Affinity Designer vs Affinity Photo: What are the differences?

Introduction

Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo are both powerful software applications developed by Serif. They are designed for creative professionals and provide a wide range of tools and features for graphic design and photo editing. While both applications share some similarities, there are key differences that set them apart from each other.

1. User Interface: The user interface of Affinity Designer is primarily focused on vector editing, making it more suitable for graphic design projects. It provides a comprehensive set of vector tools, such as shape tools, pen tool, and node editing, allowing users to create and manipulate scalable designs. On the other hand, Affinity Photo has a user interface that is more tailored towards photo editing and retouching. It offers advanced features like healing brush, frequency separation, and non-destructive adjustment layers, making it ideal for professional photographers and digital artists.

2. File Types: Affinity Designer supports a wide range of file types for both import and export, including SVG, PDF, EPS, and AI formats. This makes it easy to collaborate with other design software and seamlessly import vector artwork. Affinity Photo, on the other hand, is specifically designed for photo editing and supports popular raster image formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and PSD. It also provides options for saving images in different color spaces and bit depths.

3. Pixel and Vector Editing: While both applications have some overlapping features, Affinity Designer is primarily focused on vector editing, enabling users to create precise and scalable designs. It supports features like boolean operations, vector brushes, and advanced typography controls. Affinity Photo, on the other hand, excels in pixel editing, offering tools such as selection tools, layer masks, and blend modes, allowing users to retouch and enhance their photos with precision.

4. Artboards: Affinity Designer allows users to create multiple artboards within a single document, making it easy to work on multiple variations or sizes of a design simultaneously. This is particularly useful for creating multi-page documents, website mockups, or mobile app designs. Affinity Photo, on the other hand, does not have the concept of artboards as it is primarily focused on working with individual images.

5. Live Effects and Filters: Affinity Designer provides a wide range of live effects and filters that can be applied to vector objects, allowing users to create complex and dynamic designs. These effects are non-destructive and can be easily modified or removed at any point in the design process. Affinity Photo, on the other hand, offers a comprehensive set of filters and adjustment layers specifically tailored for photo editing, allowing users to enhance and transform their images with ease.

6. Export Options: Affinity Designer provides more advanced export options, allowing users to export their designs in various formats and resolutions. It offers options for exporting individual artboards or slices, as well as the ability to specify export options for different formats. Affinity Photo, on the other hand, provides more simplified export options, focused on exporting high-quality raster images with options for resizing and optimizing for web or print.

In Summary, while both Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo are powerful applications for creative professionals, they have key differences in terms of their user interface, file types, editing capabilities, artboards, effects and filters, and export options, making each application more suitable for specific design and editing tasks.