Affinity Photo and Designer in the workplace

[MRoodenburg]

Hello all,

 

As a marketing and communication employee at a startupcompany it's my responsibilty to create professional products such as newsletters, brochures, leaflets for web and print. I'm very interested in developing my editingskills but would Affinity Photo and Designer be the right program for me and my job, even though I'm a novice and have free programs like GIMP2, Scribus, Publisher and Inscape at my disposal?
 

What does Affinity Photo and/or Design offer that free programs don't? And how would you convince your boss to buy Affinity Photo and/or Designer?

 

Thank you. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[carl123]

....

 

And how would you convince your boss to buy Affinity Photo and/or Designer?

 

 

 

1. Show him / her the Affinity Photo video https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/

2. Show him / her the Affinity Designer video https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/designer/

3.  Tell him / her the price

4. If he / she is still not convinced it's time to look for another boss

[MRoodenburg]

1. Show him / her the Affinity Photo video https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/

2. Show him / her the Affinity Designer video https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/designer/

3.  Tell him / her the price

4. If he / she is still not convinced it's time to look for another boss

Haha, I'll definitely do that. I just don't have a clear view of what Affinity does what other 'free' programs can't, since I'm new to it. The place where I work is a startup company, so even if its cheap, money is still something the boss considers :)

[ambiroa]

To specifically know the differences, you might need to compare all features, and then think if you needed those before or will be needing them in the near future. Another way is to create the exact same thing in all programs you like to compare to see which one is easier, faster, more effective for you to work with, but Affinity doesn't have trial versions at the moment so you need to wait.

 

In terms of support, I don't experience a difference between Affinity and Krita (open source), both respond well and fast. No experience with GIMP.

 

Usually, to be able to convince a boss, you need to ale to tell them that with tool X, you can work faster, cleaner, more efficient, more effective, and that the tool motivates you to experiment. xD

[joost]

Haha, I'll definitely do that. I just don't have a clear view of what Affinity does what other 'free' programs can't, since I'm new to it. The place where I work is a startup company, so even if its cheap, money is still something the boss considers :)

I have my own startup, all the company's money comes from one certain wallet :-)  I am a strong believer in getting the right tools for the job and not suffer through working with half-baked stuff. It brings efficiency down and worse; employee moral down which in turn brings efficiency down and in turn ... oh well you see the cycle I am sure.

 

For the small amount affinity is asking for AD and AP I would not have much hesitation if at all. More importantly would be for me to judge if the employee is passionate about workflow, quality of work and "moving the needle". If the purchase request comes from that background and drive, a couple of bucks for the affinity tools may open the flood gates of innovation, creativity and productivity. Which in turn adds the the atmosphere at work.  So _you_ need to be convinced that these tool are going to propel you into that guy who makes high quality, great art. Your boss needs to see that energy in you.  If he doesn't see that, but you remain convinced you need this - time to move to another company.

 

Affinity's tool set is good, I use them myself although not as intense as others. I will be very critical if they do not fit my workflow, if they become a hindrance (see my notes on the lack of a good color picker some time ago)  But in general, AD and AP are certainly worth their price tag in my opinion. 

[SHOWGOOD]

I found Affinity Designer + Photo was an easier sell in the workplace compared to Adobe Creative Cloud especially since I'm not primarily a graphics designer. I just needed something to make presentations, brochures, etc. that looked professoinal and this definitely does all that and more!

[pixelrain]

Compared to a subscription plan Affinity's offer is much kinder on your wallet and their development pace is quite good. Compared to open source software I guess it depends on features, speed, stability and usability for your desired workflow.

 

With open source you don't have to worry about price ( you'll be more worried about development and reliability though ) but you have to test all of them on your machines to check how they are running ( they are more picky and prone to crashes ) or if their features fit your workflow.

 

Personally i would test open source / free at the start, see how that works out for you and then decide next.

 

Also when you compare software, compare them by their features to see if they meet your requirements and not by just looking at works done with them to avoid the "GEE, what nice XYZ, what software / hardware did you use ?" mindset :P

[MRoodenburg]

Thanks for the reactions all. Got my boss on the AP&AD bandwagon and waitingfor the AD Workbook to arrive :)