Affinity Designer Reviews

The best design software ever

Comments: - Fast development for my customers
- For any visit card design or else, it's very immersive

Pros:

I've been using affinity for about 3 years. It's soooo easy so great and mostly, SO QUICK ! I love designing with this software ! User experience is very cool, the customization is amazing. And the price it's like we give it to you ! I can only recommend that software !

Cons:

Sometimes, I need to go to Illustrator for some specific features such as color overall management or width modification. Anyway, there are a lot of innovative feature on Illustrator that i'd love to see on affinity.

The best alternative to illustrator

Comments: Affinity designer is a very feature complete alternative to adobe illustrator, I feel that some tools are even better, and it is also much faster than illustrator.
Unlike illustrator, designer is made from scratch and as for that utilize modern hardware much better and everything works much faster. I use is as a freelance graphic designer since v.1 and the compatibility with adobe apps is pretty good, but even if you have trouble you can simple share PDF files that work fine. For example if I need to outsource some printing I send a PDF that can be saved in a PDF standard (like PDF X-1a:2003) and nobody have ever complained about incompatibilities or anything. Devs are improving the app all the time adding new tools and features. Personally I do miss from illustrator the image trace tool and the newer AI tools, although since affinity is bought by Canva maybe the AI gap in tools will soon be eliminated. Also you buy once in a very reasonable price and you can have it for ever. The newer universal license is pure gold value as you can have all 3 affinity apps for all available platforms for the cost of few months of adobe subscription (although yeah adobe suite give you a wider arrange of apps, me as a graphic designer simple need the 3 basics illustrator/photoshop/indesign, why to pay every year for apps that I don't use?). All in all it have a 60 days trial, so you can try for yourself for free. Just arrange the workspace the same way you had it in illustrator and the transition will be very smooth. The only thing that works completely differently is the clipping mask, but it is not a big deal.

Pros:

Simple put, it is a very good and fast alternative to adobe illustrator with very competitive pricing and one off buy.

Cons:

Technically speaking it is still on it's infancy, while it covers a lot of functions for a program that new, there are still things that are not yet implemented that I would love to have (although I have faith on the dev team that eventually will add everything that you may ever need).

Not fit for purpose

Comments: Not really a finished app I have been trying to integrate Affinity Designer into a professional workflow for a number of years now but I've come to the conclusion that it's just too painful and there is nothing to indicate that this will improve. Back when I first purchased this app the developers were promising a roadmap of future improvements which would bring it closer to some of the industry-standard vector apps out there. It's been two years now and not a single thing on that list has been implemented. The few updates which have come down the line have focused on things like the app icon. The developers have moved on to other projects, and it seems to me that for all intents and purposes, development on this software has been abandoned. I wouldn't wish to speculate if this software will even be supported in a few years. So we're left with an app which lacks some of the most fundamental vector editing tools. With the exception of skew, vectors cannot be distorted in any way (including perspective) and it even lacks a knife tool. These are tools which are actually provided by many free editors. Furthermore, many tools are very poorly implemented. Convert to curves produces hilariously unusable results and things like Offset Path simply don't exist. The developers themselves are notoriously unresponsive to please for further development. Since going cross-platform there have been many reports of Designer's instability and since the implementation of Apples Metal API

Pros:

It's cheap, although it still remains less powerful that some free apps

Cons:

Development seems to have ground to a halt on this app. Investing time and energy learning could be a waste of time as it may not be around in the future.

Perfect for a wide range of graphic tasks in a marketing agency environment

Comments: I was looking for a tool to do my entire design - from print materials to social media URL preview images. It covers it all and is easy to use.

Pros:

Pricing for what you actually get on functionality.

Cons:

Some minor issues on figuring out how to set up the studio.

Why Affinity Earns My Loyalty: A Review of Their Customer-Centric Approach

Pros:

Affinity has always been a value-centered brand that genuinely cares about both the quality of its products and the satisfaction of its users. While many brands focus on maximizing profits and squeezing out every penny, Affinity chooses to do right by its customers with straightforward and simple purchase models. That's why their apps remain indispensable in my toolkit, and I feel a deep sense of loyalty toward their brand. Great job, team, and I think your 6-month model is brilliant. I wish you every success with it.

Cons:

Learning curve takes time and help files could be better.

Great app for creating nice designs

Comments: It’s very economic and it does everything that a design needs so I really recommend it, especially to small businesses

Pros:

I like the fact that it’s not a subscription but you pay it once and then have access forever. Also it has a lot of tools so you can create and personalize your design!

Cons:

It a professional app so it’s not that intuitive, you have to look to a lot of tutorials and guides to fully use it

More compatível with Photoshop than ilustrator

Comments: Great, very very fast comparing with illustrator, fast redraw on complex documentos. Less RAM requirement to work and very good export options and compatiliby with Adobe friends

Pros:

Pasta inside mutch better than illustrator with thouse cliping paths from last Century. Speed, and opening PSD in layeres and exporting in PSD format among other features and easy to learn and work.

Cons:

The mini Photoshop inside, the perna stuff

Breath of fresh air for design products

Pros:

Full-featured suite that reminds me of the way Adobe products used to work prior to subscriptions and feature bloat.

Cons:

Some features are still missing, but I’m hopeful they will arrive with the Canva merger.

Affinity Designer is more bang for your buck

Pros:

Great alternative to Adobe products for an affordable price.

Cons:

The UI is a little different than Adobe so there was a learning curve

Affinity Designer's a lifesaver!

Comments: Used to use Illustrator, but that was a right pain in the neck with the subscription fees. Much more straightforward, this.

Pros:

Love how easy it is to use and how smoothly it runs. Affinity Designer's a lifesaver!

Cons:

Had a bit of a kerfuffle finding tutorials and resources for it. Reckon the community could be a bit bigger.

Vector graphics for everybody

Comments: As the leader of a small-to-medium-enterprise and an educator in sound for media, many times I have the need to create simple graphics. From schematics and diagrams to icons and beyond. I use them for my company's internal knowledge-base, when I blog, for my presentations in classrooms, and even to create our own software graphical assets from mockups to finished product. First of all, it's no secret that working in vector is what every software developer should do, as it allows for the generation of all the graphic assets to be made in various bitmap resolutions, so your application looks clear and crisp in any device. Lately, even the Unity game engine introduced a pipeline to use vector graphic assets to create games, so that they render in any resolution, I definitely recommend checking this out if you are a game developer.
Anyway, Affinity Designer always delivered a great experience for me and all my colleagues said that I became a graphic designer, which is not true, but it is a great compliment, and I really own that to Affinity Designer.
The exporter feature is one huge time saver, you should check out the videos they have about this one and also the rest of Affinity team's video tutorials in Vimeo.
Overall, the experience of using the application can be described as smooth, fast and easy.

Pros:

What I liked most about this program, is the workflow and interface. The developers managed to create a simple to use application for vector graphics, that everybody can operate. I can't remember how many times I got frustrated trying to make a simple graphic in other programs, while in Affinity Designer, the workflow is mapped so well, that everybody can use it. From computer graphics professionals around the world, to amateurs like me, it is straight forward to open the application and start creating. The online help system is awesome and omni-present and the graphical interface is sleek and looks good in any monitor that I tried it, even small ones. I also consider a great bonus that the company keeps a straight policy about pricing, they don't use the subscription model which is very good for SMEs.

Cons:

Some advanced vector tools are missing, but the software is still young and I'm sure it will develop to a great tool. After all, the developers seem to have usability, ease of use and fast workflows in mind, so they add new features very carefully, to keep Affinity Designer the great tool that it is now.

Capable "Owned" Replacements for Adobe Creative Cloud "Leased" Software

Comments: I'm very pleased with my Affinity products. I have used Affinity Designer (Illustrator replacement) since shortly after it was released and was also an early adopter of Affinity Photo (Photoshop replacement). As of about four weeks ago, I relegated the Adobe CS6 apps to a legacy machine and in that time, I have found no reason to go back to them. (Note: I have never used Adobe CC, since it is leased. The apps that I moved to a legacy Mac was CS6.) The only feature that I wish Affinity would add is "background texture" in "effects". It would speed up my uses of effects. The only feature that I wish Affinity would improve is their "live" view of effects changes. There is a learning curve. Some things are more difficult that with comparable Adobe apps, but others are much easier. I'm a Photoshop guru and have not found anything I can do in Photoshop that I can't do in Affinity Photo. The same applies to Affinity Designer, but I'm not an Illustrator guru. All in all, I'm "extremely pleased" with the Affinity apps. They are respectable "owned" replacements for the comparable Adobe "leased" apps. I have bid adieu to Adobe and after more than a month, I've found no reason to look back.

