Using Affinity Photo for Paperback Book Covers (back, spine, front)

[dhemery]

I want to use Affinity Photo to design paperback book covers. Because many elements of my book covers use standard fonts and positioning. The standard elements are simple text and boxes (author name, publisher and price info, box for back cover text, white box for bar code) and some guides for spine, margins, and bleed.

 

I would like to create a template with these standard elements.

 

The challenge is that the page count differs for each book. The page count affects the spine width, which in turn affects the x positions of the front cover elements.

 

I could move the text and guides manually, but anything I do manually is a nuisance and prone to error.

 

Until now I have used InDesign for book covers. My InDesign book cover template uses a spread with three pages: back, spine, and front. The front cover page is positioned relative to the spine’s right edge. The front cover elements are positioned relative to the front cover page. So if I adjust the spine width, the front cover moves over to make room, and all of the front cover elements and guides move with the page.

 

Is there a way to do something similar in Affinity Photo? Or is Affinity Designer a better choice? Or a combination?

[dhemery]

Never mind. A couple of nested rectangle layers gives me what I need. It's easy to move the whole "front cover" group to widen or narrow the spine, and snapping makes it easy to move the two or three guides.

[Noble]

Can someone please explain about nesting rectangle layers and how this can be used for different width spines? I too would like to create a book template in Affinity Photo instead of InDesign. A template that gives me options for bleed, spine width, etc. would be awesome. Any chance AP will add that option to the program? So far I love what I can do with the art and text, I just need to simplify the cover creation process.....