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10 things you should know about Affinity Designer for iPad

Developed without compromise, Affinity Designer is the first full-blown, truly professional graphic design tool to make its way onto iPad. That means there’s a lot to talk about, so let’s look at a short run-down of what you should know…

1. The workflow has been shaped by leading creatives

We commissioned a group of leading creatives to take part in a VIP beta for Affinity Designer for iPad, and they helped us to shape the app. See how creative guru Steve Simpson found the experience in the video below.

Steve Simpson talks about his work and Affinity Designer for iPad.

“Affinity Designer for iPad is a fully featured vector app with raster tools available on a tablet. It’s a different level.”

Steve Simpson

Find out more about who was involved in our special beta and the amazing work they made in this article on Spotlight.

2. It gives you vector and raster design tools, all in one app

Although this applies to all versions of Affinity Designer, we think it’s worth pointing out again Affinity Designer for iPad is truly the best of both worlds. You can use vector and pixel tools in Affinity Designer for iPad. So, you could be working on a vector design, and then you could switch over to Pixel Persona to add texture with raster brushes. Or, you could be working on some app icons in vector and then see the pixel preview. Or edit a photo to use in your website mock-up. Cool, eh?

3. It’s the most ambitious app ever created for iPad

Over 95% of the desktop features of Affinity Designer are included in the iOS version, and here’s just a taster… Rock solid vector tools. Non-destructive editing. Unlimited layers. Professional CMYK, LAB, RGB and Grayscale colour models. Live View Modes. Symbols. Artboards.

We’ve used all of Apple’s magic technology too, so Affinity Designer for iPad is fast. Like really fast. You can see that by using all the effects, in real-time. And it works in the way that you always hoped it would with the Apple Pencil too.

That’s because we build mobile apps specifically for professional creatives.

4. We’ve pushed gestures to a whole new level

Affinity Designer for iPad has been optimised for iPad. And, in terms of creative workflows on iPad, there are some gestures that we don’t think you should mess with. Double finger tap for ‘undo’, and three finger tap for redo is a case in point. So ‘redo’ and ‘undo’ gestures work in the same way in Affinity Designer for iPad, but for some things there was no established paradigm. So we’ve had to innovate. James gives you the lowdown in his tutorial video about the gestures you need to know.

James walks through the gestures you need to know in Affinity Designer for iPad.

We’ve made over 60 video tutorials to help you learn Affinity Designer for iPad, you can check them out here.

5. The UI isn’t always the same as Affinity Photo for iPad

As mentioned in point 1, we had lots of input from amazing creative professionals to help us shape this app. Some of that input has meant that we had to rethink some of the workflows for Affinity Designer for iPad which means that they are not always consistent with Affinity Photo for iPad. This is something we are going to look at over the coming year, but be rest assured we will keep everything as consistent as possible, but make sure the workflows are right for each app.

6. You have full control over export

We don’t limit what you can export to just because Affinity Designer for iPad is on iOS. You have full control over format, slices and with standard and retina options you can complete projects on the move. Send your projects by email, save to iCloud or Dropbox, the choice is yours.

Continuous export works like a charm too. See how artist and VIP beta tester, Bob Byrne, uses continuous export from Affinity Designer on iPad to work on his desktop with Spine at the same time

Bob shows off continuous export to Spine using an early beta of Affinity Designer for iPad.

7. The file format is seamless

Round-trip from desktop to iPad, and between Affinity apps. There are no limits. Just like a creative suite should be.

8. 1,000,000% zoom (well, even more than that actually…)

We can never resist showing this feature off in any of our apps… would you just look at that!!

Super smooth panning and zooming in Affinity Designer for iPad.

9. No subscription

We don’t subscribe to subscription models. We think you should buy your apps once and get free updates until version 2.

10. You can get it now for up to 30% off our normal price.

To celebrate the launch of Affinity Designer for iPad, you can get it now for £13.99 / $13.99 USD / € 14.99 for a limited time. Bargain.

BUY NOW

(In fact, everything is up to 30% off in the Affinity Store for a limited time…)