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What's the difference between Designer and Publisher?


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I recommend that you visit https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/store/ where you will find all the products advertised and explained.

You'll find "Learn More" buttons for both Designer and Publisher that will give you a good idea of the capabilities that each provides.

But primarily (though very roughly) I would say that Designer is about making art while Publisher is about making books. 

-- Walt
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25 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I recommend that you visit https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/store/ where you will find all the products advertised and explained.

 

Thank you Walt. That's where I started but hoped there'd be a comparison somewhere.

I have Publisher and used it to design a flyer - it was fairly straightforward.

One think I hope to do soon, for example, is to add text to a circlular logo (text to a path is what it would be called in PhotoShop) adn wondered if that could be done in Designer or Publisher.

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Text to Path can be done in Affinity Designer and Publisher.

Draw a circle and then select the Artistic Text tool, mouseover the circle edge and the cursor will change to T with a curvy line text_convert_path_cursor.png.1d006c1f23b17348867088be6e25f43a.png Click and the circle will be converted to a text path, now type away. 

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8 minutes ago, MartinKoss said:

One think I hope to do soon, for example, is to add text to a circlular logo (text to a path is what it would be called in PhotoShop) adn wondered if that could be done in Designer or Publisher.

Both Designer and Publisher can do this. The feature is not natively available in Affinity Photo.

https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/Text/pathText.html

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6 hours ago, MartinKoss said:

What is the difference between Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher?

Thanks.

Martin

My twopenneth's worth Martin: Designer is for designing things, it's for artists and those that design, hence its name; whereas Publisher is for placing what you have designed mixed in with text and pictures etc, it's for making booklets, books and magazines.  

Microsoft - Like entering your home and opening the stainless steel kitchen door, with a Popup: 'Do you really want to open this door'? Then looking for the dishwasher and finding it stored in the living room where you have to download a water supply from the app store, then you have to buy microsoft compliant soap, remove the carpet only to be told that it is glued to the floor.. Don't forget to make multiple copies of your front door key and post them to all who demand access to all the doors inside your home including the windows and outside shed.

Apple - Like entering your home and opening the oak framed Kitchen door and finding the dishwasher right in front you ready to be switched on, soap supplied, and water that comes through a water softener.  Ah the front door key is yours and it only needs to open the front door.

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1 minute ago, Chris26 said:

My twopenneth's worth Martin: Designer is for designing things, it's for artists and those that design, hence its name; whereas Publisher is for placing what you have designed mixed in with text and pictures etc, it's for making booklets, books and magazines.  

Thank you for that answer Chris. So if I was creating a logo that can be any size needed, I'd use Designer but if I was creating a flyer, I'd use Publisher?

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1 hour ago, MartinKoss said:

Thank you for that answer Chris. So if I was creating a logo that can be any size needed, I'd use Designer but if I was creating a flyer, I'd use Publisher?

Yes..... but with a however included:  If you are designing a single page flyer I am sure designer would be all you needed.

Microsoft - Like entering your home and opening the stainless steel kitchen door, with a Popup: 'Do you really want to open this door'? Then looking for the dishwasher and finding it stored in the living room where you have to download a water supply from the app store, then you have to buy microsoft compliant soap, remove the carpet only to be told that it is glued to the floor.. Don't forget to make multiple copies of your front door key and post them to all who demand access to all the doors inside your home including the windows and outside shed.

Apple - Like entering your home and opening the oak framed Kitchen door and finding the dishwasher right in front you ready to be switched on, soap supplied, and water that comes through a water softener.  Ah the front door key is yours and it only needs to open the front door.

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48 minutes ago, Chris26 said:

Yes..... but with a however included:  If you are designing a single page flyer I am sure designer would be all you needed.

Ah. I did start to think that after I had already created one, in Publisher. ;)

What about designing a big order form with loads of boxes, grids and stuff on it? It's a big form that will be printed on an A3 sheet for sales rep to fill in with customer. It's the sort of thing that I would have used inDesign for in the past until I cancelled my complete Adobe CC subscription.

