Drafting persona

[Beverly Landscape]

A feature that I would really like to see for Affinity Designer is creating a drafting persona. The persona feature is such a powerful tool for customizing the interface for different users and I think it could do more. A drafting persona would be a huge bonus for all the people who need accurate drawings like architects, landscape architects, interior designers, pattern makers etc. while at the same time keeping those features out of the way of the graphic designers. You have done such great work already incorporating some very nice drafting tools (thank you!) and this feels like a logical extension of that.
One of the things I like best about Affinity Designer is the uncluttered interface, but as more features are added there is a danger of this being lost. A drafting persona would be a great way to add new tools and features without cluttering up the existing designer layout.
I haven't  suggested this before because it's obviously a big undertaking but now seemed like a good time.

Good luck! Affinity software is great!

David

[walt.farrell]

What functions and tools would this Persona need?

[Bryan Rieger]

I could see lots of different verticals each looking for specific personas in time, where tools specific to their needs and workflows are readily available (gaming, film, architecture, landscaping, etc).

The problem is that implementing these each as separate personas would really bloat the overall UX of all of the apps. I’d much rather see vertical specific tools implemented as installable plug-ins, extensions, scripts, etc when the SDK is available.

Bonus points if it would be possible to implement an entirely new persona via a plug-in or extension. Enabling those users that require it to install it, and also creating an ecosystem where 3rd parties could create extensions for the Affinity apps catering to specific verticals.

[Beverly Landscape]

Hi Walt

The often requested dimensioning tool would be top of my list. Also some kind of Reveal Geometry setting to show centerlines, foci of ovals and centers of circles. Being able to draw two parallel lines of different weight at once. I don't use them but hatches and other fills are a common feature.

The other aspect, besides new tools, is a difference of emphasis. Graphic design is primarily visual in approach while drafting is usually numeric. So making that aspect prominent would be a big part of the persona.

 

David

[Old Bruce]

On 4/10/2024 at 11:45 AM, Beverly Landscape said:

centers of circles.

Ah, that is a problem. Affinity doesn't make actual circles.

[fde101]

21 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Ah, that is a problem. Affinity doesn't make actual circles.

Then it would be another related feature request...  ideally with its own thread, like each feature request should have.

The notion of a drafting persona kind of makes sense if you are trying to use Affinity Designer as a poor man's CAD application (in spite of there being *real* CAD applications which are even free and open source).  When working with a CAD program there is a difference in how you interact with tools to accomplish the same things as you would do with the tools we already have.

For example, in a typical drawing program, you create a circle either by dragging out from the center, or by dragging from one corner of its bounding box to another.

In a CAD application, you might also create a circle by specifying two or three arbitrary points on the circle, or create a line by telling the application to run parallel or perpendicular to an existing line or shape and give it a point along the line.

Adding stuff like this would not be unreasonable in and of itself, but it may create some expectation that other aspects of a CAD application will be covered, and I'm not sure Serif really wants to get into that market segment on top of everything else they are doing.

I would not be opposed to it, but I don't know that I can really support it either unless Serif comes out and indicates this is something they want to involve themselves with and that they are going to take precision more seriously (among other requirements for proper CAD).

In my opinion, if you want software that works like a CAD application, you should use a CAD application, which Affinity Designer is not.

[Beverly Landscape]

I was not thinking of this as a true CAD interface, such as engineers use, but more for people who need a reasonable amount of accuracy but at the same time a drawing that looks good. The looking good part eliminates most CAD programs.

 

For instance, I'm a landscape designer and I need to be able to draft out a clients landscape plan quickly and easily but then, because the drawing is in part a marketing document, it needs to look terrific. This is where Affinity designer's capabilities really shine. Once the client approves the design it's back to drafting to create more technical drawings like layout plans etc.

 

I think there is a similar workflow for other professionals who are using Affinity designer to make plans for things that will be created in another medium.

 

David

[Nicolas_B]

On 4/15/2024 at 5:27 PM, Beverly Landscape said:

I was not thinking of this as a true CAD interface, such as engineers use, but more for people who need a reasonable amount of accuracy but at the same time a drawing that looks good. The looking good part eliminates most CAD programs.

 

For instance, I'm a landscape designer and I need to be able to draft out a clients landscape plan quickly and easily but then, because the drawing is in part a marketing document, it needs to look terrific. This is where Affinity designer's capabilities really shine. Once the client approves the design it's back to drafting to create more technical drawings like layout plans etc.

 

I think there is a similar workflow for other professionals who are using Affinity designer to make plans for things that will be created in another medium.

 

David

Thank you David, I am in the exact same Situation: I'm an urban planner, so I need high precision, but it must also look good. 

CAD programs are not suited for anything that's supposed to "well designed". 

We would only need a fraction of CAD functionality, just some core basics:

There could be a "CAD drafting mode" option, which would be disabled by default.

With "CAD drafting mode" enabled you would be able to draw lines, polylines, circles, rectangles etc with CAD precision:

- connecting lines into polylines

- cut or extend intersecting lines

- offset lines or polylines with a precise distance

- stretch objects in one or multiple axis with exact values 

- etc. 

This would also enable us to import or export dwg or dxf files without any lost information. 

This really wouldn't make Affinity Designer a CAD program, it would just provide an alternative way to create lines, polylines etc. with more precision. 

 

I am convinced that many people like Urban planners, architects etc. would love this - basically everyone who works in an environment where there need to be good looking graphics of something and then a technical drawing of the same thing afterwards. 

Kind regards 

Nicolas

[PaoloT]

An alternative could be adding secondary tools to the Tools palette, and other parameter panes. A dedicated Studio layout could give preeminence to these panes.

Paolo

 

[Beverly Landscape]

Thank you Nicholas B!

