Inkscape + Affinity Designer Combo

Software
#1

I’m a logo designer who uses the title combo instead of Illustrator.

Inkscape - the cornerstone of my workflow - is very powerful and feature-rich, but unfortunately has no color management whatsoever, can’t embed a CMYK color profile or simultaneously exportf multiple files to multiple firmats, which makes the export process very tedious.

Affinity Designer, on the other hand, has the very features Inkscape lacks, but falls short everywhere else.

Thats’t why I use them in concert. First, I sculpt my design in Inkscape - in black & white - and then I transfer it to Designer for CMYK colorization - in a color-managed environment - and final export.

The two apps compliment each other very nicely. The only possible drawback is that you can only copy objects directly from Inkscape to Designer and not the outher way around, as Inkscape turns Designer vector objects into bitmaps.

Otherwise it’s a great option, provoded you aren’t required to deliver .AI files.

It costs no more than one or two months of an Illustrator subscription (for a lifetime Designer license).

Credit: Nick Saporito (Logos by Nick).

Just starting out - HELP!
#2

This whole thing feels very spammy, but I’ll play along. How is Affinity Designer falling short? I’m not a user of this app, but it looks pretty interesting.

#3

Call me cynical, but I get suspicious the moment anyone describes themselves as a ‘logo designer’.

1 Like
#4

In my time there was no such job description.

#5

In short, Designer is very modest compared to something like Inkscape:

  • limited path/object operations toolset;

  • no effects/filters

  • no live path effects

  • no bitmap tracing

Logo design is what I specialize in and do for a living.
There’s a link to my Behance portfolio in my profile.

I merely want to share my toolset and make people aware of an interesting - albeit not 100% free - alternative to Illustrator.

#6

For the price of illustrator, very cheap, I only pay 60 euro a month for the entire creative suite.

I make enough money from 1 logo design to cover the entire year. Not just for illustrator, but every adobe app.

#7

Please take look at my portfolio:

1 Like
#8

That’s a plus in my book.

#9

Yup; pretty much what I expected.

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#10

don’t called him spammer check out his portfolio and please no negative remarks
appreciate hardw

1 Like
#11

Why can’t we have negative remarks? As long as I am respectful and not insulting, I can pretty much leave positive or negative remarks. After all it’s my opinion, and if I have a negative opinion then I can voice it.

Negative remarks are part and parcel to understanding where you can improve.

Without them we might as well stand in a circle patting each other on the shoulder and saying well done in unison.

#12

yes i’m agree with you but i think he will be disappointed with that word.
i will say Again agree with thoughts as well

#13

Who are you?

#14

Constructive criticism is good, but as I think you’re probably saying, accusations and negativity are usually not helpful.

1 Like
#15

You might want to check out ‘Scribus’, it is also free OSS like Inkscape, I use Inkscape and Scribus, they complement each other very well.

#16

I know about Scribus.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, it can produce only .PDF files.

#17

And the fact that Scribus has no support except 3rd party support for Spot colours/pantone colours.

Same with Inkscape (I believe, if I’m wrong so be it)

Plus it’s not as robust as the industry standard.

Beware if you’re using non-industry compliant software then handing files over to industry professionals that are not compliant (i.e., require a lot of reworking) then you’re going to incur extra charges.

If you hand your files to a client as per an agreement - you might be costing them a lot more to have their files rebuilt in professional software.

What is the big deal with 60 quid month for Adobe software - all of it! Every piece of software, for 60 quid a month is a huge saving.

I put more petrol (gas) in my car each week, never mind a month.
I’d never put tainted petrol (gas) in my car it would ruin the engine.

If you’re a professional doing 15 jobs per week, then over weeks that’s 60 jobs.

If you only tacked on an extra 1 quid charge to each job it covers the software.

Ok - if you want to go cheap or a hobbyist - beware - there are pitfalls using non-industry software - and you’ll likely incur extra charges to fix printing issues.

Best of luck with that.

#18

What’s wrong with PDF files?
PDF would just be a wrapper, all the elements in wrapped in the PDF, vector, raster, colour models, profiles, information etc.

All this stinks of people who genuinely have no idea what they are actually doing and the harm that it has potentially down the road.

Yes, great designs - but heck to with how it actually outputs for the unwitting client at the other end who is as clueless as the people producing it.

Nothing has changed in 25 years. Nothing.

#19

Why is that a problem?

#20

Depending on what you do, you might need other formats.

For example, I also deliver my logos in the .PNG, .SVG, .PDF and .EPS formats.,

Moreover, a typical set of logo files consists of 40 files, so creating it manually would be a very long and tedious process. With Designer it takes only a few minutes.