Here's What Affinity Designer Does Better Than Illustrator...

While Adobe Illustrator is certainly a more comprehensive tool for working with vectors, Affinity Designer serves more of an all-in-one role where it can handle both vector and raster image editing tasks. In this video I'll be going over 8 things that I believe Affinity Designer does better than Illustrator.

UPDATE: In the time since this video was published, Serif has released version 2.0 of Affinity Designer, and it's significant enough to change things.

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
01:05 The Pixel Persona
01:51 Adjustment Layers
02:27 Isometric Grids
03:32 User Interface
04:07 Applying Strokes
04:47 Offsetting Paths
05:44 Anchor Points
07:00 Lesser Hardware Requirements
07:29 No Creative Cloud App
08:17 Closing thoughts

#illustrator #affinitydesigner

[bartekbab]

Affinity is a software made by designers for designers, illustrator - by programmers for designers, that's why Designer is much easer to work with. Adobe have monopoly for too long and forget why we even started using it. Few years ago I started using it and the day I uninstalled creative cloud was one of the best days in my career

[Smaxx]

One thing I really like about the Affinity tools you haven't mentioned is the fact that all three tools use one common file format and can use each others' files in a non-destructive and direct way. For example, you can create a document in Publisher, add a logo using Designer, and then polish some embedded photos inside in Photo, all without having multiple files on disc and having to worry about them being in sync – and you always see the results in a WYSIWYG fashion. I'm quite sure that's not possible with Illustrator (although I could be wrong).

[tia]

I first started graphic design in 2014 right after affinity dropped. I didn’t know much about vector software but there were no tutorials and without the book that was released yeeears later, I was still able to teach myself how to use it. The UI is so user friendly and I’ve been able to grow with affinity through all the updates. There are a few things ofc that I always wished designer had, but the new version has really satisfied a lot of my gripes. Such a great tool. And for an inexpensive one-off price. This will be my first time purchasing another affinity designer license since 2014. I’d say that’s amazing.

[alexwilkinsgames]

I currently am a full time designer for a NMO and having the full creative suite is ideal. However prior to working with the NMO I was a freelancing hobbiest and having a cheap, one time purchase, low resource hogging software is something I shouldve done a long time ago. This is a great video! Thanks for posting it!

[Mithferion]

I like using Affinity Designer, even if it doesn't have all the features I need. I dislike using Adobe Illustrator, even if it does more of what I require...

[fotoreportaze]

Affinity designer has some new features now, including mesh. Little by little, they are improving.

[suttonsuede]

The only thing I miss from Adobe Illustrator is the Blob Brush. I wish the Affinity team would add one to Affinity Designer.

[woaken]

I would love to see your take on Affinity Designer 2!

[IreneuszRolnik]

for me - someone who has been working in prepress for years - in affinity there is no separation preview, no normal trapping and the brushes, although nice, are not vector and it is not possible to release them as Pantone (unless I don't know something)...

[tetmayer]

What I really miss in affinity is the "Width Tool" that can be found in AI. The situation here is quite opposite to what you've shown in the video. Here Illustrator gives you that option of more freedom and affinity is limited to the pressure profile.

[baldpolnareff]

Nice! I bought Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer for my MacBook Pro, but I still haven't given it a proper look, just did something casually and it's intuitive in most cases.
However, I still love going to my Linux workstation and use Inkscape, which I learned from your tutorials btw!
Now I'd love to see a video focusing on the things that Inkscape does better than Illustrator

[bigman]

I am writing an article on this actually. My general thesis question is whether Affinity products will become an industry standard. I phrase it specifically like this because I dont believe it will ever become "the" singular industry standard, but I do foresee it being a candidate for "one of several" industry standards. Right now Adobe is the indisputable king of design tools. At the same time, this trend should be alarming to Adobe. 2.0 brought Affinity to the cusp of Illustrator's capabilities. Soon the nit-picky critiques will be addressed and it will be a direct competitor. Figma was able to do this with Adobe XD pretty quickly. In addition, I am seeing more small businesses and freelancers adopt Affinity. As Affinity's customer base grows, so does the demand for new features and software. They might even create Affinity Video, etc...

[DirkTeucher]

8:02 - I feel attacked ;) .. Keep in mind that Epic games store charges indie developers like me 0% - 12% fee to launch games on their platform or anywhere else for that matter. Steam charges 30% . And I get just as many annoying notifications from Steam (if I don't disable them). Great video too, I would just add that if you buy Affinity designer, photo and publisher that you can access all the features of all three apps in one application which is one of my favourite features that Adobe does not have.

[Yasir]

Thanks for the comparison, I have used Affinity Designer for 5 years. But now I have to stick with illustrator because of my work as it requires Adobe products. At least I have either depending on my client,

[Riceball]

I started doing v3ector graphics using Illuystator but then swqwithced to Designer because of the relatively low one time price, no subscription fees and I haven't regretted it. It was very easy to learn how to us Desinger as the tools and functionality are very similar to Illustrator. I just wish that Photo was that intuitive, it's almost as different from Photoshop as Designer is similar to Illustrator.

[HashebAnzar]

You don't really have to switch back and forth between direct selection tool and pen tool when dealing with anchor points in illustrator.

If you have the pen tool selected you can basically do everything by just using modifier keys. For example, if you want to access the direct selection tool you can press and hold the Ctrl or command key. Similarly, you can access the anchor point tool by holding down the Alt or option key.

On the other hand, you don't have to switch to add anchor point tool and delete anchor point tool to add and delete anchor points in a path. If you hover over a path with the pen tool selected it will automatically turn into the add anchor point tool and if you take the cursor to the area where there's already an anchor point, you will get the delete anchor point tool.

[johnton]

Using Illustrator and Photoshop for over 25 years now - eager to try this NON-SUBSCRIPTION tool!

[LuisRdzG]

You might need to update this video, because Affinity Designer 2 is now out and comes with good stuff

[KuttyJoe]

Editing anchor points in Illustrator requires 1 tool. There's no need for a single trip back to the toolbox to switch tools.

[AD-Dom]

Everything? I have to use illustrator at work and it’s such a chore. Designer is perfect.