Anyone have any luck with this? In my graphic design course we were taught illustrator, but due to my general dislike of adobe I meant to move off their products and affinity always seemed promising but then when I got around to actually trying it and it was just ridiculously feature bare? I’m mostly asking this as I’ve seen other people report having a really positive experience with their switch and I’m not sure if I just didn’t the solutions to the certain things I wanted to do or my workflow is just more complex than other people’s who have switched. Same with other adobe programs and their affinity equivalents, I’ve been kinda scared off from giving those a shot, especially cus indesign is like the one program I consider very good from adobe so if affinity publisher doesn’t even measure up I’d rather not waste my money on it.
The question may go beyond your dislike of Adobe.
What do you plan on doing with the software as your career progresses?
If you plan on reaching the upper echelons of the design world, at current time, Adobe is it, for better or worse. Affinity may be fine for small job hand-offs but when it comes to huge branding and exhibition work, not so much.
I have yet to see any kind of Affinity file in the high-end work we do. Not saying it won’t happen, but it ain’t there yet. (It’s on my list of someday getting Affinity integrated into our work flow, but…too busy with paying work.)
Yea I’m looking to do high-end work so that’s why I don’t see affinity designer as a tool that can really measure up to illustrator right now.
Three years ago, I had a complicated book design project (hundreds of photos and illustrations) from a publisher that used the Affinity suite and insisted that I do the same. The whole project took a couple of months.
There was a learning curve in changing my habits from Adobe CC to Affinity, but once I got used to Affinity and got comfortable with the software, I learned to like it. There were a few workarounds needed for things more easily done with Adobe software, but there were also things I really liked about the software that the Adobe equivalents couldn’t do.
I’ve been using Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign since each was first released. Because my work habits with these apps were established years ago, I tend not to use many of the newer features that I regard as gimmicky or aimed at hobbyists and have little or no relevance to how I prefer to work. Yes, the Affinity apps lack many of these features, but since I didn’t need them, I didn’t miss them. If you’re someone who does depend on these features, I agree that Affinity isn’t an ideal substitute for Adobe CC. Then again, someone used to Affinity might say the same about Adobe.
The one single deal-killer for me with the Affinity Suite is its complete lack of support for variable fonts. I’ve come to rely on them extensively and would have a hard time with Affinity because of it.
I use it for freelance work and I use Adobe at my day job. It’s really come along way. Affinity 2 is perfectly capable of producing high end design work. Tools alone won’t get you there but, you also won’t get there without some good tools. I understand your concerns I think. There’s nothing stopping you from learning both, after all it’s very similar.
Affinity is similar but different. Depending on your project you can make up for the missing features with features Adobe misses easily.
For example one should never underestimate the benefits of a unified file format and Studio Link.
Six years ago:
When comparing to Adobe don’t worry about your money, rather your time.
Well, for the beginning you can do both in order to compare which one is more comfortable for you. After that, I am sure you’ll understand better what you like and want more.