An Affinity for Canva

[@williss1192]

As a graphic designer when I found out I was depressed for a long while to be honest. It's so hard to find an equivalent. Now I have to look for other alternatives. I simply don't trust their "oath" as it's not legally binding

[@WilliamGallagher]

No, it isn't, I agree. But for at least right now, the apps are working brilliantly and they can't take away what we've already got, so.

[@thefrecklepuny]

As an Affinity user under Windows, l do hope Canva does not do what Corel does with CorelDraw and inflates the cost of the perpetual licence to stupid o' clock levels, currently £600+ in order to make a subscription look more palatable. Or what Xara does and hobbles the perpetual licence in terms of features compared to the subscription version. A lot of goodwill is riding on this.

[@WilliamGallagher]

Grief, I haven't thought of Corel in so long. Decades, perhaps. I remember being in a meeting with them after they'd bought WordPerfect and somehow just leaving the room thinking I was glad I didn't work for them. Terribly unfair of me, I'm sure it was just one person I'd met, but then Corel also effectively put the final bullets into WordPerfect and I had so liked that app.

[@pbajnoci]

I’ve been an Affinity user for some time and I love it. I recently used it to design my own book which included a lot of images/graphics and the integration of all three apps within essentially one app is great. A huge timesaver. I can only hope that after the acquisition it will only get better. Time will tell. Or should I say Canva will tell.

[@WilliamGallagher]

I do not know why I adore that switching of personas where your document stays the same but the app switches around it -- but I really do. Such a smart idea and so hard to go back to manually plodding between apps.

[@JosefRapaport]

I have been watching your enlightening videos for some time now, William, so it’s about time to thank you for your wonderful insights, related to designing, writing and publishing. This video is also very informative but generally, it all leads back to the issue of the plight of the content creator. I am in a process of writing a rant about it. Thanks again.

[@WilliamGallagher]

Goodness, thank you: that's very nice of you to say. Good luck with the rant.

[@JosefRapaport]

@@WilliamGallagher thank you.. I’ll keep learning from you

[@peterc2248]

Hi William, I was hugely saddened when I got the email from Affinity. I am also hugely cynical about the future of Affinity but such is life. I'm an old fart and don't like change especially when it appears it's all about money, grumble, grumble, grumble :-)

[@WilliamGallagher]

Grumble, mutter, grumble... Now I've thought about it, and looked into it for this video, I'm much more sanguine. But while I'll take change, I too thought this could be the end for Affinity. I hope I'm right to be less concerned now, and that the money does go to improving the apps.

[@mariee2688]

100% agree. 😂 Glad I'm not alone. I hate Canva. I Love Affinity. Was devastated when I got the email...🤦 Changed over a couple of years ago, couldn't afford the Adobe suite. Affinity had been a perfect solution. Please Canva leave it alone.

[@WilliamGallagher]

I keep thinking I'm missing something with Canva but I had to teach someone how to use it -- they hired me for video editing and this became a side project that was basic enough that I could tell them something useful -- and in going through it with them, I just kept constantly thinking I'd have finished this by now in Pixelmator Pro or Affinity Photo. And it would be looking better. But I have to say that this person has been using Canva regularly since then and she likes it very much.

[@mariee2688]

@@WilliamGallagherOh, you're far more generous than I am William! 😅 I say Canva is the graveyard for good design. It makes anyone think they are graphic designers, and it's responsible for so much crap on Etsy and even Creative Market that sadly, good design gets lost in the fog. 😢 But on a positive note. Affinity Suite really is amazing, and excellent value, Adobe doesn't even let you use the programmes you've paid for if you cancel your subscription. 🤦 Rip off. So I pray Canva doesn't take Affinity that way. I also really like Pixelmator, which for me was a very easy move from Photoshop.

[@dmart1490]

Hi William, Thank you for your informative tutorials. Like you I have come from Pagemaker to Quark and jumped to InDesign version 1.5 because it looked better and a lot cheaper but it went up and up then went to subscription and as I needed the entire suite it was costing me $AU 87 per month but I am now basically retired and not wanting to pay that much. I bought version 1 of the Affinity suite a few years back and now ditched Adobe except for Photoshop and replaced Premiere, After Effects and Audition with the free DaVinci Resolve. Lets hope Canva don't spoil it for us.

[@WilliamGallagher]

PageMaker! I was so impressed with PageMaker back in the day. I did then become quite the Adobe fan, but just like you, the cost of it became so much that I had to look seriously at what exactly I was using it for. Pixelmator Pro replaced Photoshop for me so seamlessly that I was encouraged to look around for more.

[@SharonMakepeace]

I'm always a bit suspicious, when a company announces, "We are excited..." or, "We are proud to announce that..." It usually means they've hit financial problems and are looking for a buyer.

[@WilliamGallagher]

It would be funny if, just for once, a company said "grudgingly, we have been bought..."

[@TherealPaulMounts]

I completely agree… hope Affinity isn’t corrupted by Canva. I think many others have concepts also, based on the repeated press releases from Affinity. And if we own Affinity apps, will we get reduced price access to premium Canva? Great video, as always!

[@WilliamGallagher]

Thank you.

[@olympicaccess6576]

I'm curious about Affinity's ability to export to PDF and have it be tagged for accessibility properly. Canva does a poor job on this currently.

[@WilliamGallagher]

I can tell you that Affinity Publisher does it, but I don't have anything to compare it to in order to assess whether it's good enough. But "Tagged PDF" is right there in the Export dialog box.