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20 hours ago, MartinKoss said:

What about designing a big order form with loads of boxes, grids and stuff on it

It depends upon what the "Stuff" is.  But it seems to me that you could do this in either publisher or designer.  Publisher is not a designing package.  Boxes and grids coloured and shaped can be done in publisher.  But personally, it sounds to me that you would be better off having both programs for nothing more than sheer felxibility.  Why don't you do the designing in designer and then try and repeat that in publisher if you only want to use one program.  You can still employ text in designer.

Microsoft - Like entering your home and opening the stainless steel kitchen door, with a Popup: 'Do you really want to open this door'? Then looking for the dishwasher and finding it stored in the living room where you have to download a water supply from the app store, then you have to buy microsoft compliant soap, remove the carpet only to be told that it is glued to the floor.. Don't forget to make multiple copies of your front door key and post them to all who demand access to all the doors inside your home including the windows and outside shed.

Apple - Like entering your home and opening the oak framed Kitchen door and finding the dishwasher right in front you ready to be switched on, soap supplied, and water that comes through a water softener.  Ah the front door key is yours and it only needs to open the front door.

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Yep - Publisher for this one.

Microsoft - Like entering your home and opening the stainless steel kitchen door, with a Popup: 'Do you really want to open this door'? Then looking for the dishwasher and finding it stored in the living room where you have to download a water supply from the app store, then you have to buy microsoft compliant soap, remove the carpet only to be told that it is glued to the floor.. Don't forget to make multiple copies of your front door key and post them to all who demand access to all the doors inside your home including the windows and outside shed.

Apple - Like entering your home and opening the oak framed Kitchen door and finding the dishwasher right in front you ready to be switched on, soap supplied, and water that comes through a water softener.  Ah the front door key is yours and it only needs to open the front door.

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  • 1 year later...
On 8/4/2019 at 7:48 PM, Chris26 said:

My twopenneth's worth Martin: Designer is for designing things, it's for artists and those that design, hence its name; whereas Publisher is for placing what you have designed mixed in with text and pictures etc, it's for making booklets, books and magazines.  

So if you wanted to create art work/illustrations but also create the actual book would you need both Designer and Publisher?

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28 minutes ago, Carola said:

So if you wanted to create art work/illustrations but also create the actual book would you need both Designer and Publisher?

You need Publisher first to build the book, whether or not you can make the illustrations for the  book with the tools in Publisher is something I can't answer. It would definately be easier to do a collection of art works in Designer but it may be possible to use Publisher's tools to achieve it. Try the trial (ten days running from the time you first start Publisher so say October 12th to 22nd) and see if Publisher's tools will work for you. Find the trial at the bottom of this page https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/publisher/

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.1 | Affinity Photo 2.4.1 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.1 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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On 10/11/2020 at 1:44 PM, Carola said:

So if you wanted to create art work/illustrations but also create the actual book would you need both Designer and Publisher?

Absolutely yes

Microsoft - Like entering your home and opening the stainless steel kitchen door, with a Popup: 'Do you really want to open this door'? Then looking for the dishwasher and finding it stored in the living room where you have to download a water supply from the app store, then you have to buy microsoft compliant soap, remove the carpet only to be told that it is glued to the floor.. Don't forget to make multiple copies of your front door key and post them to all who demand access to all the doors inside your home including the windows and outside shed.

Apple - Like entering your home and opening the oak framed Kitchen door and finding the dishwasher right in front you ready to be switched on, soap supplied, and water that comes through a water softener.  Ah the front door key is yours and it only needs to open the front door.

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  • 1 year later...

Myself I would go with Designer. I would use artboards for the various front/back/spine, Label, insert and on to Poster web and print ads. All in one Document.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.1 | Affinity Photo 2.4.1 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.1 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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