Obviously I agree with you. And I think that now is the time to be exploring these ideas. With the recent acquisition by Canava one can assume that the more casual user will migrate to their products, so Affinity needs to be thinking of how it can make its offerings more appealing to a  professional audience. I think new personas would be an excellent way to do this.

Best,

David

[Pšenda]

On 4/10/2024 at 6:04 PM, Bryan Rieger said:

I could see lots of different verticals each looking for specific personas in time, where tools specific to their needs and workflows are readily available (gaming, film, architecture, landscaping, etc).

The advantage of Person is that the user can customize the workspace according to his ideas and according to the needs of the task - he can adjust the available tools in the tools panel and the layout/visibility of individual panels/studies. The Personas are already given in advance - and have a purpose selected by Serif, which then modifies the availability of functions and individual panels. Due to the wide range of possible uses, see your list, perhaps it would be appropriate for Affinity to offer a single User Persona that the user could configure exactly according to his needs and ideas.

[PaoloT]

On 4/15/2024 at 5:27 PM, Beverly Landscape said:

I was not thinking of this as a true CAD interface, such as engineers use, but more for people who need a reasonable amount of accuracy but at the same time a drawing that looks good.

I will add, in my own experience: mechanical drawings that are an hassle to make with a CAD, and often translate badly as a drawing to be used in a publication, while they would be fantastic with a drafting tool based on something like Designer.

I think that CorelDraw has something like this, and is beloved by many industrial designers.

Paolo

 

[JQL]

CAD is not graphic design as the accuracy that drives the workflow and the tools that tend to be used are not the same.

However, people using CAD, often need to present their designs in a more appealing way, and they could use Affinity for that.

I am one of those people.

I wouldn't use Affinity for designing but for client presentations and Architectural competitions. 

It's very easy to dynamically link a drawing either via PDF or DWG into Affinity, but it's really hard to create all the leader texts and all the dimensions or area tags that our presentations need. It's a shame, because linking the styles of those elements to other aspects of the overall design style of presentations would make presentations standout in a way CAD can't deal with. I endup doing that in CAD and sacrificing visuals or pushing CAD systems to the limit in order to create the best presentations possible.

I endup owning the full suite for Windows and iPad, but I'm not using it and it's a shame as the only missing features are dimensioning tools and leaders.

[Pšenda]

8 hours ago, JQL said:

However, people using CAD, often need to present their designs in a more appealing way, and they could use Affinity for that.

... 

I endup owning the full suite for Windows and iPad, but I'm not using it and it's a shame as the only missing features are dimensioning tools and leaders.

Just out of curiosity - why do your architectural documents that you create in CAD, and of which extended dimensioning tools are an integral part, no longer have this information/dimensions? Why do you complete the dimensions only in the visual beautification tool for the presentation?

[JQL]

It's that I only complete in the visual beautification. It's that I could do that at that stage but that implied being able to do it at any time of the process.

I can import the dimensions from CAD but that implies importing them probably when the initial export to Affinity is created and set them up already somewhat close to final version.

If affinity would have dimensions that could happen at any time and the visual exploration of that info would be more streamlined.

[Aristocrates]

I appreciate OP for bringing this suggestion.  I think for me, the first and foremost feature that needs to be implemented is a dimension tool.  This is the subject of another thread and I won't talk about it further here.  However, I think there are other features that would really help:

• Being able to type the dimensions of lines, rectangles and circles as they are being created, so that they can be created to scale, rather than only being able to set their dimensions accurately after creation.
• An offset tool. This would be useful for all graphic design, not just drafting.
• A trim tool. Ditto.
• An annotation tool i.e. an arrow with a text box at the end of it, that could be styled in various different ways.

I'm sure there are others.

[Beverly Landscape]

Thank you Aristocrates. Between you and JQL (who actually posted his list under the dimensioning tool thread) we are getting a nice list of features that would work in a drafting Persona. I would point out that the ability to numerically specify shapes already exists. After you have activated the shape tool pressing Command - Click will bring up the appropriate dialog box. Your post is a strong argument for a drafting persona, because features like these wouldn't be so hidden there.

 

David

[JQL]

Thanks David,

I'm not against a Drafting Personna that could be used as some sort of workflow to overlay specific technical objects on top of the main image. These objects are independent enough from the illustration/technical drawing themselves that they require a specific organization and workflow. CAD has paperspace, Mechanical CAD or BIM software all have some sort of paperspace or different section of the software to manage the views of the model that will generate drawings. That is so true that the software I use the most which is Sketchup has a separate program called Layout, meant to do that.

The thing here is that, even if this kind of CAD/BIM software separates drawing from labeling and dimensionsioning, the illustration work approach is kind of different and all elements are mixed together to create a visual.

So I wonder if a persona should be used at all:

- When dimensioning/labeling/tagging is used inside Designer, I don't feel that the persona is really the objective. The objective is to use these elements as part of the illustration itself

- However, I understand that this workflow is, most of the time, independent from illustration and overlayed on top of it while we are paginating. So if you think of it, if this is the workflow you need, Affinity Suite already has developed the right place for it, it's called Affinity Publisher.

What I'm defending is two types of workflows for the same kind of objects:

- Designer - Illustration workflow where these objects can be fully blended into drawings in such a way that they are part of the illustration graphics themselves. This is very powerful visually

- Publisher - Drafting workflow where visual quality is fundamental but the placing of dimensions, area tags, leaders, labels, titel block and texts is done while pagination layout is being thought. The two workflows are perfectly independent, as visually appealing as possible, but even so probably more limited, but can even be done by different people from the same team.

I'd love to have both possibilities but would probably use mostly the second one, via Publisher, as that is alread standard workflow for me and makes sense on a team.