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Thanks R C-R. I'm probably one of the few people on the planet that love the Magic Mouse. I have one for use and home, and I also use one at work (9 hours a day) for design. Overall, the thing works great with Adobe CC. InDesign gives me some troubles with the scroll sensitivity and the pages moving around, but all other apps I'm fine with. I love that I can scroll in all directions in Illustrator with the touch surface. I know a lot of people complain about it not being ergonomic at all, but I hold it in a fingertip grip and have never had any sort of pain in over 3 years of use. I once bought the coveted by many Logitech MX Master, but I couldn't handle how the stupid thing forced me to hold it with a palm grip. It ended up getting returned to Best Buy within a few days. I almost bought a Logitech G900 last night, but the local Best Buy sold their last one before I could get there. Now I'm questioning whether I really should spend more on a mouse than I did on software, just to make the software usable to me. It's a little ridiculous that these "bugs" exist only when using a certain mouse.

I echo this sentiment! Especially when I have to fix all the text in my coworker's Photoshop files because he'll use faux bold instead of just selecting the actual bold font for the typeface he is using.

A little update...since I didn't have a lot of time last night to spend in AD or AP, I wasn't able to test everything. However, I did shut off my Magic Mouse and used my Wacom tablet as the input device, and the color sliders performed as expected. Switched the mouse back on and tried using that...sliders were all messed up again. Guess I'm in the market for a new mouse. I just don't want anyone to suggest the monstrosity that is the Logitech MX Master.

Thanks for the information, Hokusai.

Ah, yes...I failed to mention that detail. Original Magic Mouse, not the second generation.

Perhaps these have been discussed, but I couldn't find anything after a quick search. And perhaps these behaviors are limited to just me. I hope there is some sort of insight that can provided. For reference, I'm running the latest MAS version of Affinity Designer on a late 2012 model Mac mini (2.6 GHz quad-core i7, 4GB RAM) on macOS Sierra (latest version). Firstly, nearly every time I'm using the CMYK sliders to adjust the color of objects or text, my mouse curser seemingly "sticks" to the sliders. When I click and drag on the first slider (doesn't matter if it's C, M, Y, or K) and adjust the value, everything is fine. However, when I click any of the other sliders to adjust them, the previous slider acts as though it is still selected and the adjustment gets changed. Perhaps the same behavior would be present in other color modes, but I haven't worked with them, so I can't be certain. Secondly, and this also happens quite often, my working canvas will randomly shoot across the screen to the right so only the left 1/4th or so is showing...and then it will stick there. I can scroll as much as I want to the left, and the canvas will bounce a little to the left, and immediately bounce back to the right where it was. Has anyone else seen this? It's really quite frustrating.

So fast he even outran his own shadow! Fun image. :D

I don't mind the background at all, nicely done. The mid-ground (is that a thing?) branch certainly looks off to me though. It's fuzzy, but the edges are sharp. Perhaps create a new layer, remove everything but the branch, and then add a gaussian blur to that layer. That should hopefully clean things up nicely.

I'm fairly certain there isn't a specific "calendar" tool. The calendars were likely made just using the text tool. If i had the Affinity software installed at work, I'd play around and figure out a way to create something like this. I don't recall if there is a table tool either, as that could be another option for creating a calendar. If it were me, I'd probably create individual text boxes for each day of the week, each date, etc. so that I could use the alignment tools to get everything centered in columns and rows. I couldn't find a tutorial specifically about how to use the alignment tools in my quick scan of the videos, but this video will give you an idea of where to find them. https://vimeo.com/channels/affinitydesigner/126107008 Alternatively, you could just use the snapping option to align things. Tutorial here: https://vimeo.com/112380892 If anyone else has any suggestions or corrections to my advice, feel free to chime in.

I agree with nearly everything you said. I'd also like to add a few words of advice for Xenol. 1. Keep in mind that a logo should to be legible at about the size of a wild blueberry; 12-13mm or 1/2 inch. Roughly the size of the thumbnail attached to the post about the reworked logo. 2. The spaces (lines) between everything in the top section of the logo are entirely lost at a small size, especially the space above the top of quavers (new word for me...it's "eighth note" over on this half of the globe) and bottom of the cymbal. My suggestion would be to make those spaces at least the same thickness as the lines of the flat, stand, and quavers. I could probably go on, but it's looking pretty good already.

The image looks nice and crisp, full of detail. There is a nice contrast between the subject and the background. However, I do wish the dabbling Gadwall was centered in the image. If it's meant to be off, really push it. Otherwise, I think it would look more balanced with it centered right down the middle of the shot.

I don't spend much time in this section of the forums. Once every few months, at best. Looks as though maybe I should stop by more often though!

Dang, I just saw this. Purchased last night from the link you sent out on Twitter. Treat yourself to something nice with that extra tiny bit of cash you made. :P :lol: :P :lol:

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to be a nuisance. :unsure: You bring up an interesting topic though...does "font-shaming" really close off creative avenues, or force open others? I mean, with the severe overuse of Papyrus and it being the standard "go-to" for so many without any real thought behind it, is it really killing creativity to not use it? One could argue that it opens up a world of creativity in the fact that it then causes someone to step outside the "default" box and make a creative decision about which typefaces to chose for a project. I know both Comic Sans and Papyrus get a lot of hate, but they actually can be great typefaces to use, given the correct application. For example, using Comic Sans in the signature line of an email of an aerospace corporation is probably not the most appropriate use, yet I see it all the time (my coworkers). Not trying to argue or justify my questionably ill-placed font-shaming, you just got me thinking. :o

They look good! As a word of caution though, be careful of the typefaces you choose. The use of Papyrus (on the Blackwood Sinners poster) is almost considered an unforgivable sin in the design world. :P There are a few areas in the type that could use some touching up, but not bad for some of your first pieces. The kerning between the AVA in AVAILABLE NOW especially (notice how there is an unusual amount of space between each letter?). Keep in mind, I'm saying these things as someone that's been in the field of design for a decade or so now. It's nothing I'd expect you to know without any formal training or anything. With a little poking around online, you can find a pretty good amount of information on typography and how to improve the small things. Here's a couple quick little introduction articles: http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/a-20-minute-intro-to-typography-basics--psd-3326 and https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/12/what-font-should-i-use-five-principles-for-choosing-and-using-typefaces/ And remember, don't be afraid to ask for help on here. Plenty of us are willing to help.

There is a film called Troll that I believe was the first. Not related to the story at all from what I have heard. I've seen neither film, which is funny, because I have friends from the town where Troll 2 was filmed (it's a couple hours away).

Bristol City Centre? Shouldn't that be Center? Oh wait, wrong side of the puddle. :P :D :P Fantastic job here. I wish I had more opportunities to use Affinity software. Sadly, I'm stuck with Adobe here at work.

Ha, I didn't even notice that you used Comic Sans...because it's finally used in an appropriate manner here!

Short answer, yes. But it may take a bit of work. I made this background for my Mac way back in 2007 using only Photoshop (http://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/apple-wood-burn-jpg.132729/). For this, I made a custom Photoshop brush in the shape of the Apple logo and used the burn tool to get the burned in look. If I were to do it over, I'd probably just place the logo and make it a dark brown color and play with the blend modes and transparency until it looked close. After I got the initial logo "burned" into the wood, I then used the burn tool around various parts to make it look more like it was actually branded into the wood. I don't recall if Designer has a burn tool in it (don't have it on my computer at work :unsure:) but Photo should. Without having Designer in front of me, it is hard to say how I would tackle this. If no one else chimes in, I can give it a go when I get home this evening.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with keeping a logo design simple. In fact, that's probably your best strategy for success. However, I do have this to say...be aware of the scale of the logo. In the thumbnail of your PNG logo file above, all the detail is lost. The "name" is no longer legible, and the star shape is nothing but a tiny speck. The top of the ornament is almost lost as well due to the thin lines. As I sit here typing this, I look down at the mouse on my desk and see the Apple logo that is still fully recognizable at a mere 12mm (1/2 in) tall. Just keep in mind that successfully designed logos are recognizable at any size. Otherwise, a great start.

Tracking is the spacing between ALL the characters in a word (or block of text). Kerning is the spacing between two characters. Sometimes you may want to move just two letters closers together (such as the letters A and W) to close any visual gaps that may appear just based on the physical shapes of the characters. That would be kerning. If you want a block or text to appear more "airy" (for lack of a better word) you'd add tracking to the text to spread all the characters apart some. Leading is the space between two lines of text, and is often set at a default by the typeface you select. I'm going out on a limb here since I don't know how it works specifically in Affinity's apps, but I'm guessing you can override that default. I'm sure someone that uses the software more than myself can correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know the answers to your other questions about the paragraph panel spacing or why values are grayed out because, again, I don't use the software enough to know, and I don't have a copy of it here at work to play with. Hopefully this post will give you a better understanding of what some of these terms in question mean.

Good call. I didn't even notice that it was an "Apple Promotion."

So...out of curiosity...is Designer supposed to be $24.99 (USD) right now, or is that an error? Photo is listed at it's normal price of $49.99 (USD).

I've been using Photoshop weekly since CS3 was released. At work I use Photoshop CC 2015, and I can jump nearly seamlessly from that to Affinity Designer and back for the work I do. The type of design work that I do hasn't been limited by the Affinity software. Sure, things are done differently in each, and it takes a little fiddling to figure out how to accomplish something using Affinity, but it hasn't steered me away yet.

Think of it like the old days of Adobe when you had to purchase each version of Photoshop if you wanted to upgrade—before the Creative Cloud model—only more reasonably priced. ;)