Adobe InDesign has lengthy been the market chief in publishing software program. However rival format design packages are beginning to make waves available in the market, with Affinity Writer being the most recent to supply a aggressive different to InDesign.
For those who’re contemplating attempting out Affinity as an alternative choice to InDesign, think about this your final Affinity Writer information. We’ll weigh up the professionals and cons of every software program possibility, take a look at a few of Affinity Writer’s coolest options, and provides our verdict on whether or not the Affinity design suite presents critical competitors for Adobe’s Inventive Cloud.
This Affinity Writer evaluate is predicated on my expertise of utilizing the newest model of the Affinity software program (1.8). As a seasoned InDesign person (I even created a web site, InDesignSkills, dedicated to my love of this system), I used to be shocked by how a lot I loved utilizing Affinity software program. Learn on to find what Affinity Writer is, and why Affinity is an alternative choice to InDesign for aspiring and professional designers alike.
Uncover a spread of professionally-designed Affinity Writer templates over at Envato Components.
What Is Affinity Writer?
Affinity Writer is a publishing program for Mac and Home windows that means that you can create single- and multi-page paperwork. Publishing packages are appropriate for creating layout-based media, which mix typography, graphics, and photographs, equivalent to magazines, brochures, flyers, and books. Most publishing packages permit customers to create content material for each print and on-line, in addition to EPUBs (eBooks).
Serif launched the complete model of Affinity in June 2019 (it had beforehand solely been out there in beta format). Followers of Affinity Picture and Affinity Designer, first rate and good-value alternate options to Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, will discover that Affinity Writer makes a seamless and helpful addition to their assortment of Affinity apps.
By means of know-how known as StudioLink, Writer may be built-in with the opposite apps within the Affinity design suite, Affinity Picture and Affinity Designer, permitting customers to seamlessly create and edit photographs earlier than integrating them into Affinity Writer layouts.
The lead developer of Writer, Adam Whitehouse, has commented that Affinity Writer for iPad can be in growth, which is able to permit Writer to succeed in a probably broader viewers than desktop customers alone.
Learn on to find my Affinity Writer evaluate, in addition to my final Affinity Writer information, why Affinity is an InDesign different, and the decision on which software program to plump for.
Ought to I Take into account Switching From Adobe InDesign to Affinity Writer?
For budget-conscious creatives, the primary benefit of Affinity Writer is that it is glorious worth, retailing at simply $49.99 for the only app obtain. Customers aren’t tied right into a subscription mannequin, not like Adobe members.
Writer’s aggressive value will make it a critical competitor on value level with Adobe, which presents InDesign CC at a subscription value solely, with the only app costing customers $20.99 a month.
When it comes to usability, Affinity Writer owes an ideal deal to InDesign when it comes to performance and interface. Superficially, the variations between the 2 are minor, and it actually comes right down to which program you’re feeling most comfy utilizing.
I took Affinity Writer for a take a look at drive to see the way it compares to InDesign and the way it capabilities as a publishing program. Learn on to find my ideas on Writer and assess whether or not you need to make the swap from InDesign.
What Are the Execs and Cons of Affinity Writer, and How Do These Examine to InDesign?
Affinity Writer and Adobe InDesign are each 2D publishing packages, and so they’re each modelled round the same interface, with comparable performance and instruments.
The variations between the packages are minor, and most customers with prior expertise of InDesign will discover a transition to Affinity Writer to be comparatively painless. Nonetheless, there are just a few variations between the packages to concentrate on, which could have an effect on your workflow and the form of objects you’d wish to design.
Affinity Writer: The Execs
Affinity Writer has an enormous quantity going for it, even supposing it’s not at present the market chief in publishing software program (watch this area). A number of the predominant benefits of Affinity Writer are that:
- It’s glorious worth, making it an ideal selection for college kids, aspiring designers, and professionals on a finances.
- It may be trialled free of charge for a 30-day interval.
- It’s intuitive—all Affinity packages have been created with simple-to-use interfaces, in-built suggestions, and useful tutorials accessible on-line, making it simple to familiarize yourself with the software program shortly.
- It’s appropriate with each Home windows and Mac.
- It makes use of know-how known as StudioLink, which lets customers swap between the Affinity design suite of Affinity Writer, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Picture, all throughout the similar app.
- It permits customers to create professional-standard paperwork for print, equivalent to magazines, posters, and brochures, and has glorious export capabilities for creating PDFs and picture recordsdata of your work.
