As a Creative Dept. manager, I definitely echo the feature requests noted above. In the past when shopping for Adobe alternatives, I rejected software that lacked CMYK and Pantone support. Which meant passing on everything I found. They had no production value. (Except Quark Xpress, which is another topic altogether). Both Designer and Affinity needs full spot color support. (Pantone and other spot color swatch companies, with monotone and duotone options.) Having the ability to print out spot color separations that trap correctly is SO important in the print world. It must work correctly tho. Print is expensive, and buggy software will be thrown out and forgotten especially if things go south in prepress.
I think a great feature would be the ability to visually display spot overlays of metallic or varnish that high-end printing clients demand. In CC, there is no way to know how things will print with spot overlays so there is guesswork involved. Maybe some kind of rendering option to see how varnishes or metallics appear on the project. A great up-sell for designers and printers.
As for Designer, you may want to look at how the old Aldus Freehand handled vector work, especially its masking ability. I was so bummed when Adobe bought out Aldus and dumped Freehand.
Finally, if Serif can develop a killer app that equals Indesign, then you will be a major player in the creative world.
I have an idea...let the creative community crowd-fund you! I bet you could create the entire project that way!
The Revolution has begun... :ph34r: :)
Not ready to jump in yet, but will with both feet if you pull this off!
