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Affinity Designer: Solid Foundations
Rating: 4.9 out of 5(1,898 ratings)
9,089 students

Affinity Designer: Solid Foundations

Learn how to use Affinity Designer effectively from a graphic design veteran with 30+ years experience. Updated to V2.2!
Created bySimon Foster
Last updated 12/2023
English

What you'll learn

  • How to produce effective vector based images
  • How to produce good design
  • Real world best design studio practices
  • Prepare photos for use in design projects
  • The important tools in Affinity Designer
  • The right way to use the tools in Affinity Designer

Course content

4 sections106 lectures18h 47m total length
  • Hello and Welcome!10:31

    Explore Affinity Designer foundations as the instructor outlines structure, video navigation, bookmarks, captions and transcripts, plus a paper cue approach to learning keyboard shortcuts, Designer two updates and new tools.

  • Shapes 101, Strike a Shape There's Nothing to it...9:30

    Create and manipulate basic shapes in Affinity Designer foundations by drawing rectangles and ellipses and adjusting colors. Use the move, rotate, and resize tools with precise controls.

  • Shapes 101, Layers and Nesting9:38

    Master layers in Affinity Designer 2 by manipulating the layer stack, nesting shapes, and establishing parent–child relationships to move grouped objects together with precise clipping and color control.

  • Your Turn! Boogie Oogie Oogie Sidewalk12:57

    Create a 1024 by 1024 square canvas in affinity designer and build a Mondrian-inspired composition using vector shapes, the eyedropper to sample colors, and a document palette.

  • Your Turn! Boogie Oogie Oogie Sidewalk, part 29:22

    Explore snapping to edges and centers while arranging rectangles in Affinity Designer. Learn to manage layers and groups, adjust stacking, and use front stacking and visibility for Mondrian-style compositions.

  • Affinity Designer 1.9 - Customize your Workspace3:23

    Customize your Affinity Designer 1.9 workspace by using view studio presets to dock panels and place Gaussian blur controls for efficient text work with a DC general text setup.

  • Shapes 101, Create Shapes and Transform Them11:55

    Learn to create and transform vector shapes in Affinity Designer, using the rectangle tool, color palettes, and transform origin to align, rotate, and snap shapes accurately.

  • Your Turn! Match the Shapes17:37

    Trace and match shapes in Affinity Designer by rasterizing vectors to pixels, using rectangle and ellipse tools, and refining with transform origin, snapping, and eyedropper color.

  • Shapes 101, Alter the Built in Shapes with Little Red Dots...6:29

    Explore built-in shapes in Affinity Designer using the little red dots to adjust radii and independent curves, then create polygons and stars with snap-to guides.

  • Edit the Outline of your Shapes12:45

    Explore stroke properties in Affinity Designer, adjusting caps, joins, dashes, and a miter; examine line alignment, stroke order, scale with object, opacity, and thickness variation via the pressure graph.

  • New for Designer 2: The Quick Grid Tool4:50

    Explore the quick grid tool in Affinity Designer: drag shapes, duplicate with arrow keys, adjust spacing with modifiers, and learn when to commit by releasing the mouse.

  • The Corner Tool and Introduction to Nodes9:12

    Explore how the corner tool and nodes in Affinity Designer let you add points, create and edit curves with direction handles, and convert shapes to curves for flexible, resolution-independent designs.

  • Practice Time! Practice the Corner and Node Tools13:49

    Practice time guides tracing shapes in Affinity Designer using the node and corner tools, converting to curves and adjusting points, with opacity, snapping, and rounded corners to build complex shapes.

  • Boolean Functions16:42

    Master boolean operations in Affinity Designer to combine, subtract, intersect, xor, and divide shapes into editable logos, then use compound shapes and the history panel for non-destructive editing.

  • Your Turn! Fire Engine, Part 115:21

    Tackle your first serious project by building a fire engine from simple shapes in a coloring book style, tracing sketches, and organizing with groups and layers.

  • Ordering and Flipping Shapes4:00

    Learn to order shapes and groups in the layer stack, move items to front or back, and use shortcuts to jump to the top or bottom; flip and rotate shapes.

  • Your Turn! Fire Engine, Part 24:33

    Build a fire engine vector in Affinity Designer by shaping the cab with straight and rounded edges, converting to curves. Use snapping, transform values, and the alignment tool for precision.

  • Align and Distribute Shapes6:54

    Learn to use the alignment tool in affinity designer to align and distribute multiple shapes, using selection bounds, left/right/center alignment, and adjustable spacing with auto distribute.

  • Your Turn! Fire Engine, Part 3, Finish the Cab11:03

    Build the fire engine cab in Affinity Designer by aligning and snapping rounded rectangles, creating wheels and mud guards, and managing groups and layering for precision.

  • Your Turn! Fire Engine, Part 4, Using Booleans11:10

    Apply boolean operations in Affinity Designer to construct and refine the mid section of a fire engine, using precise shapes, radii, groups, and snapping for a clean compound shape.

  • Your Turn! Fire Engine, Part 5, Finish the Illustration15:13

    Reuse shapes like wheels and squares from the fire engine, apply powered duplicate, and manage layers, guides, snapping, and stroke and fill to finish a clean vector illustration.

Requirements

  • You will need a working copy of Affinity Designer
  • Time and dedication to study the lectures

Description

Updated for Version 2.2! This course was first made using Affinity Designer 1. But I've added new videos to cover the important updates for Version2.2.

'I've done some Affinity Designer tutorials on YouTube, but they just cover one tool or technique. How do I actually create good designs, start to finish?'

'There are so many tools in Affinity Designer! So many things to remember! As a beginner what do I need to know and what do I not need to know?'

'How do I know when I've learned the really important stuff?'

Enrol on this course and find out just how well I can answer these questions. I've been a designer for nearly 30 years. I've spent thousands of hours working in various design studios and now I'm bringing that experience to Affinity Designer. Over the years I've learned what matters when you are creating good design and what doesn't. What clients want to see and what keeps them coming back to you. What tools work and what traps there are to catch you out. Also things like where to start when enhancing an image for your design work. What steps you should take and in what order. Things like selecting the right tool for the job because just learning a tool isn't enough. How to use a tool but also when to use it, what problems you may encounter and, perhaps most importantly, why to use it.

The course gives you a thorough grounding in the tools and techniques you need to know when you are producing good design. These tools and techniques are so fundamental that I make sure that they are covered properly and in detail. Practically every image you see is available as a download so you can follow along and I've also created many practice videos. Not a multi choice quiz where you just have to remember the name of a tool. That's not enough - you need practical exercises for a program like Affinity Designer and I give you exactly that in a unique way.

Your practical exercises are consistent. After you've watched the tutorials I'll give you a task and tell you what I want you to do with it. Then you have a choice. You can listen to the advice I give you about how to do the job, or you can skip the advice and try doing the exercise. Then come back to the video and I'll show you how I did it. I'll also give you some valuable tips about tools, techniques and workflow along the way so you can really nail down the fundamental concepts and be ready to move on to more advanced subjects.

Did you notice I said 'fundamental' twice instead of 'basic'? There's a reason for that. This course is aimed at beginners and existing users who want to round out their knowledge but that doesn't mean it's over simplified. Heck, no! You will learn the same tools and techniques that are used in professional studios. I've been in quite a few design studios in my time and - just between you and me - there's things on this course that I've had to explain to people who use Illustration programs on a daily basis. That's something I can do for you too. As well as being a designer for decades I also spent some time as a teacher and my university degree is all about how people learn. And it is my firm belief that the right way to learn something like Affinity designer is not to just learn the tools. The right way is to learn the right workflow. You learn the right workflow by using the right tools for the job, and the best way to use them.

After learning about vector based tools we'll tackle more topics about enhancing photos for use in your design work. You'll also practice these new techniques. Things like half a dozen different ways to select areas of your picture and the pros and cons of each. Learn best working practices and gotchas while you learn about vector based shapes, text, artboards, gradients, selective colorization or pro level dodge and burn techniques. Layer blend modes? So many people get confused by them. Give me 20 minutes and you'll wonder why anyone would ever find them challenging. Learn the differences between vector shapes and bitmaps. Layer masks? So useful yet sometimes so confusing. Let me explain them to you and make them a vital part of your new skillset.

By the end of the course you will have mastered various effective workflows, start to finish. You will gain the confidence to tackle your own vector illustrations, be able to enhance photos, and one day soon you may well be looking at one of your own designs and thinking 'That looks fantastic! I did that...'

Enrol now. Don't forget you have the 30 day money back guarantee so you have nothing to lose and so much to gain. Learn Affinity Designer from someone who knows what's important and knows how to teach. Get ready to be an effective designer. Get ready to make your work shine!

I'll see you on the course,

Simon



Who this course is for:

  • Beginners to Affinity Designer
  • Beginners to vector based Illustration and design