KarinC

If you tried Affinity Photo with the dark user interface you might want to try the light one. In my experience it increases legibility. Go to Edit/Settings/User Interface. There you can find also some other options to suit your preferences.

You will learn more if you do this yourself using tutorials. There are a lot of good beginner Publisher tutorials on YouTube. There is a user here who give a full manual for Publisher for free. I'm sure he will show up and give the link. If this is for a course you probably should do it yourself.
 
edit: MikeTo has the manual.

I remembered that Trent had a video on boolean and compound shapes which I didn't watch because I thought I already knew about it. I just found it and discovered he covers the non-destructible way of doing it. He is developing a great library of tutorials that are easy to follow.
 

I remembered that Trent had a video on boolean and compound shapes which I didn't watch because I thought I already knew about it. I just found it and discovered he covers the non-destructible way of doing it. He is developing a great library of tutorials that are easy to follow.
 

Out of curiosity how do you manage to turn everything into an argument?

Out of curiosity how do you manage to turn everything into an argument?

Out of curiosity how do you manage to turn everything into an argument?

Although they are brushes, these special effects are free:
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/store/free-content/

I read this passage this morning in my "Daily Stoic" email which seems to apply here:
"... the question is whether you're willing to be taught. Life is constantly speaking to you. The world is always trying to teach you. But do you hear it? Are you open to it?
Epictetus said we can't learn that which we think we already know. Zeno reminds us that conceit is the impediment to growth and change. If you're not willing to be taught, you cannot learn."
https://dailystoic.com/are-you-willing-to-be-taught/

I bought Publisher in June (or early July) after the 30 day trial. I published my first book less than 3 months later - a highly illustrated manual, btw.
Outside of asking a few questions here, with excellent help, and watching a few videos I didn't read a manual. I felt it was highly intuitive.
 
 

This issue plagued me when creating an illustrated book in Publisher 2.1 in grayscale. I am having the same issue in Designer 2 with all of the pallets. I can reproduce it all day. It is an issue that is frustrating.
This is in Windows.
I create an object.  Note that the stroke is a pink color even though it is obviously not. (I know I have some colors in my grayscale pallet. Newbie mistake)
 

 
If I select a color for the fill all is well. The yellow for the fill is selected since I selected it.

 
However, if I select the stroke color icon, the swatch is still yellow.

I make a new object and again the stroke color is not evident. 
 

 
What color is the fill? Nothing is highlighted.

If I deselect everything then click on the layer, not the object, the fill shows up in the pallet.

 
However, if I click on the stroke icon I still get the fill color highlighted.

I read this passage this morning in my "Daily Stoic" email which seems to apply here:
"... the question is whether you're willing to be taught. Life is constantly speaking to you. The world is always trying to teach you. But do you hear it? Are you open to it?
Epictetus said we can't learn that which we think we already know. Zeno reminds us that conceit is the impediment to growth and change. If you're not willing to be taught, you cannot learn."
https://dailystoic.com/are-you-willing-to-be-taught/

I read this passage this morning in my "Daily Stoic" email which seems to apply here:
"... the question is whether you're willing to be taught. Life is constantly speaking to you. The world is always trying to teach you. But do you hear it? Are you open to it?
Epictetus said we can't learn that which we think we already know. Zeno reminds us that conceit is the impediment to growth and change. If you're not willing to be taught, you cannot learn."
https://dailystoic.com/are-you-willing-to-be-taught/

I read this passage this morning in my "Daily Stoic" email which seems to apply here:
"... the question is whether you're willing to be taught. Life is constantly speaking to you. The world is always trying to teach you. But do you hear it? Are you open to it?
Epictetus said we can't learn that which we think we already know. Zeno reminds us that conceit is the impediment to growth and change. If you're not willing to be taught, you cannot learn."
https://dailystoic.com/are-you-willing-to-be-taught/

I just have to butt in here, because I can't resist.
I have used Publisher to prepare in the neighborhood of 15 POD books (At least. There could be more. I stopped counting because it is so easy to use my templates). I will admit right off that they are novels, not photo books or manuals or anything else. The interiors match what the Big 5 produce. How do I know that? Because I copied their formatting, and my books match, exactly. I defy anyone to tell me they don't look "professional". (As to content, I leave that to my tens of thousands of readers to decide.)
I will admit that Publisher was a bit of a bear to use right out of the box. However, despite my hateful attitude towards video learning, I sat down, bit bullets, dodged others, and watched until my eyes bled out. After using the eraser end of a pencil to poke them, I had a usable print book template that I now have tweaked to my satisfaction.
Was it easy? No. Did it pay off? Yes. I might suggest that if you're in a hurry, use another solution. If you feel the need to "get something up there quick", use another product. Publisher isn't "easy" to learn. Once you have it down, there will be no stopping you. On the other hand, if you're looking for an overnight solution, you might use something "easier" that you're more familiar with.

I bought Publisher in June (or early July) after the 30 day trial. I published my first book less than 3 months later - a highly illustrated manual, btw.
Outside of asking a few questions here, with excellent help, and watching a few videos I didn't read a manual. I felt it was highly intuitive.
 
 

I bought Publisher in June (or early July) after the 30 day trial. I published my first book less than 3 months later - a highly illustrated manual, btw.
Outside of asking a few questions here, with excellent help, and watching a few videos I didn't read a manual. I felt it was highly intuitive.
 
 

I bought Publisher in June (or early July) after the 30 day trial. I published my first book less than 3 months later - a highly illustrated manual, btw.
Outside of asking a few questions here, with excellent help, and watching a few videos I didn't read a manual. I felt it was highly intuitive.
 
 

I found the answer here:
 
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/68353-non-horizontal-linear-gradients-on-text-frame-fill/
 

I used to illustrate the old-fashioned way using Rapidograph pens, hand stippling for hours on end. That and 20 years of milking goats and building things using an impact driver have ruined my right hand resulting in bad thumb arthritis and knobby knuckles. I'm very good at using a mouse for very detailed work. I thought of getting a tablet but I can't even hold a pen to write let alone holding a stylus for hours on end. My mouse is a very simple Amazon Basics one that fits my hand well. It feels like an extension of my hand. I don't think about it as being any kind of hindrance. 

Is this the baseline grid problem that I had trouble with?

I like this method of outlining text.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne63HqO4Pho
 

I don't own Photo but I am able to use Pixel persona in Designer.

By the way. Hello to Joshua Tree. I used to live in Yucca Valley just down the road.

I've seen things like this happen and I can't figure out how. Once, I could not type in a text box because somehow the indent or first line indent had been set to some insane value like 50,000 inches. I was typing but I couldn't see what I was typing because it was a mile away. Someone here said that can happen if you are using the scroll wheel and not watching where the mouse is but I've not been able to duplicate it. I've had superscript activated sometimes too without knowing why.
I've found that if I want to change a stroke width but I didn't click in the width box in the stroke window dropdown from the tool bar and type in a number which doesn't register as a stroke width (because I wasn't in the stroke width box) but changes the opacity of the layer instead.
This happens in Publisher.