Affinity Writer: The Cons
Whereas Affinity Writer has been vastly improved since its beta launch, thanks partly to Serif’s option to contain customers closely in enhancing this system, there are nonetheless just a few issues that might do with additional growth, together with:
- Affinity Writer can nonetheless really feel, at occasions, a bit buggy. Navigating on a Mac can drive font sizes to balloon or shrink at random when utilizing the Character panel, for instance, whereas layer navigation can generally really feel irritating (see beneath).
- Organising a brand new doc requires a bit extra thought. Whereas InDesign routinely assigns going through pages, for instance, Affinity Writer requires the person to examine and set this to start on a left-hand web page themselves. Not an issue for knowledgeable customers, however extra choices like this will make the establishing course of extra fiddly.
- Layers are harder to make use of than InDesign. Creating layers on a Grasp web page doesn’t imply these layers are created on the primary pages of your doc, and vice versa, which may make utilizing layers in Affinity Writer really feel a bit clunky.
- Affinity Writer doesn’t present built-in templates for doc sorts, not like InDesign, and on condition that the software program is younger, there are fewer Writer templates out there for obtain on-line than for InDesign. Fortunately for you, we’ve compiled a number of the perfect Affinity Writer templates on the internet right here:
Adobe InDesign: The Execs
InDesign has been round since 1999 and has dominated the publishing software program market ever since. Due to its age and the heft of Adobe behind it, InDesign has benefitted from a long time of growth. In consequence, it arguably presents extra professionalism and added extras than Affinity Writer, which makes it a beautiful providing for professional designers and studios.
The principle benefits of utilizing Adobe InDesign vs. Affinity Writer are that:
- InDesign is exceptionally skilled, and permits customers to create superior design work for print and on-line.
- It has an intuitive, slick interface that anticipates the designer’s wants and necessities for creating paperwork and artistic work.
- It integrates with different Inventive Cloud apps, together with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, internet hosting the apps on a cloud platform for ease of use.
- It’s appropriate with each Home windows and Mac.
- Adobe presents further apps and options that may improve the design expertise as a part of an Adobe subscription, together with Adobe Fonts, Adobe Shade, and Adobe Inventory.
- It’s nonetheless the business commonplace, with {most professional} designers, studios, and companies nonetheless choosing Adobe over Affinity, making it a necessity for people who need to share recordsdata seamlessly with different companies who use it. Nonetheless, it’s attainable to make use of Affinity Writer recordsdata in InDesign (see beneath).
Adobe InDesign: The Cons
No person’s excellent, and even InDesign has its flaws, which could affect your determination on which program to go for. A number of the potential drawbacks of Adobe InDesign embrace:
- It’s costly… actually costly. With a single app subscription costing a person $20.99 every month, and the complete design suite operating at $59.99 per 30 days, that’s including as much as a critical funding. There are offers out there for companies, college students, and academic establishments, however the subscription mannequin applies throughout the board.
- A free trial of InDesign solely lasts for seven days, in comparison with the 30-day interval supplied by Serif, giving new customers much less time to get to know their manner across the program.
- Since InDesign’s newest launch (CC), customers of older variations equivalent to CS5 and CS6 will really feel a bit left behind. Other than the newly launched subscription mannequin, opening recordsdata between completely different variations requires recordsdata to be correctly packaged and saved as IDML recordsdata, earlier than being resaved on opening within the older or newer model of the appliance.
Can I Use InDesign Information in Affinity Writer?
Sure!
Till not too long ago, customers of Affinity Writer and InDesign had been firmly in two separate camps, however new updates by Serif now imply that it’s attainable for Writer customers to transform and use designs created in InDesign, reworking the entire technique of file sharing between the 2 packages.
As of the Affinity 1.8 replace, it’s now attainable to import InDesign IDML recordsdata into Affinity Writer. The method is fast and straightforward, and it merely includes saving or packaging your InDesign doc as an IDML (versus INDD) file and opening the IDML file in Affinity Writer.
Learn this tutorial or watch the video beneath for full particulars:
What Are A number of the Essential Options of Affinity Writer?
It’s Adaptable for Print and Net Design
The newest launch of InDesign CC has definitely improved the online and ePublishing design expertise for customers, with higher capabilities for establishing web-friendly layouts and exporting to interactive codecs. Nonetheless, Affinity Writer has put the fashionable internet design course of on the coronary heart of its interface.
