Using Affinity Publisher, Designer, Photo V2.40 as a Swiss Army knife program?

[Ben Wiens]

Introduction
I'm "kicking the tires" of the Affinity Publisher, Designer, Photo V2.40 suite this week and wondered if anyone else has also been thinking of or are using it as a Swiss Army Knife program suite for all document related work like notes, letters, reports, papers, books, websites rather than just traditional "desktop publishing", to replace Microsoft OneNote, Word, Adobe Indesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop totally.  I've been wanting such a suite for 34 years and after just 4 days of experimenting, I'm already dreaming of a world where the Affinity Publisher, Designer, Photo suite is dominant in all these areas. We are only allowed one main question, so what additions to the Affinity Publisher, Designer, Photo suite would be required for my vision of the future? Version 2.40 now has almost all the things that critics claimed were missing in version 1.0 as a desktop publishing program.

The present plague
I got my first "real"computer 34 years ago in 1990 and within 1 year I was already trying to import AutoCAD drawings into Microsoft Word for a steel pole manufacturing company user manual. Most of you know that Microsoft Word has never displayed vector illustrations properly and likely never will. I asked the secretary of the company to print out a few pages I had made with filler text and the drawings I had imported, to check the quality of the lines which looked horrible on the monitor. The secretary was horrified at the filler text thinking this was the final draft and notified all the head people in the company and soon I was confronted by an angry mob in the lobby where the head accountant put me in a choke hold and tried to strangle me to death. After this I experimented with Ventura Publisher which only displayed thumbnails in the image boxes, then Page Maker, Frame Maker, and finally Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop where I discovered how huge those Adobe files are and so would only be suitable for the largest of projects. 

The file size problem
Smallest Microsoft Word version 2016 docx files are 12 K, Adobe Indesign version 2.0 indd files are 144 K, but Affinity Publisher V2.40 files are only 10 K. So Adobe Indesign documents are not typically going to be used in any corporate or home office for small items. Below are minimum file sizes for different documents.

Affinity Publisher 10 K, no thumbnail on save
Affinity Designer 9 K, no thumbnail on save
Affinity Photo 8 K, no thumbnail on save, 22x20 mm stamp size image

Adobe Indesign 144 K, compression, no ICC, no pdf editing
Adobe Illustrator 273 K, compression, no ICC, no pdf editing
Adobe Photoshop 685 K, 22x20 mm image, CMYK, 8 bit

Writing everything directly in the desktop publishing program
Most people think that writing should be done in a word processor and later inserted by a professional into a desktop publishing program if required. We all know how many times documents are edited, so in the end the "finished" document spends more time being edited than the original write, and it only makes sense for the author to do the editing in the desktop publishing program. So everyone in a company should be using the Affinity Publisher, Designer, Photo suite. The desktop publishing experts would be used to set up the documents and help people with the editing, illustrations, and photos?

Program suites
Visual documents filled with illustrations and photos are much more compelling but also are often required. A long document text, vector, raster suite of programs developed by the same company is required for this to work seamlessly. There are only 2 companies now in the world selling reasonably popular, reliable, and easy to use suites that do this, Adobe with Creative Suite and Serif with Affinity Suite. Alludo (Corel) decided to drop Ventura Publisher, and Microsoft decided to focus on text and ignore complex graphics. File sizes of Adobe documents are too big and the subscription fees too high for wide use. This leaves only Serif to fill that void for the mass markets. And just like QuarkXPress lost their domination, Adobe Creative Suite could lose it's title of being most popular by missing on the mass market end if my vision of the future becomes reality.

Even note taking could be done by Affinity Publisher
There are likely over 100 different note taking programs available. Everyone of them has the same problem, not being able to draw or edit quality (Bezier) vector illustrations or add vector text to raster images. The original Zettelkasten note system was using 3x5 inch stiff paper cards, were widely used by academics for text, charts, diagrams, but present computer note programs focus on text only. But what is also required is a proper note making program. I work in the field of science and engineering and we make a lot of research and design notes. So instead of copying something from the Internet, we have to make our own drawings, tables, and formulas. And these are often quite formal with quality drawings and illustrations, as orderliness, precision, and attention to detail results in better conclusions.  None of the present note taking programs will do this, they are more for fleeting notes. So am considering using Affinity Publisher to generate these permanent note and invention files. The actress Joan Rivers was reported to have one million cards in her Zettelkasten system. This is why small file size is so important. Because digital documents can be text searched, I am proposing to use longer notes than what was used in the original Zettelkasten system, might be up to 20 pages if there is one main idea, with individual digital files for notes instead of a single huge file like in present programs. This allows addition of different file types like document, database, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and image. A descriptive file name is typically used in computer filing systems and complex coding could be used, but also tags would be required for searching. Presently l can't find any tags that can be added in Affinity Publisher that can be found with the advanced search in Windows Explorer?

 

[Brian_J]

Here’s my opinion.

Can Affinity apps replace Adobe Indesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop? Yes, for sure! Users have different needs, so it would be best to make use of the free trial to see if the apps meet yours.

Can Affinity apps be used as a SwissArmy Knife program suite for all document related work? In my opinion, no. I don’t think a suite of apps exists that fills those shoes.

Note taking apps (OneNote, Notion, Evernote, etc.) have features that making taking notes quick, easy to navigate, ways to structure, organize, cross reference, and more. Using a desktop publishing app or graphics app for note taking wouldn’t come close to the power and convenience of an app made specifically for taking notes.

Your requirements for taking notes in the field of science and engineering may be different than the majority of people’s. I can’t imagine replacing a note taking app with an Affinity app — but I’m not in a science or engineering field — maybe using a combination of apps for taking notes would fit your needs.

Web design: If we’re talking graphic design, for sure, Affinity Photo and Designer are strong contenders. For web page layout and mock-ups, it comes down to personal preference. There are apps available that are more specifically targeted at mock-ups, icon design, collaboration, and things like that.

Regarding Writing everything directly in the desktop publishing program. In theory, that would be great. But I think mastering a desktop publishing program is a specialized skill that should belong to the people hired to do that type of work. People in an organization should focus on what they do best. The majority of people in an office know how to use a word processor — it’s not what I would call a specialized skill. An app like Affinity Publisher is much more complex than Word — there may be a lot of people that don’t have the interest or aptitude to learn how to use a DTP app.

The Affinity apps are great at doing what they were created to do: graphic design, photo editing, and page layout. Getting creative and thinking of new ways to use tools and resources is good, but I don’t generally try to push apps into doing things they don’t excel at.

[Alfred]

On 3/7/2024 at 9:31 AM, Brian_J said:

I don’t generally try to push apps into doing things they don’t excel at

Neither do I, but — speaking of Excel — it has famously been demonstrated by Tatsuo Horiuchi that it’s perfectly possible to produce impressive works of art using only a spreadsheet program.

https://www.boredpanda.com/80-year-old-excel-paintings-tatsuo-horiuchi