| Affinity Designer | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Affinity Designer 2.6.5 running onWindows 11 | |
| Developer | Serif Europe |
| Initial release | 1 October 2014; 11 years ago (2014-10-01) |
| Final release | |
| Operating system | macOS,Microsoft Windows,iPadOS |
| Available in | 9 languages |
| Type | Vector graphics editor |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | affinity |
Affinity Designer is a discontinuedvector graphics editor developed bySerif formacOS,Microsoft Windows andiPadOS.
Developed as a successor to Serif’sDrawPlus and first released in 2014, Affinity Designer was part of a suite alongsideAffinity Photo andAffinity Publisher, respectively araster graphics editor anddesktop publishing application.
Affinity used aperpetual license model. In 2025, following the purchase of Serif byCanva in 2024, it was replaced by the freemiumAffinity application, bundling vector, raster and layout features together.
Affinity Designer serves as a successor to Serif's ownDrawPlus software, which the company discontinued in August 2017 in order to focus on the Affinity product range.[2] It has been described as anAdobe Illustrator alternative,[3][4][5] and is compatible with common graphics file formats, including Adobe Illustrator (AI),Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG),Adobe Photoshop (PSD),Portable Document Format (PDF), andEncapsulated PostScript (EPS) formats.[6] The application can also import data from someAdobe FreeHand files (specifically versions 10 and MX).[7]
Affinity Designer's core functions includevector pen and shape-drawing tools, support for customvector andraster brushes (including the ability to importAdobe Photoshop (ABR) brushes), dynamic symbols, stroke stabilization, text style management, and vector/pixel export options.[5][8][9]
Affinity Designer provides non-destructive editing features across unlimited layers, with pan and zoom at 60fps, and real-time views for effects and transformations.[10] It supports theRGB,RGB Hex,LAB,CMYK andGrayscale color models, along withPANTONE color swatches and an end-to-endCMYK workflow withICC color management, and16-bit per channel editing.[11][9]
The first version was released in October 2014, making it the first of the Affinity apps to be released bySerif (and their first macOS release).[12] At that time, Serif's vector graphics application forWindows wasDrawPlus; however, following the release of Affinity Designer forWindows, this product has now been discontinued.[13]
Affinity Designer began as a vector graphics editor solely formacOS. It was developed entirely from scratch for this operating system, allowing it to leverage core native technologies such asOpenGL,Grand Central Dispatch, andCore Graphics.[14]
Version 1.2, released in April 2015, introduced new tools and features, such as a corner tool and a pixel-alignment mode forGUI design tasks.[15] In December 2015, version 1.4 then introduced new features for managing artboards and printing.[16] With version 1.5 in October 2016, the application received multiple new features, including symbols, constraints, asset management and text styles.[17]
The application began branching out to other platforms in November 2016, when it first launched for Microsoft Windows.[18]
Version 1.6 was released in November 2017, introducing performance improvements and alternative GUI display mode.[19]
The first release of a separateiPad version of Affinity Designer took place in July 2018.[20]
Version 1.7 was released in June 2019 adding some key features such as HDR support, unlimited strokes and fills to a single shape, new point transform tool, new transform mode in Node tool, Lasso selection of nodes, new sculpt mode added to pencil, and also some big performance improvements.[21] Version 1.8, released in February 2020, added the ability for users to define their own document templates and keyboard shortcuts, and a built-in panel for addingstock images.[22] Version 1.9 was released in February 2021, containing "substantial performance gains when working with complex vector documents" and hardware acceleration for Windows.[23]
In November 2022, Serif launched the second major version of Affinity Designer, incorporating shape builder and knife tools, vector warping, and an x-ray view. However, it received criticism online as some users felt the new feature set was not substantial enough to justify a new purchase.[24] This was followed by version 2.1 in May 2023 and version 2.2 in September 2023, adding various UI improvements and support formacOS Sonoma.[25][26]
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In October 2025, Affinity Designer was discontinued in favour of thefreemiumAffinity by Canva, which has unified the functionality of the three separate Affinity applications.[27][28][29]
Affinity Designer was selected as a runner-up in Apple's "Best of 2014" list ofMac App Store andiTunes Store content in the macOS app category.[30][31][32] It also was one of the winners of the 2015Apple Design Award.[33]
In 2018, theWindows version of Affinity Designer won 'Application Creator of the Year' at the Windows Developer Awards (part ofMicrosoft Build 2018).[34]
Affinity Designer was selected as the winner of the "Best Software For Designers" Award in the 2022 Creative Bloq Awards.[35]
Affinity Designer Workbook. Nottingham: Serif Europe Ltd. 2016.ISBN 9781909581036.
| Free and open-source | |
|---|---|
| Proprietary | |
| Discontinued | |
