super Vectorizer" to convert pixel images to vector images. The tool is for Mac. It is not as advanced as the Illustrator interface but the results are comparable and it saves a lot of time. And you have to rework the vectors anyway, no matter which software. Maybe there is a comparable software for Windows. Thanks for the great video and keep up the good work!

Interesting video. Thanks for taking the time to share. I have used Photoshop for a long time. As a student - not of graphic design - I bought Photoshop CS2. Alas, I ordered it just as CS3 came out, and Adobe kept me waiting for about 6 weeks before shipping the software.
I contacted them on several occasions, hoping to upgrade to the newest version. However, Adobe were unwilling to compromise.
Now, back then, many of the people using Adobe products were doing so on pirated copies. So, you can imagine, I was rather disappointed with Adobe's attitude.
Anyway, as a non-professional, I didn't really feel that I'd missed out on too much, as I was able to carry on with CS2 for many years.
That is when the next crunch moment came. When I upgraded my computer and version of Windows, I was unable to install CS2. When I contacted Adobe, I was told that I'd have to upgrade to the latest version.
As it happened, I was able to find a workaround, by changing some of the settings in Windows.
So, I was able to continue editing my photos with the 'crappy old' version of Photoshop.
By now, of course, I was working, and could easily have purchased the latest copy of Photoshop. Alas, the subscription model had been introduced. No thanks!
Luckily, that is when Serif started shipping Affinity photo. I downloaded the trial, and within days decided to purchase the full product.
Like you, I'm no Apple fan, but I actually purchased an iPad just so that I could use Affinity Photo when I was out and about.
As I write, version 2.0 has been released, and here in the UK, the whole suite - Photo, Designer and Publisher are available across all platforms for just £89. Well, I probably don't need the new features of version 2.0, but I have been excited about the release of Publisher on the iPad, so thought I may as well go for the intro' price for the whole package.
For anyone out there, wondering if it is worth taking a punt on Serif's Affinity suite, I suggest taking advantage of the free trial period: I'm sure you will not be disappointed.

I'm half-way the video and all I heard is Affinity vs Adobe: misleading title, waste of time. Disliked.

The warp is in..The blend tool was best in Freehand. I really miss it.

Infinity still doesn’t do object blends — that’s a serious omission, and A K. O. limitation

Really appreciate your honest opinions based on years of experience. It shed new light for me on the industry.

OMG, it really worked. Thank you so much!!

If you are familiar with Affinity Publisher you will be familiar with Studiolink where you don’t have to leave Publisher to edit images and vectors.

What is the speed comparison to Corel. I’m frustrated to death with PSP locking up and stalling between layers.

I am learning the Affinity suite and like you I miss Adobe's warp function. I do like the Affinity suite and going forward I will be using it exclusively.
One other limitation I have found with Affinity is there are less resources and tutorials than with Adobe.

Very good advise

Weird AL's SON? lol ;P
Affinity could be bigger and better but they don't seem like they want to be. maybe they don't want to be a TOTAL copycat either. So who knows when or if they improve in the future?

Anybody have Affinity on android? I have a Samsung tablet. Want to know what to expect

Yoooohooo, i know art cant be clocked but man, i really really miss yor content, so please make more ☝🏻😁

I personally want to make anime styled art but I don't know whether I should use affinity photo or designer honestly, I'm thinking photo might be the most appropriate as most manga artists use clip studio paint which is raster based
I own both photo and designer