Graphic User Interface Affinity

[Snooman]

Hello,
I have been waiting with excitement for the Affinity BETA to come out on windows.
After opening Affinity, i was not convinced. I really got this "not bad" feeling..
This is because of 1 main issue; i don't like the user interface.
Functionally speaking, its great. It beats photoshop in my opinion. But its not even close to what i had hoped for..

I am a big fan of "minimalism" and "flat" design, not just for its looks, but for the overall experience.
I came accross a photoshop redisign made by Aurélien Salomon on Behance:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/19600227/Photoshop-redesign

This is how a modern and new photo editor app/program, in my opinion, should look like.
Design is contantly evolving, so the tools that are used to create design should be designed with this in mind.

My suggestion: create an user interface that works with templates. Give the user control of how Affinity looks like.
What would be better then an editor that by itself gives inspiration to create more beautifull & smart designs?

[paolo.limoncelli]

I am a big fan of "minimalism" and "flat" design, not just for its looks, but for the overall experience.

I came accross a photoshop redisign made by Aurélien Salomon on Behance:

https://www.behance....toshop-redesign

 

 

 

I think I like AD/AP UI: not perfect, improvable but easy and does the job.

Interface pleasantness is important, but in a productive and sleek tool I think that the best UI is the one you don't see since you look at it.

 

The one you shared has a nice look, some good ideas, but lots of points are missing there... One above all.. Where is the menu?  :)

A specific ui (and related ux) design pattern has its implications, and designers have to look further than the visual composition.

Moreover coding presentation and custom assets is a very demanding activity, so you have to be perfectly certain of your choices, otherwise you risk to waste time.

 

 

I've read that more UI options will come with the 2.x version of Affinity range.

Personally I don't like applications that allow "deep customisation" but a reasonable level is welcome.

:)

[Snooman]

I do agree that to much customization isn't good either, it can create chaos and distraction to what is actually the point. But 2 or 3 themes can already make a big difference.

The link i shared is indeed not a complete UI, but it is just to give an example of what i mean.
I just think that it could give an extra touch that makes me love to use AD / AP even more :)

On my laptop AD runs really smooth (better then Illustrator or Photshop) and at the end thats the most important part.
I will patiently wait for 2.x. and in the meantime i will deffinitly keep on using AD / AP :D

[Alfred]

I've read that more UI options will come with the 2.x version of Affinity range.

Personally I don't like applications that allow "deep customisation" but a reasonable level is welcome.

 

How do you define "reasonable", Paolo? What you and I consider to be reasonable may be "deep" or "shallow" to other users.

 

Many lawyers owe their comfortable standard of living to the existence of the word "reasonable"!

[LilleG]

Except for the wish for more user control of color and contrast, I very much like the current UI.  And since we're expressing personal opinions here, I find the flat, minimalist look not only exceedingly bland and boring but less informative.  

[kirk23]

I would prefer they'd focus on missing features rather than UI.   And how the customisation could be a disadvantage?   It just should be organised in a kind of layers. Simple things first.   Ideally  with further ability to deconstruct the whole soft to base elements and rebuild it back for a specific task.   

 

And I hate all those modern interfaces innovations.  They are mostly just some crazy person inventions  who believes for some uncertain reason  it's better than before.  While in fact  are just  new hoops I have to skip through giving absolutely nothing to my  work experience or my competitive advantage   as a workforce.     Still I have to waste my time to learn it.    

 

Ones I see a cool interface I instantly know,  there would be no actual innovations to dig behind. 

[Herbert123]

Ah, yes, I remember that Photoshop GUI proposal. It is fraught with usability problems in my opinion (the layer panel is problematic to say the very least) - although it is nice looking 'eye candy'. 

 

At this point I would say a light GUI option is more important to many Affinity users.

 

One other thing that drives me crazy in Affinity Designer (Windows) is that the positioning of dialogs is not respected. I move the curves adjustment dialog to a different position, and the next time I open it: BAM! Back to its original default position.

 

Very frustrating indeed. Does not happen in Photoline or Photoshop, for example. I never noticed it before - only now in Affinity Designer.

[paolo.limoncelli]

 

 

At this point I would say a light GUI option is more important to many Affinity users.

 

Serif sentenced that it will be no possible since 2.x

 

How do you define "reasonable", Paolo? What you and I consider to be reasonable may be "deep" or "shallow" to other users.

 

Many lawyers owe their comfortable standard of living to the existence of the word "reasonable"!

 

Dark/Light UI and relative gamma

Maybe two Icon sizes (16pt/32pt)

Save Workspaces

Detachable Categories from studio

Favourites for Presets

 

 

Custom Panels, toolbars and icons make sense only if scripting is there, in my opinion.

At that point a Custom Persona could be interesting too.

[lightimpressions.org]

I think the ability to create and run scripts and create panels is what would solve the customization desires expressed by previous posters . However that ability might already be there since the program can honor the Photoshop actions which are in essence scripts . What is missing is a menu command to run external scripts .

[Bri-Toon]

I have to disagree. I am not at all a fan of modern UIs. Flat looks boring to me. Affinity looks nice.

[Fixx]

Good points. I would add that Affinity UI would be better if focus/selected options were more clearly presented. Like which layer is active etc.

[Laurent Schuster]

I totally agree with the idea of minimalistic or flat design for the interface. In fact, it kind of rests your eyes when you look at a flat interface, instead of having to regulate and adapt your eyes to the depth of an interface in volume. Personally I like the "Photoshop redisign made by Aurélien Salomon on Behance",, and also the new interfaces of Final Cut and Logic which are also great with the new flat design interface.

 

Is it not possible to flatter all the graphic elements which are now in volume, in a first step, before a new interface gets created. And couldn't ask if the users have some ideas they can share to help you guys find good ideas. Customization options could be an idea. I see some people do not like flat design, and others are requesting it. Is it not possible to add some customization features like Flat design or not, the ability to change the layout of the tool palettes and save them as setups, change the intensity of the grays of the interface, the ability to put some colors to the layers in the layers palette...