Dynamic graphic object styles

[gafvert]

I'm using Affinity Designer 1.6.1 on macOS and this is one of the most important features I'm missing doing UI work:

Being able to create an object style (say "Button outline", or "Info panel style") and apply it to all relevant such objects. Then, critically being able to CHANGE the style (adjust the stroke for example) and have all objects with the style applied to them update. Currently it seems I can create and apply styles, but I can't change them which to me removes 80% of the usefulness of having styles.

Incidentally, text styles in Affinity Designer work fine and just the way I would expect them as described above, so it's surprising and a little confusing the object styles do not. Perhaps this indicates that similar object styles are on the roadmap (somewhere I can't find?) but the developers just haven't gotten around to it yet?

[Aammppaa]

I agree, styles at present are almost useless - they really need to work as you describe.

Also the ability to stack styles would be a huge improvement… ie apply  "My Dotted Outer Stroke with a Shadow" style, plus "My Super Shiny Red Gradient" style to the same object (with later styles over-riding those earlier in the list) just as happens with CSS styles for example.

[MEB]

Hi gafvert,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Although not the same take a look at Symbols. You may use them to get similar results. Here's a video tutorial that may help.

[gafvert]

Hello again. I've noticed that in Designer 1.7.2 that I'm now using, graphic styles are still static as described above in the original post, greatly limiting their usefulness and confusing the user as they the graphic styles don't work at all like the text styles. Does anyone know if there are any plans on implementing dynamic graphic styles any time soon in Designer?

[dominik]

6 hours ago, gafvert said:

Does anyone know if there are any plans on implementing dynamic graphic styles any time soon in Designer?

Hi @gafvert,

I haven‘t seen any indication from the team‘s side that it is being worked on. At least I assume they are aware of this shortcoming.

d.

[gafvert]

Ok, thanks for the reply. I'm sure they've got a lot of plans and other things to work on as well. But I hope they get to this bit sooner rather than later as it's preventing me to move over some of my projects from Illustrator into Affinity, especially for working with UI elements and style mockups. Having cascading styles similar to CSS like @Aammppaa suggested would be even more powerful of course, but just having single shared graphic styles you could modify would go a long way.

Dynamic graphic styles is also something that could be applied both in Designer and Publisher, just like text styles, so maybe that will make it more worth the development time required now that Publisher is released.

[chessboard]

Also stumbling over this issue, I would like to highlight this topic again.

I think, styles should be bound to layers (shapes, groups, layers) as well as effects are. So that you can edit all criteria of the appearance at all times, and all objects that share a specific style are updated automatically.

[sfriedberg]

+10 As a heavy user of object styles in CorelDRAW, it's bewildering that object styles don't behave like text styles with regard to property changes on the style propagating to the objects assigned the style.

[Jose Alvarez]

I agree with all of you. Object styles that you can't edit are almost usefull. That is a great Indesign feature, 'cause you can even apply text styles (+ next style - it saves us a lot of time!!).

Another MUST HAVE.

 

[elguapo]

+1 to this.