Uncover how you can create a canopy for a digital journal in Affinity Writer:
You possibly can select from a variety of display dimension choices, which embrace all mass-market up-to-date units. You can too select to design particularly for Net or Gadgets, every of which accommodates a variety of pre-saved codecs to select from, together with an up to date catalogue of iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Nexus, and Kindle display sizes.
It’s Extra Progressive Than InDesign… in Some Methods
As a result of InDesign is constructed on foundations which preceded internet design, stemming from the know-how developed by Quark for the primary format publishing program, QuarkXPress, it’s nonetheless a conventional print publishing program at coronary heart.
Affinity Writer, against this, although impressed by the InDesign interface, would not have the identical historic legacy, and there are some options of this system which really feel extra related for the way designers work now.
One instance is the flexibility to set a facing-page doc to start on a left-hand web page. Certain, this isn’t what you’d need to select for a conventional multi-page doc like a print guide or journal, however there are events the place you would possibly need to begin your doc with a two-page unfold, like eMagazines or interactive PDFs, for instance.
It is Speedier and Lighter Than InDesign
One of many predominant complaints about InDesign is the processing energy of the software program. It’s a really heavy program, which may have an effect on usability, significantly should you’re engaged on a laptop computer quite than a desktop. Switching the Show Efficiency in InDesign to Quick Show can clear up the issue, but it surely additionally means it’s important to do the majority of your work whereas taking a look at closely pixelated photographs.
Writer is a heavy program too, but it surely definitely doesn’t really feel that manner. It’s whippet-quick, even after I was attempting it out on my historic laptop computer, which struggles to open InDesign in lower than quarter-hour.
Photos in Writer stay crisp and clear, which lets you assess the standard of photographs precisely when you work.
An additional bonus—I had no points with stalling or crashing, which was an virtually every day prevalence after I was working with InDesign CS6 and a month-to-month prevalence with InDesign CC.
If You’re an InDesign Person, It Feels Intuitive
Serif has mimicked the InDesign interface in Writer for good cause, within the hope of changing dedicated InDesign customers.
For those who’re a seasoned InDesign person, the Writer interface will really feel very acquainted, with the Instruments panel docked to the left and the most-used panels, together with Color, Swatches, and Stroke, docked of their ordinary place to the precise.
The Pages panel has been shifted to the left, however personally this seems like an enchancment on InDesign’s default docking of the identical panel to the precise of the display.
It Has a Helpful Clipboard Characteristic, ‘Property’
Clipboards are actually helpful for producing designs that use repeated visible content material (equivalent to firm logos) or particular units of icons (equivalent to emojis or UI icons).
Affinity has a useful clipboard operate known as Property, which is docked on the left aspect of the interface, alongside the Pages panel.
It is fast and straightforward to create your individual library of asset classes, permitting you to entry important photographs straight away. That is significantly useful for designers working with model identities.
Affinity Writer: Our Verdict
For those who’re in search of a good-value different to Adobe InDesign, Affinity Writer is a unbelievable possibility for budget-conscious creatives.
For entrepreneurs needing to create print objects in-house or designers trying to decide up new publishing design expertise, Affinity Writer is an intuitive method to hone your design expertise and create a variety of format media, from magazines to books, brochures, and enterprise playing cards. For budding internet designers, there’s additionally lots on supply for creating layouts for web sites, apps, and EPUBs.
For those who’re a dedicated InDesign person, you would possibly discover it initially troublesome to make the swap to Affinity Writer, because the latter lacks a few of the sophistication and superior options of the previous. Writer can really feel a bit clumsy as compared, however this impression shortly diminishes the extra time you spend utilizing the appliance.
All in all, Affinity Writer is shaping as much as be a critical rival for InDesign, competing on each worth for cash and performance. With Affinity Writer for iPad within the late-development levels, the potential for Affinity to transition publishing design into the pill market is absolutely thrilling. Watch this area!
We might like to know your ideas on Affinity Writer. Are you a Writer convert or die-hard InDesign fan? Maybe you assume each InDesign and Affinity Writer have room for enchancment? Depart your ideas and experiences with utilizing each packages within the feedback beneath.
Uncover a spread of professionally designed Affinity Writer templates over at Envato Components.
Try extra evaluations of Affinity packages, Affinity Writer tutorials, and recommendations for different design software program:
