Canva

[Mithferion]

21 minutes ago, Ginblue said:

Not sure I would be pushing that YouTube video, doesn't exactly inspire confidence. 

I can tell you the story of that time a taxi hit me -when I was 11 years old- and you'll see I sound way more enthusiastic than this.

Best regards!

[Thomas_Photo]

I am honestly not happy with this announcement. As others have said before, these kind of announcements and promises have been done before and it always ended up as a subscription service in the end and customers lost their ability to purchase perpetual licenses.

I gave Affinity Photo a chance in 2017 while looking for an alternative to Adobe Cloud. It was great and I also learned to appreciate Designer and Publisher over the years. But let's be clear, the major reason for choosing Affinity over other companies was and is the perpetual license. I am absolutely willing to pay for an application and support its developers and to be honest Affinity was always on the cheap side of things for me. I would have purchased the program for 2-3x the amount as well. But I want to own the software and decide on my own if and when I'll upgrade to a new major version and pay again.

I am giving you the benefit of the doubt and sincerely hope you will keep your promise to keep perpetual licenses.

 

[Laurents]

I've heard this all before. Congratulations!  You have just lost a customer.  I have been in a company that was acquired, This will not end well for users period. I will not purchase another License perpetual or any form of a subscription.   I will not recommend this product ever again.  If I believed in Canva I would be one of their customers.  I believed in Serife, and again like algorithmic and Pixologic, i have been let down.  

[Bit Disappointed]

Quote

"If Serif, known for its Affinity suite of professional graphic design, photo editing, and publishing software, were to be acquired by Canva, the integration of their products and expertise could indeed shift the dynamics in the market for creative software. However, Canva's existing user base and its reputation as a more accessible, less technically complex design platform might not directly translate into penetrating Adobe's stronghold in the professional market, especially among those users requiring advanced features and controls for their work.

Adobe's Creative Cloud suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, is deeply entrenched in the workflows of professional graphic designers, photographers, and digital artists. These tools offer a level of precision, customization, and advanced capabilities that professionals rely on for their complex projects.

Canva's strength lies in its simplicity and its appeal to a broad audience, including non-designers and professionals looking for quick, easy-to-use solutions for creating visually appealing content. While Canva does cater to some professional needs and is used by businesses of all sizes, its core offering is more aligned with enabling rapid content creation rather than deep, technical manipulation of digital assets.

The acquisition of Serif by Canva could bridge some gaps by bringing Serif's professional-grade tools and capabilities under Canva's umbrella, potentially expanding Canva's appeal to more advanced users. However, integrating the depth of functionality from Serif's products into Canva's platform in a way that maintains their professional grade while still aligning with Canva's ethos of simplicity and accessibility would be a significant challenge."

So, a company without experience with true professionals à la Adobe's is buying another company without experience with true professionals à la Adobe's. That's quite a match, and it indeed brings uncertainty about the future. Let's see if Canva will prioritize their hefty 135 million monthly active users and investment higher than the mere 3 million from Affinity. Perhaps the concept of the fundamentally simple and shared architecture and code in Affinity is something Canva can leverage, but honestly, I don't see Affinity's retrospective products and few customers, who mostly chose Affinity due to economic reasons, as having potential for growth and increased market shares for either Canva or others.

Canva has invested in something small that benefits Canva. Serif Software survives the AI tsunami a bit longer. Affinity? If it exists in 5 years, I imagine it'll come with many templates for birthdays and gender reveal parties.

[Martin D]

Greed wins again  :(

[cTHULHU]

This is great news can't wait to see what happens

[unlockthepicture]

Such a shame. This will cost Affinity a lot of customers as almost 80-90% of their customers are people who left subscription-based companies as Adobe. I hope they will rethink this dumb decision before its too late. 

The way you word it in this post gives us a very bad feeling. "no changes to our current pricing model planned at this time". It gives me the feeling Affinity Serif lost its spark and turned to the darkside of the subscriptions. Becoming the very thing we tried to escape from. By getting acuired by Canva, you've broken the trust of your customers. I won't bother even trusting you again as money seems to be the only priority. You lost a customer by doing this. 

Rest In Peace Affinity. You will be remembered.

