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In one of our previous articles, we mentioned Affinity Designer as one of the main Illustrator’s competitors. And it’s not without a reason. Affinity has really stepped up its game over the last few years and appears to offer one of the best graphic design packages on the market. For $54.99, you will get a perpetual license.
Affinity Designer is a budget-friendly powerhouse that can create supreme designs.
In this article, we will introduce you to Affinity Designer as graphic design software and provide you with 25 Affinity Designer tutorials to step up your game.
Article overview:
What is Affinity Designer?
Getting started with Affinity Designer
Graphic Design Tutorials
Drawing Tutorials
Social Media Design Tutorials
Website Design Tutorials
What is Affinity Designer?
Affinity Designer is an award-winning graphic design app that works with vector files. Developed in 2014, it has two “siblings” – Affinity Publisher and Affinity Photo. The software is extremely light for a vector program. It’s easy to distinguish it from Adobe Illustrator and CorelDRAW, both hardware-demanding.
It has more than enough features for both easy tasks and professional design work. In fact, it’s so well optimized for iPad, that it trumps most apps on the market.
Why do people love it?
G2 users rate it with 4.6/5 stars. According to most design experts, Affinity is extremely intuitive for everyday use, doesn’t come with overwhelming features, and most importantly – it’s an affordable option.
$55 for a one-off purchase is considered a bargain today. Most apps working with vectors charge for annual subscriptions and they all cost more than Affinity’s product. Add that to the lower hardware equipment requirements and we can easily see why many small agencies turn to Affinity Designer for the main graphic design software.
Getting started with Affinity Designer
In this section, we will review some basic Affinity Designer tutorials everyone needs to know. As we always do, we will start with one long video that consists of many small processes, and we will then go through single tutorials, to put more attention to individual tasks.
1. Ten Best Affinity Designer Beginner Tutorials
Affinity Designer is relatively easy to learn, so it won’t take you much time to get used to it, especially if you have a background in graphic design. This Affinity Designer tutorial shows you how to understand the user interface, create a new document, play with colors, add text, and some other basic lessons. The good news is that you can learn fast, even if you don’t have a lot of previous experience.
2. Five Tips and Tricks for Affinity Designer in 2022
Affinity Designer is a funny app to work with. While it doesn’t come with Illustrator’s features package, there are some tips and tricks that can help you create stunning designs. In this Affinity Designer video tutorial, you will learn some interesting things you can do with your designs – like isolation mode, changing view modes and others. What we loved in this guide is how well every step is explained, without rushing or background music that can distract you from the tasks.
3. Building Shapes in Affinity Designer
Building shapes in Affinity Designer is a little bit different than the same task on other apps. In this Affinity Design tutorial, you will find out how to build shapes “The Affinity Way”, and even like it better. Ben explains the 5 geometry operations that will be crucial when working with your designs. What you’ll also see in the video is how to create custom shapes, and even figures with those custom shapes.
4. How to Create Global Colors in Affinity Designer?
Global colors are colors that can be amended across the whole frame after a single change. In this Affinity Designer tutorial for beginners, you will learn how to create global colors and change them in the software easily. This will significantly help you when you have multiple details with the same color and a single modification will affect all selected elements.
5. How to Add an Image Inside a Letter?
Adding images inside letters is a very cool way to present your brand or to showcase a message. In this Affinity Designer tutorial, you will learn how to select an image and then insert it into a letter. What impressed us was how the leaves were going “outside” the letter and how brushes were applied, creating a beautiful contrast.
6. How to Make Isometric Shapes in Affinity Designer?
Isometric shapes and 3D elements are one of the 2023 graphic design trends. You will learn how to use Affinity Designer for creating beautiful isometric shapes that include rounded corners, smooth edges, and even stacking cubes. You’ll also see how to color them properly so that they look gorgeous.
7. How to Use Gradient Colors in Affinity Designers?
Working with gradients is a substantial task of each graphic designer. In this video tutorial, you will learn to use gradient colors, see how to use the fill tool, and apply different techniques (linear, radial, elliptical, etc.) depending on the task. You will also see how to use the gradient option menu, reverse the gradient and reduce/increase the opacity. It’s a useful guide for anyone who is just starting their Designer path.
Graphic Design Tutorials
Affinity Designer is a robust app that can help you create very powerful graphic designs. Let’s see what you can create with it.
8. How to Make a Business Card in Affinity Designer?
Business cards are a great way to showcase your company details. Affinity Designer is quite capable and if you need to create business cards, you’re in safe hands. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a business card from scratch – with all the shapes, icons, and other best practices. Of course, you can also use some free business card templates that you can customize later on in Designer.
9. How to Create a Poster in Affinity Designer?
Learning how to create a poster is crucial for any graphic designer. Fortunately, there are more than enough resources to find inspiration. In this Affinity Designer poster tutorial, you will learn how to professionally utilize the grid, apply brand colors, and then utilize fonts and match the font color with the background color. What we really loved in this video guide is how organized the canvas is – it’s a sign of top-notch work.
10. How to create a flyer in Affinity Designer?
Affinity Designer is a quite capable app that can help you create amazing flyers. In this tutorial, you will see how to use anchor points, add external image resources, and utilize layer effects. Then, you will find out how to create buttons, add branding and choose the right fonts. While there is no voiceover, this Affinity Designer tutorial is extremely helpful, as it shows you how to do things step by step.
11. How to Make a Logo in Affinity Designer?
Logos are crucial for any professional design software. They are an irreplaceable part of the branding strategy. In this Affinity Designer logo tutorial, you will see how to create a logo in the program from scratch. Every step is well explained, and the presenter is kind enough to offer you great advice on how all designs should be aligned and structured. The final outcome is also beautiful.