[@StephenBoothUK]

I have been wondering about the 3 million users figure. Until quite recently you had to buy each application separately. I have the Windows versions of each, Mac versions of each and iPad versions of each. Does that make me one user? Three users (either once per app or once per platform)? Or 9 users (because I bought 9 items)? That’s an entirely rhetorical question, I don’t expect you to know. I use Affinity, Adobe Creative Cloud, Corel PaintShop Pro, Overleaf and iStudio, even Microsoft Publisher from time to time. Some of that is historical reasons, some is due to requirements of collaborators/clients. What you use is usually more complex than just price or personal preference unless you are completely solo.

[@WilliamGallagher]

Absolutely. I took on a client that insisted I use QuarkXPress, but then I found in fact I was replacing someone who was actually using Adobe InDesign. I moved them to Affinity Publisher and while I've not even tried to hide that, I don't think anyone cares enough to notice. But I honestly hesitated when they were first insisting on Quark. It's fine, it has good features, but just trying it out, I was exasperated by its constant updating.

[@wimleybuckets]

I hope Affinity does remain a one-time purchase software. One of the reasons I switched to Mac/IOS a few years ago was to completely eliminate Adobe from my pipeline. The two big programs I wanted was Vellum on the Mac, and Procreate on the iPad. But the Affinity suite has proven to be a fine replacement for the Adobe offerings. We'll all see how this acquisition actually plays out. I'm expecting to be disappointed, but time will tell.

[@WilliamGallagher]

I like Vellum. Good people there too.

[@wimleybuckets]

@@WilliamGallagher Yeah? that's good to hear. I couldn't justify the cost for anyone who only plans on publishing a book or two. But if you're going to self-publish a series, or something along those lines, it might pay for itself.

[@kcwatters]

I love the Affinity apps and have been using Serif products for almost 30 years, so I'm desperately hoping that this isn't the beginning of the end of that relationship.

[@WilliamGallagher]

No! You're kidding: this Serif is the same Serif that was around doing Windows apps in the 1980s? I had no idea. That's amazing me, fantastic.

[@mr_red13]

Which Affinity app would be best for KZbin thumbnails? And would the sale still be available around the end of August?

[@WilliamGallagher]

Sorry, I replied to this and KZbin says I haven’t. At risk of you getting this twice, Affinity Photo is the best of the three for that. I don’t know about sales but they do crop up from time to time.

[@mr_red13]

@@WilliamGallagher thank you good sir.

[@daniellbrinneman]

William, why not use Apple Keynote to create your KZbin thumbnails? Set page setup to 16:9. Export as JPG.

[@WilliamGallagher]

It's not good enough. I relish Keynote for presentations, but -- I won't be surprised if you just shake your head at me now -- the posters take some fine manipulation. I mean, a pixel here or there to get things lined up as I want. Plus I'm Team PNG. So in my head, I need Pixelmator Pro or Affinity Photo, even if the end result is possibly not as good as I think it is.

[@daniellbrinneman]

@@WilliamGallagher Making a suggestion. You might also be able to export as PNG. I use Affinity apps occasionally.

[@WilliamGallagher]

@@daniellbrinneman Do you see that Affinity Publisher icon "on my wall" to the left of that poster? I did that in Affinity Photo and don't actually think I did a good job. But I have done better before with similar things in Pixelmator Pro. Can Keynote really handle distortion like that? Or notice how the word "Publisher" goes behind my shoulder. I love that kind of stuff and it has seemed to me that Keynote is too basic for it. Again, as much as I adore Keynote.

[@daniellbrinneman]

@@WilliamGallagher I will investigate soon. I found your channel a month ago by searching for writing and page layout in Apple Pages. I was looking for how capable it was.

[@daniellbrinneman]

@@WilliamGallagher I made a short video tutorial that I will leave up a month explaining how I would do it on Keynote on the iPad. I would suggest trying this on your Desktop with Keynote and use the Command/Option keys to modify the shapes. Then make your own video tutorial about it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5ynoWuFarOhZs0si=noxmQX-B8MbMC7X0

[@S.W.Bestwriter]

Great video, William! Years ago, I used Photoshop to create mock posters and even the odd book cover. But then it went to a yearly subscription, and I didn't use it enough to justify the price. What would you recommend? :)

[@WilliamGallagher]

Affinity Photo would definitely do it, but while I'm using it more since the Canva announcement made me re-examine these apps, I still find that Pixelmator Pro is most useful for this.

[@frankwakeman5216]

William I've been using an affinity publisher and designer for a number of years. And recently I added 160 page typography book to a Canva website if you are interested, I will send you a link. Frank Wakeman.

[@WilliamGallagher]

I'm going to regret this and the hours I will spend enjoying it, but yes, please do.

[@frankwakeman5216]

Can I send it to you in a private email?

[@WilliamGallagher]

@@frankwakeman5216 Certainly. Use [e-mail]

[@frankwakeman5216]

Thank you. I sent the link my email. Frank.

[@StingyGeek]

1:44 Jeez! Clean that monitor (I'm not OCD, no honest.....)

[@WilliamGallagher]

Yes, it's ridiculous how dusty I let it get. The thing is that when it's on and I'm facing it, I don't see anything. Then I turn it off, wince, wipe it down, and the next day it's attracted all the dust again. I should do better, though. I'll take the telling. Thanks.

[@TherealPaulMounts]

And I hate online-poly apps also. It seems that Adobe is slowly moving to a place where all of its apps will be online-only within five years.

[@WilliamGallagher]

Yes! Sometimes I think with Apple that they must have fantastic Wi-Fi at Apple Park because they just assume everyone does.

[@pieralessi7426]

Affinity is great but for get an employ you must forget it.

[@WilliamGallagher]

I don't follow you, I'm afraid.

[@pieralessi7426]

@@WilliamGallagher What? I only sai a sad true, have you asked for job online? everybody want Adobe, it's sad.