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Here on display are some of my personal project illos. Choice of quotes is rather arbitrary and satisfies my personal tastes. Illos were made in AD & AP, combining vector and raster brushes with a help of Wacom tablet/pen. Series is a work in progress.

Third magazine created with Affinity Publisher (and Photo and Designer). No Adobe products were used in the creation and proofing of this issue. There was a problem about halfway through the creation where Publisher 1.8 would seize up the file when saving and for whatever still unknown reason, the file could not be opened. All sorts of error messages. Thankfully there was a backup through Time Machine, although much work was lost. Paranoia set in and started saving copies every few minutes to several different folders. Sure enough, the same saving error occurred and file would be corrupted so I'd open a backup and kept juggling like that for half a day. Long story short, I reinstalled 1.7 and carried on with no problems. I did post the problem in the forums but the only semi-useful suggestion from another user was to try the 1.9 Beta. As my deadline was shortened by the problems I couldn't take the chance with the Beta version and reverting to 1.7 solved the problem. Still love the program despite that glitch (although there was much cursing during the crisis mode!). Before anyone asks, it was the magazine's publisher that requested the cover logos be turned on their sides. When anyone figures that one out, please let me know! As there are two covers, let me explain. It was decided that the two magazine titles were to be combined into one issue, evenly split (50 pages each). At the 50 mark, the pages are flipped upside-down. Not something I'm crazy about but then again, my job is to Art Direct and produce the magazine.

For this years cards I wanted to keep it simple and almost in the naive style and I went down the family value road as a nod to my second grandkid. They are set up as slightly overformat in A4, as RGB and impositioned as work and tumble, page 1 and 4 and 2 and 3 are imported to masterpages in QuarkXpress with each card being personalized in the worksheet so I won´t bore you with that part. Twas fun. Now let´s see yours!

Second full issue of Skin Art done COMPLETELY with Affinity Publisher, Affinity Photo, and Affinity Designer. This issue went smoother than the last and part of that is due to converting my library of Postscript fonts to Open Type (I posted earlier this year about problems with fonts in Photo and Designer and a bit in Publisher ( https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/125130-strange-text-box-problem/&tab=comments#comment-688016 ). Happy to say that the proofing process with the printer went even quicker with a lot less technical issues. For those that are interested, it's available for order online and will be available in-stores on November 10th. Thanks again to Serif for giving me an excellent and professional alternative to adobe. Never going back.

In the past I used Aperture extensively to order my photos, develop the raws, do the basic stuff - and create my photobooks. Unfortunately it is discontined by Apple for a longer time now, and whatever they would like us to believe, Fotos is no adequate replacement. I also have Affinity Photos, Designer and Publisher in use, so why not use it for photobooks as well. Unfortunately I still didn't find templates, so I decided to create my own one. It's heavily inspired by my favorite design from Aperture. The measures are designed to fit SaalDigital 28x19 book prints. SaalDigital starts with a left page, which is predefined. They also want to have full spreads as single PDF pages in export - APub can do, fantastic. Attached the template and an example PDF Usage: create as much empty pages as you want assign a the desired master design to the page. drag & drop the pictures write the texts Some points I'm not happy so far though: You can assign a master page spread also to single pages. That's cool and it will also select always the right page design (left/right), when changing the order. Though the content is not moved, it will stay on its side's page. Any idea how to solve it? If you assign i.e. master page A to a single left page and afterwards master page B to the right page of the same spread, you still have all layers of B on the left page. And since it was assigned later, it gets prio when applying i.e. pictures via drag & drop. That's a bit unfortunate. I always get a lot of warnings when exporting. Any idea on how to solve/avoid them? I extended the picture frames and objects into the bleed to prevent white edges to to unclean cuts. Now it seems this bleed is not taken into account for the checks, when master pages are applied. So you get all the times a warning message which asks you to reformat. You can confirm or decline, the result's the same. Any idea on how to prevent this? Fotoreportage_template_28x19_SaalDigital.aftemplate Fotoreportage_template_28x19_SaalDigital.afpub Fotoreportage_template_28x19_SaalDigital_example.pdf

Chinese Character Practice Grid: My Very First Creation with Affinity Publisher Disclaimer: I’m a total newbie. I couldn’t find any tutorials relevant to the task, so I decided to just “wing” it. However, I am quite pleased with the results, simple as they are. (1) I don’t know if it’s possible to draw different types of lines in Affinity Publisher, so I designed the grid itself in Microsoft Word, a variation on the traditional jeougongger 九宮格 “nine square grid” approach. (2) I imported a smaller grid into Affinity Publisher, copied it once using Ctrl-C, then pasted multiple copies into place using Ctrl-V to create an A4 sheet (keyboard shortcuts I have been using in Microsoft Word for over 20 years). The individual squares did not quite line up, so I had to fiddle with the positions for quite a while (less than ideal). (3) I then used the Slender Gold font (based on the calligraphic style of the last emperor of the Song Dynasty) to type in the three characters of a Chinese name I chose for a foreign friend. I was quite pleased to discover that Affinity Publisher automatically snaps the characters exactly into the center of each box. I typed in an English title using GR Tonal Spelling, AKA Gwoyeu Romatzyh 國語羅馬字 (guan is 1st tone, guann is 4th tone). (4) I exported the resulting file as a PNG file. The menu item was exactly where I expected it to be. (5) Finally, I cropped the first three boxes using Photoscape. Maybe Affinity Publisher has cropping tools built in? *** Initial verdict: I was very pleased that a total newbie like myself could create a usable. I created an attractive design without even reading the instructions (the tutorials I found were not helpful). I still have a lot to learn, but so far I feel that my money was well spent. Problem: Although I bought the software directly from Serif, it cost me about US $65 (not sure why it costs more in Taiwan: my income is very limited). I hope I can pick up the Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer at Black Friday discounts.

CD package for Vessel Of Light Band. I did work on their last package but this is the first package for them that I've done, cover-to-cover. Not sure how many of you have every worked with musicians (I have for over 35 years) but there can be some egos involved. The job of the designer becomes that of Designer/Teacher/Referee/Dictionary. As a designer we may not always agree to certain requests, but ultimately it is the band's product and it's how they wanted to be represented. It's also a vision they have in THEIR head. Some requests work. Some don't and that's where we have to call on our knowledge base to explain to the client why something won't ultimately work. In regards to musicians, there can often times be as many opinions as there are band members, all conflicting. I usually let that situation be hashed out amongst themselves and in most cases, seniority or the lead person(s) win out. Its true with other types of clients but the above scenario seems especially so with musicians. Personally, I love the challenge of finding the solution that both answers their requests and resolves their differences. This design was also adapted to Cassette (Remember those? Hah! You're showing your age!), and LP.

Game-Cards.pdf

I started producing this mag some years ago in Page plus then progressed to Scribus, Xara and now to Affinity. it is published on line and is free to view. SEW is a region of the embroiderers guild which is a charity. This is my first attempt with Affinity. It took me a while to get the hang of the persona and I still have a lot to learn but I found it very intuitive and and the design programme easy to use. The magazine is 246 pages with an appendix of 119. it is on our web site http://sewregionmagazin.com

One of the first spreads I created using Publisher, back in January 2020. Prior to this, I was using Publisher for single page items like flyers, ads, and stickers, basically familiarizing myself with the program and learning where everything was. I was building up to a full issue of Skin Art magazine which I've previously posted here. This layout was originally for Steppin' Out Magazine and was later picked up by Outlaw Biker magazine. SOJeffBlanchardJan2020.pdf

Language-independent symbols for Welcome and for Thank you for visiting Some time ago there was available on Google street view some views of the foyer of MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. There was a sign that had Thank you for visiting in English and the same message in several other languages. Yet there are many languages, and I wondered if a symbol that would have the same meaning in all languages would be good. Also a symbol for Welcome. The designs used in this thread are available in the following font in the Private Use Area at U+E921 for Welcome and U+E922 for Thank you for visiting. This link is included for completeness, readers may use it if they wish, but the idea of this thread is to use the svg files. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/LOCSE977.TTF I am hoping to produce PDF files for each symbol in four sizes, A4, A3, Letter, Ledger. So I decided to start by making two svg files, one for each message, at a large size with transparent background such that could be used directly in A3 and Ledger sizes an at 70% in A4 and Letter sizes. So, 5 inches high by 15 inches wide seems a good size to try. Here are the two svg files. William There are issues over application of these files in Affinity Publisher. New versions of the files may need to be produced, or maybe the problem is not in these files. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/117718-at-what-size-is-a-placed-svg-file-placed-please/ Welcome.svg Thank_you_for_visiting.svg

Not here for a critique as these are done and in the process of publication. Rather, it's an announcement of triumph in that this is the first large scale piece (100 pages) I created entirely in Publisher, with assists from Designer and a big BIG shout out to Photo. I've been Art Directing/designing this magazine for over 3 years and this is the first "Adobe free" issue and going forward, that will be the order of the day. I never wanted to and never did buy into the Creative Cloud (well, you don't buy, you just rent for the rest of your life). There's still a few features that I'm sure will be added as Publisher grows but there's nothing that couldn't be worked around with ease (span columns - this is covered in other parts of the forum). In dealing with the printer, the only glitch was the cover file. In the end I think it was the printer's automated system and I'm awaiting the technician's report as to why the cover was rejected (multiple times as I tried various solutions). While the system initially rejected each upload of the Cover file page, the printer was able to override the system, open the file, check the metadata, and insert the file into the system. I'll follow up once I receive the report. Thank you so much Affinity for all three programs. What a relief to reach the end of the project and it worked beyond expectations. The "proof in the pudding" was the final export of the PDF files without any problems, minus the unknown of the Cover. I'd like to point out that the cover successfully exported from Publisher each time. Whatever is lurking in the file wasn't anything so significant that the printer couldn't overcome. I also want to point out that this is the first time they received a job created in Affinity Publisher. -Danny

My first ever digital scrapbooking pages were done using Serif Pageplus, and then I moved into Serif's Scrapbooking Software which evolved inot Craft Artist. My children and I have been using Craft Artist for years. However it's crashing and freezing a lot, with the problems getting worse with successive Windows 10 updates. So I decided to try out the Affinity free Trail in April. This is my journey learning to scrapbook in Affinity so far: First go - using Affinity Photo. Scrapbooking with Affinity Photo is much more clunky than using Craft Artist, and took at least twice as long. The text tools are too basic for my needs. On a plus note, the psd template imported well. My page created in Affinity Photo using a psd scrapbooking template. https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/royal-memories.431453/ Second go - using Affinity Publisher Scrapbooking with Affinity Publisher is fairly straight forward and is done in a similar way as with Craft Artist. The text tool power is stronger than Craft Artist's, but it can't edit or create graphics. However, it can borrow functionality from Affinity Photo and Designer to accomplish that stuff, which is why I'm looking at the complete suite. This page is done in Publisher using the "Photo Persona" to edit the colours in some of the elements. https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/psalm-24.431470/ Using Designer to create a template I used Affinity Designer to create a template for this page with intersecting shapes. I had a go at text on a path too. https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/spring.431552/ Drawing & Painting I've been testing out the drawing and painting tools today, and drew and painted the balloon on this art journaling page https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/balloon.431571/ Using a ready made Photo Mask Today's task for Affinity is masking - seems to work fine. I'm still getting the hang of basic drop shadows. The parameters used in the dialog box are different to those used in Craft Artist. Not worked out how to do fancy shadows yet https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/free-food.431614/ How about a 2 pager? My first go at attempting a 2 pager with the Affinity Suite. It's not as easy to line everything up working on 2 separate pages as it is in Craft Artist. However, Affinity doesn't freeze, struggle with large file sizes or crash on me like Craft Artist does increasingly more with every Windows 10 update. So next time I'll try working on it as one large page instead of 2 side by side pages. https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/april-birthday-2-pager.432101/ Pre-flight Checks I do like the "pre-flight checks" function in Affinity Publisher. When I exported the page I was working on it told me I had spelt something wrong, and had text outside my text box, and suggested fixing it before exporting the document. Recolouring digital stamps/brushes I've learnt how to use the Colour Overlay effect to recolour stamps and brushes, and I've has some more vector drawing practice too. https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/find-peace.433188/ Creating a blending Mask With the Photo Persona I used the Oval Selection tool with a feather of 150px to create a mask for blending the photo in this page. Everything else was done in Publisher https://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/blending.433328/ I'm getting quite comfortable now with using Affinity Publisher as my main scrapbooking software, using the Photo or Designer Personas as needed. I now have the option of using psd templates which did not work in Craft Artist. Using psd templates requires me to start with Affinity Photo instead of Publisher. But when I want to add any fancy text I can close the document and reopen it in publisher without any difficulties or need to export/import first. I think I'm going to talk with hubby about purchasing on the 50% off offer that is currently still running.

Used Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher to make a poster for a digital racing event. I´ve used the Adobe software for 12+ years so this is my first project using the Affinity software, it took some time to get used to it but liked it alot! Alle cars where separate screenshots and I've worked them in one image. The main design can be used in several different sizes, like a social media posts or a wallpaper. I've used the same techniques as I used for this poster I made a year ago for the real life counterpart of this racing series. I hope you like the design

Just thought I'd put this out there. Hopefully releasing beginning of July. Web page isn't available yet, but it'll be www.burningcarpress.uk went it goes live. The entire document is about 120 pages so far, with similar graphics through out. TOPTA_COVER.pdf

Here is a poem I created in LibreOffice Writer and laid out in Affinity Publisher. The toasted cheese image used was created by using a combination of Corel Painshop Pro X4, BenVista PhotoZoom Pro, Fotosketcher, Corel Paint It and Affinity Photo. Affinity Photo was used to enhance the detail in the Tone Mapping Persona. Toasted_Cheese.pdf

Hey all I've been working on a comic for the last few months and now that I'm posting episodes on Webtoon I figured I'd share it with the community here. The panel in the post is from what'll be episode 11 or 12. I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I do all the inking and most of the flatting in Procreate on my iPad Pro (just upgraded from the 9.7 inch Pro to the new 12.9!) then I bring it into Affinity Photo and do all the colour work. Sometimes I'll make a few vector objects in Designer. I've been doing all the lettering in Publisher. You can check out the webtoon link at https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/thicc-skinned/list?title_no=404235 and I'd love if you'd subscribe

Hey folks! I'd like to take a moment and share my latest work with you. I was asked to design the logo for a security and guard dog service. With this project I wanted to put the Affinity Suit to the test – and to no surprise it succeeded. 🏆 The vector-based logo was created in Affinity Designer, as the tools are closest to the program alternatives I am familiar with - but which have become obsolete by now. The letterhead and business card were designed in Affinity Publisher. A visualized use case that is more comprehensible for the customer was created with the help of a mock-up in Affinity Photo. Just in time embedded documents (aka Smart Objects) are finally supported, thanks for this fine addition, Affinity! ❤️ Finally I combined all the information in a little brand book with Affinity Publisher and thanks to the new possibility to collect resources (another feature that was highly anticipated) I was able to compile all my work into a nice and clean job folder. For me the current coverage of the suite is already very impressive. Of course, one or two features could be further developed or added - but for this project (with one exception for the concept drawing) I never had to use a product outside the Affinity Suite range, which I think is quite remarkable. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this one! 😀 Oh right, sorry – I forgot to mention that almost the whole document is published in German, but I guess you get the concept. 😅 Greetings MrDoodlezz

Has anyone used this program to design stamp album pages for collectors, such as the attached? National Parks.afpub

Cool, thanks for the update. It rocks! 😁

Hello, I'm a graphic designer and illustrator and I work with the Serif apps. I worked with Photoshop and Indesign for many years, but I discovered Affinity Designer in 2015 and Affinity Photo just a little later. I have created many book cover designs, most and the best with Affinity Photo. Now I have bought Affinity Publisher and I am absolutely thrilled. I now open all work with affinity publisher and switch very quickly to photo or designer. It's so practical, I love it! I am happy every time I switch in Affinity Publisher to Photo or Designer, I don’t want to do without it anymore. Thank you, Serif, you really did something great. Yet again;-) Here is a working example: E-book and print cover for a thriller series from Cologne. https://www.bodobe.de/berberblut-buchcovergestaltung/

An annual report for a Nautical Club based in New Caledonia, South Pacific. My first release with Affinity Publisher 1.7. I wanted to try all the new graphic tools, going from Publisher to Designer or Photo in one click, painting on my pages, insert picture in different way. I'm now sure I'm a new Affinity addict 🙂 Before sending the PDF to the printer, i opened the file with AP 1.8 just to test the preflight tool. A PIECE OF CAKE ! Some screenshot joined... For those who want to see the whole report... https://issuu.com/paoproduction/docs/cnc-bilan-2020-issu

Cool, I did some typography art in Affinity. I copied texts & arranged them to create a square that surrounds another text. I grouped all the texts, then I used the photo persona to 1st copied the text, then I went to the menu, then selected >File >New from Clipboard. Then I exported it to PNG.

Cool, Merry Christmas, I created this in Affinity Publisher using the photo persona.

Hello everyone! :-) I've created a free digital 2020 planner for everyone to use in the next year. Some of the design features I included are: - overview of the year, each quarter, and each month, with places to write down the most important tasks and dates, - "Gantt overview" to see which times of the year are more or less busy (it's not really Gantt chart, just a timeline view to see the whole year at a glance with multiple long-running projects), - "Habits" to track progress of up to 10 habits, each row is the habit, each column is the day, you have 6 boxes there for water intake tracking, mindfulness practice, sport, etc. - a complete 54-week week spread planner with extra rows at the bottom for weather, mood, food, and gratefulness tracking :-) (left column is for tasks for the week to have a nice overview) It works best with a stylus/Apple Pencil on a tablet, or in a PDF annotation tool on desktop. Let me know what you think and I really hope you will find it useful in the coming year! :-) cubitoo-2020-planner.pdf