Pros:

Both Affinity Photo & Affinity Designer are excellent and capable replacements for the Adobe CC packages they replace. But most of all, unlike the Adobe apps they replace, I "OWN" the Affinity apps. Although I don't use Affinity software every day, when I need it, I need it immediately. I cannot afford to be denied access to leased software, simply because some black hat hacked a license server that I have no control over. As a former white hat hacker and IT Director, I know the risks all too well. That's why I only use software that I "own". Big companies spend tons of money on security. But despite all the high-end security software and procedures, we've all heard about numerous Fortune 500 companies and even the US government getting hacked. Not only is there no guarantee that a license server won't be hacked, but such servers are major targets. By contrast, my computer is a minor target. Sure, I can still be hacked. But if that happens, I can restore everything from an on-site backup in an hour. OTOH, if a hacker gets into a license server and sets all licenses to "expired", it could take days or even weeks for a company with 100K+ licenses to correct the problem, during which time, the license holders are down. I "OWN" my Affinity software. It cannot be turned off. Also, Affinity does not force you to update to the latest version, as do certain leased apps. I typically delay updating any app till I've had a chance to read the blogs about the update.

Cons:

The way effects handles background textures is quite different from Photoshop and Illustrator and there is a resultant learning curve. That said, you can, with just a little more effort, achieve an output that is almost identical to what came from the comparable Adobe app. In fact, once you learn how to manipulate the effects, you can some times create a better looking output than what can be produced with an Adobe app. There are some shortcut keys that are in Adobe apps, for which I have not yet found a comparable shortcut in the Affinity apps. OTOH, there are some shortcuts in the Affinity apps that are no available at all in the comparable Adobe products. The negatives with Affinity apps are very minor, compared to the positives of being an "owned" product.

Affinity Designer

Comments: Overall it’s OK but the price point is very low so it makes it somewhat worth it.

Pros:

Affinity designer is super cost-effective. It’s easier to use than most designer software’s. They have a lot of support on their website and tutorials on YouTube.

Cons:

There are a couple issues that we’ve had while using affinity designer. The program tends to frequently close out by itself. Sometimes I’m unable to download the updates without it crashing. We have to use affinity in conjunction with our Roland BN-20 however some of the add-ons within affinity aren’t compatible and aren’t recognize in versaworks. There aren’t enough tutorials to really grasp everything within affinity. I think it needs a little more work and to be easier to use.

The powerhouse of vector design

Comments: We use Affinity Designer for a myriad of things - from designing logos and graphics for websites, to making merch design for our web comic. The great UI and amazing performance are an upgrade from our previous vector design software.

Pros:

Affinity designer is the software I was waiting for as long as I remember. It has all the options of the mainstream competition, but for the fraction of the price. The best part of it is that Affinity Designer does what it does perfectly. But, the thing that attracted me to the Serif software, Affinity Designer and it's sister products Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, is not only that. They offered their software for absolutely free for three entire months when the COVID pandemic started, and then for another three months later on. All the time, their price was down to 50% as well. They were not only the best, but the most human and kind. And that is the kind of company I want to give my money to.

Cons:

A solid bitmap tracing option would be nice.

IMO the Best Vector Editing Software on the Market

Comments: Fabulous. I bought the software in 2014 when it was first released and Serif has supplied free upgrades for almost seven years now (bringing it from version 1.0 to 1.9).
It's super easy to learn when you come from competing software and because it's newly developed it doesn't carry the heft of many, many years of old code and compatibility issues around (looking at you, Illustrator!).

Pros:

It's modern, FAST (in capitals), easy to use, affordable and regularly updated. Also, Affinity Designer (and it's companion applications Photo and Publisher) are available on both Windows and macOS with 100% file compatibility; In addition there is an iPad edition available, again with 100% compatible files and great drawing features for Apple Pencil.

Cons:

The management of ,global colours' and 'normal colours' needs some getting used to. Once you know how it works, it works well, but it's a bit different than I expected.

So impressed with Affinity Designer!

Comments: Overall, this program has been more beneficial than any other art program I've used. I create coloring books and the vectoring tools have made the process so much faster, easier, and cleaner looking than the hand-drawn rastered techniques I was using before.

Pros:

This is the easiest vectoring program I've ever used for lineart and I'm amazed at its affordability compared to insanely-priced subscription services like Adobe.

Cons:

I only have two gripes with this program. 1) As of the writing of this review, you can't merge vectored strokes into one layer. You can merge multiple shapes into one shape but every vectored line/stroke has its own layer and can only be 'grouped', not merged. When I'm done with a lineart, I want it to be one layer-- not thousands. 2) Protecting/locking PDFs from editing does not seem to be possible at the moment and that's a huge security issue for a lot of artists who don't want their work edited without authorization. Would really like to see this issue fixed.

Affinity Designer - a great, cost-efficient alternative to Adobe Illustrator

Comments: Everyday I use Affinity Designer to create social media artwork for my charity project. I used Affinity Designer each day to import clip-art from my Alibre Design Expert CAD software to create engineering and sales presentations. I have used Affinity Designer to import, edit PDF's and then output new PDFs. This software is a fantastic, low-cost, high-value tool that everyone should have in their toolbox.

Pros:

For many years I worked with the Adobe Suite tools, including Illustrator. Each year I had paid over $600 to rent these tools in a subscription. One day I discovered Affinity Designer. I put it through all the tests of art design functions I normally used Illustrator for. I was absolutely blown away that I could literally do everything I once did in Illustrator. The best part is, not only the price of Affinity Designer 1/12 that of Adobe Illustrator subscription, but I actually own Affinity Designer. I love this software. In fact, I went back and purchased all of their art tool lines: Affinity Photo, Publisher, and art-tool add-ons. I own all of these Affinity art tools at a fraction of the cost of one Adobe Suite subscription.

Cons:

I have no negative comments about Affinity Designer.

Best value for price in the industry

Comments: Overall a very good experience and after using it for a while i cannot go back to Adobe Illustrator.

Pros:

It has a very competetive pricing for what it can do. It does not have a subscription model, which is very incommon nowadays. While it is still lacking behind on some features compared to others like Adobe Illustrator, it is catching up fast.

Cons:

Some features that one is used to from Adobe Illustrator are missing. Hoping for the addition in a future update.

A great Vector Design Application

Comments: I love this software! I use it every day as a tool for vector design.

Pros:

Affinity Designer (and it's sister applications) is application you really must love! The pricetag, the functionality, the support - it's all excellent.

Cons:

The progress of making new functionality is slow and on Windows 10 the application is sometimes a bit buggy.

Full power of creativity for and decent price

Comments: Overall I can designs faster in this software than Illustrator, finally I can work with something similar to inkscape that can work with CMYK but this one is faster than both adobe and free products, I think is the best bang for your buck for working with vectors.

Pros:

- You can create and handle CMYK documents. - The user interface is extremely simple which makes it easy to pick up and learn it. - You can save files on different drives and you are capable of performing live updates on the storage file. - You have the option to generate procedural vectors and self created as well. - The effects and alterations on your designs are extremely fast, the refreshing is really quick no wasting time. - When working with vectors you can see the direct result of your design in vector mode on a split view mode before exporting as raster image. - Amazing brush control and customization. - Automatically create a color pallet form an existing document. - You can create multiple symmetry points to create outstanding designs in a breeze. - The history is not deleted your history is saved all the way, so you can go back in your design. - It works flawlessly in the iPad and you have as much control as the desktop version. - You can works with multiple Art boards. - I has photo shop most distinctive tools built in so you can remove backgrounds of images without using another software. - It has designer constrains to help you visualize your design on different devices. - Is extremely affordable price point is $69 one license with updates and $27.99 for iPad.

Cons:

- You do not have the access to all of the Adobe programs like Premiere, Dream weaver, After effects, etc. - The tools it has are not as convenient as the shape builder form the competitor.

Viable one-time-purchase option to get out of Adobe's subscription model

Comments: I have a one-person business where I design 2D files for laser cutting, as well as doing my own graphic design for packaging and promotional materials, photography, post-processing, etc. I am not a "power user" of Adobe CC or CS but I'm looking for something good at doing detailed vector artwork that doesn't feel like I'm back in the 1990s or something. I tested Affinity Designer on a project that I started in Adobe CS4, continued in Adobe CC; working on it in Affinity Designer was seamless.

Pros:

I have worked on one project to test it during the trial period before purchasing. The vector editing features are very similar to Adobe Illustrator, but it's a one-time-purchase for this version and updates rather than a subscription model. I'm happy that I can use it on multiple computers for my own use, as I have both a home and a studio workstation. Because my workflow includes tracing over photos, I appreciate having a suite (Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher) where it's easy to go back and forth with photo editing. I also do my own product photos and print materials so this suite is just what I needed.

Cons:

I have not tried to transfer files back and forth between workstations using Affinity and Adobe.

Really good tools - and much less expensive than Adobe

Comments: Very happy with the Affinity tools on the whole, and I can recommend them especially For iPad work and for working in small teams.

Pros:

I use Affinity for my own creations, mostly drawing and cartooning, and I really like it. It has most of the same tools as the Adobe tools I used but it’s way better thought out when I use it on my iPad. Same goes for the Affinity Photo app. They both work very well on my iPad. I have used the Affinity tools on my iMac and they are responsive there too. They aLso have some really good filters and a good ecosystem for lenses and other tools as well as for tutorials and sharing artwork in the community. But maybe it’s biggest plus is the price compared to Adobe. The fact that I don’t have to pay monthly for it, and it’s a great product are key factors. I think it’s a great alternative to Adobe products.

Cons:

The tool icons themselves are small and make it difficult to locate them sometimes and the UI isn’t as polished as Adobe. Also I haven’t been able to really take advantage of the personas they have for designer and photo apps. Also the fact that when you open an non-Affinity image you are pushed to save it their proprietary format as opposed to the format you opened it in.

Absolute must for digital artists who are sick of Adobe Photoshop fees,

Comments: We have been so impressed with the ease and quality of the software that we have completely switched from Adobe Photoshop to the Affinity software series.

Pros:

The software is near identical to Adobe Photoshop, with some key features excelling expectations, but the one time affordable payment makes this software a must in this industry.

Cons:

Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher collectively provide the exact same product as Adobe Photoshop and more but are sold separately. Still worth buying each as the value over time compared to Adobe Photoshop with their monthly fees.

Great software at a very affordable price

Comments: For the price, you honestly just can't ask for more. I haven't used everything it offers, and I know it's probably a few steps behind adobe, but it does everything that I need it to, and it does it well.

Pros:

I have been looking for software like inDesign and Photoshop without breaking the bank. I wanted software that was functional, easy to use and set up, and something that didn't require a subscription. When I found Affinity, I was blown away with how good it was. And the fact that the publisher software works hand in hand with the photo software is a very nice touch. Coming from Adobe, the learning curve was relatively low, and I could open my old adobe files and pick up where I left off. Very, very happy with my purchase.

Cons:

If I have to include cons, I'm going to have to be nit-picky. I wish I could safe natively to other file types (I can export to indesign file types, or photoshop file types, just not with the save function) but that is very minor. In some documents, exporting to a PDF took some time, although it was a very large document and not normal to do under any piece of software. Overall though, these are very, very minor issues.

Excellent graphics design tool, Illustrator alternative!

Comments: Absolute pleasure! I couldn't afford the Adobe package but now I have Affinity Designer and Photo and it more than meets all my needs for website graphics and photo editing and design.

Pros:

So much cheaper than Illustrator / Photoshop and packs all the features I need. Easy to use, easy to learn. Many tutorials from Affinity as well as other skilled users. Use it for simple projects or very in-depth. Replace expensive and subscription services with this one-time very reasonably priced vector graphics software. They also have an iPad app that is just as powerful and neither suck up resources!

Cons:

If you are very used other software like Illustrator, it will take some time to adjust at first. You may have to find different ways to do the same task in Designer, but it is just a quick look-up away from learning.