Do I also need Publisher?

[Bill Pryor]

I'm new to Affinity and want to do a layout consisting of several different size photos to be printed on poster size...it would be something like a giant comic book page, but with photos instead of art.

I'm assuming I need something like Affinity Publisher to do that. If so, will Publisher do it? Thanks.

[Old Bruce]

If it is Photos I would prefer using Photo so I could edit the photos. As it is a Poster I would go with Designer if the photos are 'finished' because of the better support for text, Publisher is for newspapers (remember those?) magazines and books but you could do a poster of photos with it.

Yes, I do realize this is not what you want to hear, ..."It depends..."

[Coffee]

Personally I would do it in Publisher but you can also get it done using Photo and Designer.

[Bill Pryor]

Thanks for the input, both Bruce and Coffee. No fancy graphics will be involved but a little bit of text. So far I haven't really dug into Affinity much, just some basic contrast tweaking. I'm coming from ON1 (because it seems the upgrades want more and more power and I'n not going to buy a new computer to process still photos). I guess I should watch some tutorials.

 

[walt.farrell]

Definitely watch the tutorials.

Also, you can get a 10-day free trial of each of the applications, and play with them (preferrably after you've watched the tutorials).

As the trial runs for 10 days from the time you first open the application after installation, it's probably better to try one application for 10 days, then try another, then try the third.

If you buy directly from Serif (not Apple or Microsoft) you also have a 14-day return period. So, in essence, buying from Serif you have a 24-day period to try an application and decide whether you like it and want to keep it: 10 days via the trial, and then 14 days to change your mind after purchase.

[Palatino]

6 hours ago, Bill Pryor said:

No fancy graphics will be involved but a little bit of text.

Then Affinity Photo will do.

More text and graphics –> Designer
A lot of text and graphics and tables –> Publisher

[Joachim_L]

I would use APu with AP, but I recommend buying AD also. The more experienced you get, the more options you would possibly need. All three applications with the Studio Link feature are a powerful package.

[firstdefence]

Show us an example of what you want to do, that could sway recommendations, although most would recommend all three apps.

If you are patient you might get them on a discount deal but approx 150 for all three apps is a good buy anyway and Affinity is getting better and more feature rich every version release. Be aware there would be an upgrade fee from 1.x to 2.0 and although we are on 1.8.1 retail and 1.8.2 beta is in the pipes affinity are still a way off from a version 2.0 

I would have thought Affinity Publisher would handle what you want to do, it sounds like these photos are finished content so layout and adding text is the main criteria and for that I would say Affinity Publisher would suit what you need, but as Walt says, use the trial time to get a feel for the app and it's capabilities in relation to what you want to create.

[Palatino]

Bill, all three affinity programs use the same file format. So qualitatively it doesn't matter which program you work with. Only the editing options are different. Start with Photo, it's not enough, continue with Designer or Publisher.

If you want to do it absolutely right, use InDesign. 🤣

[Bill Pryor]

9 hours ago, Palatino said:

Then Affinity Photo will do.

More text and graphics –> Designer
A lot of text and graphics and tables –> Publisher

Thanks! I guess I need to do the tutorials to figure that out. I think I'll get Publisher anyway in case I do need it. Nice thing about Affinity is it's affordable.

[Oval]

16 hours ago, Bill Pryor said:

a little bit of text

Only in APu you can link text frames and create columns.