Affinity Designer 2 is a great tool if you need to edit vector and raster graphics in a single app, open Adobe files, and create on the go in the iPad app. It's a great alternative to Adobe Illustrator, and there's no subscription required, only a single payment.
If you want to know more about the two popular creative suites, Adobe Creative Cloud and Affinity, don't forget to check out this detailed guide.
In this Affinity Designer 2 tutorial for beginners, we'll go over the interface and the main menus you can find in this vector software. If you prefer video tutorials, check out the complete Affinity Designer 2 course from the Tuts+ YouTube channel. Additionally, you can check out the Affinity Designer for Beginners course page.
Watch the Lesson: Affinity Designer Interface Tour
This Is the Affinity Designer Interface
Affinity Designer 2 (On Mac)
This menu is available on Mac. Along with the software information, you can also find the Settings and change Personas.
If you're on Windows, the settings will be under the Edit menu.
File
In this menu, you can import new files, open, export, and manage everything to do with your files.
Edit
Some of the most important options you'll find here are the Paste controls and the option to set up defaults to have an easier workflow.
Text
Here you'll find controls for the characters' traits like size and spacing. You can also find the alignment options, text styles, and more.
Layer
This is one of the most powerful menus in Affinity Designer 2 when it comes to working with objects.
Here you'll find many useful options like Group, Warp, Arrange, Transform, Lock and Unlock, Rasterize, and Mask. We'll talk more about these options in other articles and lessons.
Select
Select is very useful when you want to select things based on type: by fill color, stroke color, or name. You can also set up tags and groups of things to select all at once.
View
Here you can configure and customize the interface to your liking. Add guides and rulers, modify the toolbars, and more.
Window
This menu will help you manage the different panels that appear in the interface while you work. If you're looking for a particular panel, go to Window and see which panels are active by looking for the checkmark on the left.
If you want to reset your studio or work area to the default settings, go to Window > Studio > Reset Studio. This will close any docked panels and bring back the default set.
Help
As the name suggests, here you'll find quick links to useful guides. On Mac, you can use the search bar to look for specific features.
Command Bars
These are the two bars (B and C) located immediately below the menus we just covered.
Main Bar
This bar (B) changes when you select a Persona; each one displays different menus on the main bar.
Affinity Designer Personas
In the main bar you'll see the icons (A) that represent the three Affinity Designer Personas:
- Designer Persona: this is the main persona we'll use, where we'll do most of the work with vectors.
- Pixel Persona: this one is great for sketching and painting, especially if you have an iPad.
- Export Persona: here you'll find the settings for exporting your finished documents.
Context Bar
The context bar (C) is currently empty, but it changes depending on what tool you have selected from the toolbar on the left side.
Discover More Affinity Designer Resources and Tutorials
In this tutorial, we covered the basics of the Affinity Designer interface to lay down the base for any future projects. Be sure to check out our upcoming articles on Envato Tuts+ and the Envato blog to discover more Affinity Designer 2 tutorials. And for the digital subscription that will cover all your creative needs, be sure to visit Envato!
Here are some great resources to get you started: