Phil Swallow Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 This may be me (a newbie to Designer) or a bug but it is driving me mad. All I want to do is select a full background layer and change the colour, that's it. If I add a shape I can change its colours to my heart's content, I can also add an outline and change its colour. But I cannot work out why when I open a new blank layer, drag to select it (or click), it doesn't go active and therefore I can't do anything with it. I fully expect it to be a learning but this is the best way to highlight it and I hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thank you in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarryP Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Welcome to the forums @Phil Swallow I’m no sure of some of the wording you’re using, such as “full background layer” and “open a new blank layer”. Some words and phrases have very specific meanings when using the Affinity applications so it’s best that we know what you are working with. Would it be possible for you to record and attach a full-screen video of what you are doing so we can see what’s happening? If you cannot record a video, a full-screen screenshot where we can see your Layers Panel might be useful. Phil Swallow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Hi @Phil Swallow and welcome to the forums, If I've understood you correctly, it sounds as though you are creating a new empty layer in the layers panel and then either clicking it or marquee selecting it expecting something to happen? Basically, in Designer you would need to add an object to the layer first to have something to manipulate. In very basic terms creating a new layer is simply providing a 'space' in which to add a new object, it's now like Affinity Photo or Photoshop where drag selecting will select pixels within an image... Selecting a layer in the Layers panel will select it but if there is nothing on that layer then it won't do much. If I've not understood what you're trying to do correctly could you expand a little with a quick step-by-step of what you are doing and what you are expecting... Phil Swallow 1 Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Swallow Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 Sorry about the terminology. My needs at this stage are quite simple, I want to have a range of banner pages for various social media sites such as YouTube. This would typically be a solid background colour at a set size, then I add my name/channel on a separate layer. What I would then like to do is develop it to add textures and styles, but as I can't yet change colour I am somewhat stuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Swallow Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 Ok I think Hangman has helped me here, so quick - thank you! A follow-up, if I add a style from the panel, can I change the colours to suit my own branding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 4 minutes ago, Phil Swallow said: A follow-up, if I add a style from the panel, can I change the colours to suit my own branding? If the Style uses FX then you can edit them to a degree via the Layer Effects Panel though depending on exactly what you want to achieve you may want to take a look at Symbols as well... do you have a simple example of one of the banners you're looking to produce to give us a better idea of the end product... Phil Swallow 1 Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Swallow Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 This is the document for my YouTube channel, it is then automatically resized per user device. I have added "Squirm" style and one of my colours. I haven't looked into Symbols - would be keen to learn more. Style Banner 20240130.afdesign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Hi @Phil Swallow, Thanks for the sample file... The Style applied to the background layer is effectively Bitmap rather than a Vector and it doesn't make use of any FX which means the only way to 'change' its colour is by using an Adjustment Layer and the only way to change it's Style is by applying a different style... You could duplicate the background to create different versions for different purposes and then add something like a 'Recolour Adjustment Layer' to recolour the current Style or simply apply different Styles to the duplicate layers and then toggle the respective layers on or off when Saving your file... You could also create you own backgrounds and apply FX to them and then save these as a Style for later 'limited' editing... I don't know if that would give you what you need? Banner.mp4 Phil Swallow 1 Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Swallow Posted January 30 Author Share Posted January 30 Thank you, I think I will dedicate some proper time to trying things out. I really appreciate the support to help me move forward with this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 No problem, come back if you have any questions as there are plenty of people on the forum who will have other ideas and suggestions as well... Phil Swallow 1 Quote Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 Affinity Designer Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Photo Beta 2.6.0.2861 | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.6.0.2861 MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Magic Mouse HP ENVY x360, 8 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 5 2500U, Windows 10 Home, Logitech Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl123 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 The background layer's colour can also be changed by selecting the Rectangle in Layer 1 and using the colour panel to change the colour Hangman and Phil Swallow 2 Quote To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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