12. How to Create Package Design?
Product package design is a must-have for many businesses, that’s why they are seeking professionals capable of delivering. Something you should always consider is the form factor. It makes the difference between a perfect fit or a big mistake. In this Affinity Designer package design tutorial, you will see how to create the design for a sanitizer. You will see how to use shapes and colors, and put focus on certain details (in our case, the badge).
13. How to Design a T-Shirt Mockup?
T-Shirt design is quite popular today, as it gives creative designers a great opportunity to earn an additional income. In this Affinity Designer T-Shirt design tutorial, you can see how to create great mockups that can sell well. What we loved here is the practicality – you will see how to apply your designs to PlaceIt and then adjust them, to look better. If you’re interested in T-Shirt mockups, you can also check our article about the best T-Shirt design software options.
Drawing Tutorials
Affinity Designer is an attractive option for people who want to make illustrations, as it offers a lot of features. Let’s find out how well it does the job.
14. How to Create Custom Brushes with Affinity Designer?
Being creative means doing something that other people don’t. And that’s why you will see this Affinity Designer tutorial. It will show you how to create custom brushes that you can recolor. At the end of the video, you will also see how to delete brushes that you don’t want to use anymore.
15. Sketching in Affinity Designer
Affinity Designer is a supreme tool for sketching. It allows you to turn hand-drawn concepts into 3D illustrations. As we can see in this Affinity Designer sketching tutorial, you can draw something which you can then scan into the app, and by applying the anchor points correctly, you can create vector art. Of course, the final image doesn’t have to look like the original – instead, you can add extra creativity.
16. How to Convert 2D into 3D letters?
3D letters can make an amazing logo. They can also convey messages in a much better way. In this Affinity Designer tutorial, you will learn how to make a simple 2D letter into a beautiful 3D concept. What we loved here is how well the anchor points and gradients were utilized across the design. The final result is a smooth 3D letter with a reflection effect.
17. How to Cartoon Yourself in Affinity Designer?
Affinity Designer is an amazing app for creating cartoons out of real images. In this Affinity Designer cartoon tutorial, you will learn how to utilize strokes and curves, in order to create an illustration out of a real image. We have to mention that it takes some time and practice before you start getting great results but it’s well worth your time investment!
18. How to Draw on iPad?
Apple’s tablets have proven to be very intuitive digital drawing boards. In fact, many apps have developed their features to match iPads. In this Affinity Designer iPad tutorial, you will learn how to do basic things – like create shapes, apply brushes and strokes, and align objects. You will also see how to use the different UI on the iPad, as it is not the same as the PC and Mac versions.
Social Media Design Tutorials
Social media designs are a big part of running a thriving business today. Let’s see if Affinity Designer can come up with something great in this department.
19. How to Create a Facebook Post in Affinity Designer?
Facebook is still the biggest social media network globally. Building great designs is a must, and there are vital details to keep note of. In this Affinity Designer Facebook post tutorial, you will see how to create a Facebook post according to the best practices – use the recommended size, apply enough contrast, work with the CTA buttons, and position the branding.
20. How to Design an Instagram Story in Affinity Designer?
Instagram stories are a hot trend and you should get the most of them! In this Affinity Designer tutorial, you will see how to create greater stories on an iPad which is even cooler. Every step is well explained – you can hear the explanation and also see with texts and screenshots what’s being done. If we have to rate this tutorial for usefulness and explanation, we’d easily give it a 10/10!
21. How to Craft an Instagram Carousel in Affinity Designer?
Instagram carousels are much preferred to standard Instagram posts nowadays due to their additional creativity. In this Instagram carousel tutorial, you will see how to create a grid and separate the design over the different “slides”. You will also see how Eric does his process in real life which can be quite helpful.
22. YouTube Banner in Affinity Designer
YouTube banners are a powerful weapon if utilized properly. In this video tutorial, you will see how Affinity Designer can help you solve the “mystery”. You will also see how to use a pre-defined template, to avoid getting your channel art cut because of screen sizes. Bear in mind this tutorial is about positioning your designs, rather than creating a new one from scratch.
Website Design Tutorials
Affinity Designer is also capable of creating some great web designs. Let’s see some of them.
23. How to Create a Website Banner in Affinity Designer?
Website banners are a very powerful weapon in the arsenal of any UI designer. They can grab the attention immediately. In this Affinity Designer website banner tutorial, you will see how to perfectly optimize shapes and use a color palette to get those magnetic red gradients. After that, you will see how to embed images into the design and add social media icons and a personal message.
24. How to Create UI elements in Affinity Designer?
Affinity Designer can be also used to create UX and UI designs. As a vector app, it can offer you lots of features you can apply to your work. What we love here is how well the rules are explained, so that UX/UI designers follow the right guidelines. You can also see how a real-life website mockup is made, and how a menu (in our case, the search bar) appears on separate artboards for different devices.
25. How to Build a Landing Page in Affinity Designer?
Affinity Designer is also amazing for creating landing page mockups. What you will learn from the Affinity Design landing page tutorial is how to insert a stock photo, and then create all the necessary elements – like social media handles, CTA buttons, contrasting texts, and a navbar. The video has no voiceover and you can fully focus on the design.
Conclusion
Affinity Designer is one superb vector graphic program. Given the fact it costs a fraction of the price you might pay with other solutions, you are getting a ton of value for your money. But as good as it may be, you still have to invest time to learn everything about it.
If you want to enrich your knowledge about other vector apps, too, you can check our other tutorials:
