Up and Running with Affinity Designer: A practical, easy-to-follow guide to getting up to speed with Affinity Designer

Key Features

• Understand Affinity Designer's interface and setup, discover its capabilities, and develop an efficient workflow
• Harness the power of an easy and flexible vector and pixel workflow in one application
• Learn practical skills and gain the confidence to power your own creative projects

Book Description

Affinity Designer is a relatively new creative application and, in a reasonably short time, it has quickly become a powerhouse design and illustration application. Affinity Designer, along with Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, is part of a suite of award-winning creative software applications developed by Serif Europe. Built on the latest technologies, which make it fast and smooth, Affinity Designer is quickly becoming the go-to professional creative application for vector drawing and pixel-based painting.

Up and Running with Affinity Designer is a comprehensive hands-on introduction to the Affinity Designer software. Whether you're new to the creative industry, a seasoned professional looking for a proven alternative, or an enthusiastic hobbyist, this book will help you get up to speed in no time. Complete with straightforward explanations and supporting hands-on exercises, this easy-to-follow guide will help you gain a solid foundation in Affinity Designer and form a base for in-depth exploration in your own projects.

By the end of this Affinity Designer book, you'll have gained the knowledge and confidence to use Affinity Designer as part of your creative toolset.

What you will learn

• Explore the interface and unique UX characteristics of Affinity Designer
• Discover features that allow you to manipulate and transform objects
• Apply color, shading, and effects to create unique compositions
• Employ layers to organize and simplify complex projects
• Use grids, guides, and snapping features as design aids
• Adapt to Affinity Designer's custom workspaces and keyboard shortcuts
• Explore the workflow and design best practices for more predictable and successful outcomes
• Identify potential stumbling blocks in your design process and learn how to avoid them

Who this book is for

This Affinity Designer book is for graphic designers, artists, illustrators, and hobbyists. Anyone curious about Affinity Designer's unique toolset and vector and pixel workflows or looking for cost-effective alternatives to the Adobe suite will find this book useful. Experience in working with other similar tools will be helpful, but not necessary.

Kevin House, also known as Kevin Creative, has an award-winning design and illustration studio located on the west coast of Canada. Before becoming a freelance designer and illustrator, he spent a few years in advertising agencies and design studios as a graphic designer. Those demanding, creatively fruitful years gave him the experience and confidence to set up a freelance business in 2006. Today, his clients are small to mid-sized creative studios and his focus is on illustration and logo design. Since 2014, Kevin has been using Affinity Designer almost exclusively for his 2D illustration work and loves the ease of use and array of creative options it brings to the table.

Table of Contents

1. Getting Familiar with Affinity Designer's Interface
2. Getting Familiar with the Three Personas of Affinity Designer
3. How to Customize Your Affinity Designer Workspace
4. Document Setup and Modification
5. Main Studio Panels and Managers
6. Tools – Designer Persona
7. Tools – Pixel Persona
8. Tools, Panels, and Process – Export Persona
9. Workflow: Layers and Objects
10. Workflow: Symbols, Assets, and History
11. Creating a Professional Logo
12. Creating Astronaut Ricky and Sidekick K9
13. Rocketing into the Pixel Cosmos