Affinity Designer Workbook

[Pšenda]

4 hours ago, Ecifircas said:

I was wondering though, to what extend they are still up to date and usable?

Workbook is not a datasheet or manual, but a description of the procedures and the way of solving some problems.

These are usually general, and not for specific version.

[Patrick Connor]

The workbook was launched with the 1.6 features set, and no new features have been added since. They may slowly be slightly out of date, but right now the workbooks  are both completely up to date. 

[Bad_Wolf]

Many subjects in the Designer workbook will never go out of date in my opinion. With every update of Designer, new features will be added. These updates will not be found in the Designer workbook for obvious reasons.

Maybe it is a good idea that besides those basic workbooks which contain extensive information and guidelines, Serif publish additional workbooks lets say every year (as example) which contain the new features and guidelines. Like in my case, I have the basic workbook so to keep up to date i have to buy the additional publications. Maybe Serif will consider this suggestion.

@MikeW

I can be wrong but in my opinion fixed layout ebooks are not working. My ereader has a 7 inch screen. Can you imagine having to scroll horizontally and vertically to read the text? Also my ereader has 16 shades of gray which is not much to represent the hugh color pallet of the workbooks. I admit it should be nice if I can read the workbook on my ereader when I cannot access the workbook. I found a solution by creating a kind of knowledge ebook which contain the most interested subjects of the workbook. In this way I have a kind of memorizing when I cannot access the physical workbook. On an airplane an ereader is surely a very handy device.

With the limited alignment features on ebooks, I still believe it is not a good idea to convert the books for ereaders. However when using a tablet and the possibility to place images and text in alignment with each other I completely agree with you.

For anybody still interested in those workbooks, it seems they become scarcely available on Amazon. So I think anybody interested should act fast. They are both really worth the value. I really do hope for successors which keeps them periodically up to date.

Chris

[Mithferion]

13 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

The workbook was launched with the 1.6 features set, and no new features have been added since. They may slowly be slightly out of date, but right now the workbooks  are both completely up to date. 

The Designer Workbook was launched along with the 1.5 release, but, as you said, it's still good with the current retail version.

Best regards!

[Nardon]

Too bad you do not bring the book out as an ebook. (I know, this has been mentioned several times and denied)
I am a minimalist, at work and also at home.
Some old favorite books are still available but my favorite way to read is the ebook. Preferably on the Kindle.
I think it's great what you've done for a job with it, even if I'm not going to enjoy reading it.

[MEB]

Hi kingbily,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
The Help file available in the apps cover/describe all the functionality/features available on each app - it's the closest equivalent of a printed manual. If you already have some experience with other design/photo editing apps you shouldn't have much trouble translating their workflows into Affinity l(et us know if something isn't clear enough). If you want to learn a little bit more about their use in practise take at the official video tutorials which are quite extensive and show how to use most of these features in detail:

Desktop:

• Official Affinity Designer Video Tutorials
• Official Affinity Photo (Desktop) Video Tutorials

iPad:

• Official Affinity Photo (iPad) Tutorials
• Official Affinity Designer (iPad) Tutorials

Also don't miss Affinity Spotlight - besides the behind the scenes, news and inspiration sections it also has a learning section with tutorials covering various aspects of the apps.

The Workbooks are intended to go a step further. Rather than being just focused on describing/detailing the program's capabilities/features as manuals do, they are project based tutorials (plus working/sample files) - some of them written/provided by third parties/authors - that focus/teach how to approach certain tasks/workflows and design/photo editing projects from scratch, while getting the most out of the app's features/capabilities - they are more than just manuals thus being sold as independent books.

These are just the official resources. If you look around, most social networks and learning sites (YouTube, Vimeo, Skillshare, Udemy, Lynda.com just to mention a few) already provide quite a lot of tutorials - some for free - here's a few for Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer (also written tutorials for Affinity Designer here).

[Oval]

On 22. Januar 2019 at 11:47 AM, kingbily said:

an intermediate guide

On 23. Januar 2019 at 11:01 AM, MEB said:

The Help file available in the apps

And this is really helpful because it has advantages over the built-in Help.

 

[bo0ch]

hello there! is it possible to deliver your books in Ukraine?

[Surgio']

With the release of 1.7 - is there a supplement file or book that can accompany the current workbook?  I already have the workbook for both, and they are great, would be nice to have something that just supplements some of the changes

[Mordi]

Surgio: Check out the video tutorials on the Serif website. I can also recommend Tutsplus’s youtube videos. They both go through new features and show how to use them.

[walt.farrell]

On 8/9/2019 at 4:31 PM, Surgio' said:

With the release of 1.7 - is there a supplement file or book that can accompany the current workbook?  I already have the workbook for both, and they are great, would be nice to have something that just supplements some of the changes

There is no supplement. The workbook is not intended to explain everything about Designer, and the changes in 1.7 were small enough that Serif has said that no update is necessary.

[Bryce]

13 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

There is no supplement. The workbook is not intended to explain everything about Designer, and the changes in 1.7 were small enough that Serif has said that no update is necessary.

I ordered a workbook for Photo and there is quite a few updates in it. I was very surprised considering when I did 1.7 had just come out. I think the books are print on demand.

[Oval]

@MEB or @Patrick Connor

On 23. März 2019 at 12:20 AM, bo0ch said:

hello there! is it possible to deliver your books in Ukraine?

 

 

[Patrick Connor]

Oval, why are you quoting someone from March, who I understand was answered by email and has not visited since April? Do you need to know also?

[Oval]

10 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

why are you quoting someone from March

Is it possible to deliver to Ukraine?

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, Oval said:

Is it possible to deliver to Ukraine?

Try filling out the order form.

[Patrick Connor]

Don't ask me, I'm head of QA. If you can wait until after the Xmas closure period, then I'll try to remember to ask those who know. I strongly suspect it can't, but it all depends on our delivery partner Amazon, who are a law unto themselves when it comes to logic.

[Oval]

Seems there are no plans to use a less aggressive company. :-(

[chefseyephotography]

I'm certain this question has been asked but I'll ask it because I simply don't know the answer.  I own the workbooks for Designer and Photo.  They're great books although they're a bit behind when it comes to the current iterations of these applications.  That said, is there a pdf version of these books that people who own the books have access to?

[MEB]

Hi chefseyephotography,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
No, there's no digital editions (or PDF's) of the workbooks. See here.