Newly Converted to Designer - Noob Questions

[gorillabananas]

Hello Designer fam, I just converted to using Designer from years of Inkscape. Love it. That said, I have a few questions that I'm sure you all can answer. I've searched online for each, but didn't find a great answer. Part of the answer to my questions might be saying that I'm asking the wrong question, thinking about this stuff in the wrong way and just need to rethink the problem. 

I'm making a basic newsletter with just a few elements: Title Text, Body Text, Black Square Image, Section Outline, Blue Title Rectangle, Group of Body Text and Black Square Image. You can see the basic format here: 

Here are my questions. Basically all of them are associated with me trying to compress as much content onto the page as possible by experimenting with different Black Square Image and Body Text sizes: 

1. Is it possible to select all of the text in the document and change the font and font size all at the same time?

   1. Right now, I have the Body Text in various groups paired with images and it is quite laborious to enter into each group and change the font one at a time. This also limits testing out various fonts quickly

2. I've got about 50 of those Black Square Images in the document and I want all of them to be the same size. Is there a way to change the size of all of them at once without changing the size of anything else and without changing their position in relation to everything else?

   1. For example, this is easy to do in a Microsoft Word table where the image would be in one cell, the text in a cell next to it (on the same row). If the image changes size, then the row of the table will scale with the image and the cell containing the text and all images in rows below will also move down, thus keeping all content scaled correctly

3. I added 'margin pads' (in aqua, which I will eventually make transparent) with the goal of keeping the margins consistent. Really, I just want to edit the margin around the Black Square Image times 50 occurrences quickly. I'd also like the margin around the Black Square Image to cause the Section outline (black line) to scale with it (thus if margin increase, the Section Outline increases, but the Black Square image stays the same size)

   1. Related - I'd like to just have the Section Outline automatically generated, kind of like a Table in Microsoft Word.. I tried to group all the content inside the Section Outline and mess with the layer effects/styles, but that didn't work with items in a group

4. Minor issue: I'm using 'Frame Text Tool' for my Title text and I want the Title Text to simply be in the middle of the Blue Title Rectangle, but as I change the size of the Blue Title Rectangle, I have to move the Title Text Frame separately. Is there a better way to do this?

Thank you in advance and sorry if these are dumb questions!

[Old Bruce]

Hi and welcome to the forums,

25 minutes ago, gorillabananas said:

1. Is it possible to select all of the text in the document and change the font and font size all at the same time?

   1. Right now, I have the Body Text in various groups paired with images and it is quite laborious to enter into each group and change the font one at a time. This also limits testing out various fonts quickly

2. I've got about 50 of those Black Square Images in the document and I want all of them to be the same size. Is there a way to change the size of all of them at once without changing the size of anything else and without changing their position in relation to everything else?

   1. For example, this is easy to do in a Microsoft Word table where the image would be in one cell, the text in a cell next to it (on the same row). If the image changes size, then the row of the table will scale with the image and the cell containing the text and all images in rows below will also move down, thus keeping all content scaled correctly

3. I added 'margin pads' (in aqua, which I will eventually make transparent) with the goal of keeping the margins consistent. Really, I just want to edit the margin around the Black Square Image times 50 occurrences quickly. I'd also like the margin around the Black Square Image to cause the Section outline (black line) to scale with it (thus if margin increase, the Section Outline increases, but the Black Square image stays the same size)

   1. Related - I'd like to just have the Section Outline automatically generated, kind of like a Table in Microsoft Word.. I tried to group all the content inside the Section Outline and mess with the layer effects/styles, but that didn't work with items in a group

4. Minor issue: I'm using 'Frame Text Tool' for my Title text and I want the Title Text to simply be in the middle of the Blue Title Rectangle, but as I change the size of the Blue Title Rectangle, I have to move the Title Text Frame separately. Is there a better way to do this?

 

 

1: Use Paragraph styles in the Text Styles studio.

2: Use Symbols in the Symbols studio.

3: Use guides instead, see View > Guides Manager.

4: Use Centre Justification for that paragraph.

 

[gorillabananas]

23 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Hi and welcome to the forums,

 

1: Use Paragraph styles in the Text Styles studio.

2: Use Symbols in the Symbols studio.

3: Use guides instead, see View > Guides Manager.

4: Use Centre Justification for that paragraph.

 

Ahh, thank you so much. I knew I was missing something

In regards to #2, I was actually lying and my Black Square Image is actually a group of smaller images and I want to dictate the size of the entire group, but do this x50, because there are 50 of these groups. Is that possible with Symbols studio as well?

Also, for #4, I found the "Text Frame" options in Affinity Publisher and this is more in line with what will be helpful for me. Should I just be transferring this project totally to Affinity Publisher? I perhaps don't know when to use each. I've created all of the objects/designs already and am really just arranging them now, so I should probably convert to Publisher?

[Old Bruce]

If you have Publisher I would do a newsletter in Publisher. But I would use the symbols from designer via copy there and paste into publisher.

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

But I would use the symbols from designer via copy there and paste into publisher.

Why not transfer them into the Symbols panel in the Designer Persona of Publisher, and use them from there?

[gorillabananas]

Thank you. I clearly had much to learn. Your suggestions fixed all of this and after reading the official Affinity Designer Book, which I have to recommend to all other newbies, I think I've figured out everything I was trying to do