[Tiberius Kraemer]

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zu diesem traurigen Schritt. Ich habe es schon länger befürchtet das dies irgendwann auf den Benutzer zukommen wird. All die schönen Worte lieber Ash wird keinen der Affinity User überzeugen oder beruhigen, zu viele von uns haben sehr viel Erfahrung auf diesem Level. Wie schon mehrfach hier erwähnt wissen wir sehr genau wohin der Weg letztendlich führen wird.. vermutlich in ein teures Abo wie Adobe oder völlig neue Umstellung der Softwarepolitik, schlimmstenfalls wird Affinity Suite genauso untergehen wie davor geniale Softwareschmieden wie Macromedia FreeHand, Director), Magix, Xara usw.. Nun bereue ich ehrlich gesagt den Umstieg von Adobe, da hatte ich ein wahnsinnig gutes Monats Abo für 36 Euro seit Jahren. Zu groß war mein Vertrauen in Affinity es besser zu machen als Adobe und Affinity WAR auf einem sehr sehr guten Weg. 

Jetzt heißt es für viele von uns hier zittern und bangen was die nahe Zukunft bringen wird... und ich hab ehrlich gesagt gar kein gutes Gefühl dabei mit Canva... und ich hasse diese Gefühle in mir weil sie meist eintreffen! Wenn das Abo-Modell eintreffen sollte bin ich weg denn ganz klar, es geht um die Geldpolitik und was das bedeutet weis wohl jeder. Schade um eine so ausgezeichnete Software.

Ich vermute Affinity/Canva wird in naher Zukunft sehr viele User verlieren... schade. Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt, ich lass mich dennoch gern überraschen...

[Robby Poole]

I am NOT a professional. I never "studied" design. I am an amateur and learned a few things on my own. I use Affinity to do what I like. Some self publishing with Publisher. Some minor graphics work with Designer. Some photo touch-ups with Photo. I bought into the Affinity Suite, and would continue to buy into the suite based on 1 thing.... NO Subscriptions. The company was providing me the user wonderful tools to do what I enjoy doing.

 

This news is the worst thing I could have heard today. I am such a fan of Affinity. I loved the feel of the company. I loved the independence of the company. Now this is all gone. I have moved all of my projects (minor in comparison to some) into this suite of tools, based on the promise of "No Subscriptions". I have convinced others to purchase these tools, so that we could work together. And today, with this AWFUL news, the run with Affinity ends. Version 2 will still be available in perpetuity (until your computer doesn't work and v2 no longer works with the new operating systems). But version 3 will be subscription, and then we the users will pay for a garbage service with minor updates and very little push forward. "Oh look at what we've done in this month's update.... we finally fixed the kerning of the letters in the Edit menu that didn't look quite right." I've seen it with Adobe, I've seen it with Sibelius, and now I am seeing it with Affinity. What a shame. I feel I have been duped. I feel I have been betrayed. And I feel like I will be on the hunt for another Publisher type app, another Designer type app, and another Photo type app.

 

I just went to look at the Canva website. I felt even more disappointed and betrayed seeing their website, and even more worried about the developers at Affinity. The first thing it asks for without doing anything is to sign up for their subscription. Words cannot express how sad and frustrated I feel about this terrible decision.

[L Markus]

I have purchased every version of Serif's software since DrawPlus X3.

Congratulations to the team that brought us this far. Well done!

Now it remains to be seen what Canva will do.

Drastically raise the purchase price for V3? I'll groan and pay it.

Switch to subscription-only? I'm GONE. Will not participate. The only reason I came to Affinity in the first place is for perpetual ownership. With any kind of subscription requirement, I'll rush to Adobe as fast as I can.

[Strangechilde]

Well, I won't be dropping Affinity now. I do wish you folks at Serif all the best and I hope you will be able to continue to develop your software in the same direction you have been all these years. Your product is good-- very good. I know of nothing else that has the capability of the Affinity suite at the same level of accessibility. I am, like almost everyone else here, not hopeful for the future as far as this accessibility goes. When Affinity goes subscription, I will not go with it. I could not even if I wanted to. This is a hard barrier, and not just for me.

My greater, more global concern is the steady erosion of good tools into the grand miasma of same-same Insta-friendly bland brandification of everything. What if we just don't want any of this stuff?

I use image editing tools in a creative capacity. I have absolutely zero interest in anything Canva, or anything like it, has to offer. I exercise this preference by not using Canva. It's pretty easy, and I have everything I need with Affinity Photo and Designer. If I'm forced into the eternal christmas bliss of AI generated personal branding monetisations solutions, I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go to get out. I do hope there will be a way for those of us who are not on that train to stay where we are.

[Figmatt]

The positive: this longer video explains more than the version on Instagram/Threads.

The negative: But it still doesn't really explain why the future will be bright and exciting for Users. I assume it's bright and exciting for Affinity Staff because of the quantity of shiny new coins they're now looking at. So, I'm not going to lie, I'm worried. I'd be more worried if I wasn't already transitioning to Figma due to the myriad of outstanding problems and bugs that have remained unresolved for years. The body language, spoken language used or not used, and the moments where there is loss of eye contact in this video screams to highlight the bits that are true versus...not so true.

Not a great day for Affinity Users.

[Bit Disappointed]

It seems like everyone posting here assumes that regardless of the pricing model, the programs will not change in the future. There's much, much more at stake than the price.

[Laurents]

2 minutes ago, Bit Disappointed said:

It seems like everyone posting here assumes that regardless of the pricing model, the programs will not change in the future. There's much, much more at stake than the price.

Couldn't agree more. 

[L Markus]

5 minutes ago, matt said:

The positive: this longer video explains more than the version on Instagram/Threads.

The negative: But it still doesn't really explain why the future will be bright and exciting. So, I'm not going to lie, I'm worried. I'd be more worried if I wasn't already transitioning to Figma due to the myriad of outstanding problems and bugs that have remained unresolved for years. The body language, spoken language used or not used, and the moments where there is loss of eye contact in this video screams to highlight the bits that are true versus...not so true.

Not a great day for Affinity Users.

Exactly! He is very careful to say that we can continue to use our perpetual licenses, but not saying that new licenses an be activated nor that V3 will be perpetual. Huge tell in that omission!

[Figmatt]

The replies on twitter also use the same language phrased in the present and very vague about the future.

Affinity lost my confidence when I realised they're selling the same app with different default UI enabled (yes, Photos/Designer/Publisher are essentially the same app).

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

3 minutes ago, matt said:

The positive: this longer video explains more than the version on Instagram/Threads.

The negative: But it still doesn't really explain why the future will be bright and exciting. So, I'm not going to lie, I'm worried. I'd be more worried if I wasn't already transitioning to Figma due to the myriad of outstanding problems and bugs that have remained unresolved for years. The body language, language used or not used, and the moments where there is loss of eye contact in this video screams to highlight the bits that are true versus...not so true.

Not a great day for Affinity Users.

Yeah, mr Ash didn’t give us a comfortable approach in his “goodbye” video…

For me it ain’t what I have spent on Affinity Suite since release, it’s the wasted time learning every app - years of learning.

Just as an example, I have bought both Appstore versions of Publisher/Designer/Photo and the same versions from Serif Labs site, just to support Serif…

It has passed just a few hours since this aweful announcement, but, I’m already on the hunt for new software to my soon empty Mac & iPad Pro…

[Chills]

I pinged Affinity pointing out I was with Affinity  having used Adobe for decades because of the Adobe move to subscription. I urged Affinity not to go subscription.  I had a fairly quick response (surprisingly so as I can imagine many others are also emailing and asking)

The Response was "There are no changes to our current pricing model planned at this time, with all our apps still available as a one-off purchase. Existing Affinity users will be able to continue to use your apps in perpetuity as they were originally purchased – with plenty of free updates to V2 still to look forward to!

"

My bold above.  Well as this was 2 months start to finish I would think that Affinity have not made any plans nor Canva told the Affinity staff what their long term intentions are.

Whilst the 2 months start to finish for this buy out was mentioned. I think this is a bit disingenuous.  If you note that Affinity integrates to two stock libraries: Pixababy and Pexel both acquired by Canva in 2019.   So I suspect Affinity has been on Canva's radar for some time.

The worry for me is that whilst Serif appeared to own itself and kept to its core ideals, Canva is owned by a lot of finance people and venture capitalists. who have spent the last few years buying up a range of companies.   Many of which have a subscription model.

[Darner]

Dear Affinity (aka soon to be Canva😢?)

I'm sure it's a good thing for economy of Affinity and appreciate all the hard work from you guys., But for your trusted users who took the leap and changed platform to Affinity for their professional work, this is not a good thing nor appearance. No designer can say they are professional and same time say they use Canva, or even Canva related. I'd guess the word "Canva" in a resume would be thrown away by any design agency. Canva is positioned as probably the biggest (most famous) amateur software. From what I've read from others as well regarding this situation, close to none users are happy with this acquisition. Regarding the potential subscription model in the future doesn't help. Is it worth selling to Canva if Affinity lose your loyal pro customers?

It would probably be a good thing to ask some basic questions from a user perspective before selling the hard Affinity work to amateur platform like Canva:
- Why did users switch to Affinity in the first place?
From own (and understanding of others), was that it was not bloated as Adobe, no subscription, meant for professionals, had professional brand association and name. Basically opposite of what Canva is.

- Will Affinity users like to be associated with an amateur brand like Canva?
Answer would probably be No.

- What will the long term effect be?
Would guess, also based on other posts here: Subscription model, change name to Canva, bloated, mix of amateur and "pro app" without the pro users.

- Short term (like most acquisitions) there are not much of a change and short term might be beneficial like Ash mention here with more focus on free updates in v 2. Still this is very short term.

- Would this acquisition make the Affinity users happy?
No, probably not based on all feedbacks.

The day (if) Affinity changes name to Canva is the day Affinity probably lose all the pro Affinity users. Probably some are jumping ship already.
Affinity, you have done so much hard work and come so far already. Truly hope you'll find a way out of this and perhaps reverse this acquisition. Rather ask your users for support. Rather speed up to v3 and charge for it if it's economical emergency in the Affinity company. I'm sure users will much more appreciate some extra payment one time, rather than be sucked into a Canva environment long term. Imagine all the work and sacrifice pro users have been through just changing platform, filetypes, workflow etc as they believed Affinity was the new alternative pro platform rather than Adobe. With Canva, this will probably take away a lot of trust Affinity build up with users for so long.

If there is no going back and soul is sold, perhaps consider to make a software for users leaving, that can convert AF and AD files to PS and AI files directly.
 

[Laurents]

Canva Designer Pro
Canva Photo Pro
Canva Publisher Pro

....I think I'll go and throw up now.

 

[Chills]

6 minutes ago, Figmatt said:

Affinity lost my confidence when I realised they're selling the same app with different default UI enabled (yes, Photos/Designer/Publisher are essentially the same app).

I don't have a problem with the integration. It makes a lot of sense.  Certainly from an engineering point of view.  It also means that for many users, like myself as a magazine editor, I can be using publisher and fix a page by using the other two personas without having to start a new app. However, last night i did run up photo to do some work external to Publisher. So it is three stand alone apps.

[jp.ptn]

Maybe I'm just being cynical – justifiably so, with all the enshittification we've been seeing – but this doesn't sound like good news for the users at all.

I'd honestly love Serif to prove me wrong! However, if there's an unreasonable price increase to push users towards subscriptions, or it becomes sub-only, I'm out. If you start pushing flavor-of-the-month tech like AI, especially opt-out, I'm out. If "growth at all costs" becomes the motivation behind the Affinity suite, then I'll lament the loss and move on. I seriously hope that doesn't happen.

[Chills]

6 minutes ago, Darner said:

- Will Affinity users like to be associated with an amateur brand like Canva?
Answer would probably be No.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!
I would point out that no (very few?) Professionals used Serif.  It seems to have bobbed along for decades until it started Affinity.
The company took off with Affinity so moving to Canva is a backwards move profile wise.

Unless..... Canva intends to expand on the Affinity professional portfolio by moving more tools to the Affinity stable?

[s543]

This is unfortunate news.

I have nothing at all against Australia, but I was so proud of Serif, a British company whose products I've been using for about 20 years. Now this is another company that is sold off to foreign investors when it becomes good, probably to have all of the value wrung out of it.

[Xzenor]

Goodbye credibility....

"None of that changes today"..
Right.. it's not today we worry about.. it's about tomorrow and the days/months after that