Design your way

If you are involved in design projects for sure you have heard before about Adobe. It was launched almost 30 years ago and this creative software giant has become a very popular one in the design industry.

However, there are still other options as well that can be used in this type of work. Many people wonder about the Affinity Designer vs Illustrator comparison because they are both great vector editors.

To understand more about Affinity Designer, we need to check about its history. It was launched in 2014 and since then it grew quite a lot. For certain designers, the features that Affinity Designer has are quite powerful especially when you have a look at the price difference. But how does Affinity Designer and Illustrator actually compare?

To answer these questions, we really need to have a look at their feature and it’s also a matter of the specific needs that you have from such a program. We had a look at both Affinity and Illustrator and here are some of the main differences that we found. Let’s see together more details!

Affinity Designer vs Illustrator, what are they?

Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer was developed by UK-based Serif Labs. In simple terms, it is a vector graphic editor that can be an alternative to Adobe Illustrator. The company was established back in the 90s as a producer of low-cost software for Windows. Not it seems that they are starting to focus a lot on the software market for Mac.

Affinity Designer can be considered at first glance a cheap graphic program that was made for amateurs. However, the actual truth is that it was created specifically for professional designers that are used to work on a Mac interface.

Affinity Designer can be suitable for any graphic designer that creates illustrations, icons, and branding elements. It’s also full of resources, especially for people that want to have quality graphics or digital art done.

Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator is the well-known graphic editor made by Adobe. The first version of this program was launched back in 1987 and since then it has gone far away. It is really impressive and designers can do many things on it.

Illustrator can support different formats of files from Adobe projects to AutoCAD, SVG and so on. So, if we look at Affinity Designer and Illustrator, we are already starting to see some differences.

This program is recommended for any graphic designer that wants to go for a career in this domain. Many companies need somebody that is knowledgeable in Adobe Illustrator and almost any industry needs this kind of visual work to be done.

The Affinity Designer vs Illustrator Comparison

User Interface

In terms of user interface one big reason why designers choose the Adobe Illustrator is because it has been for many years available on the market. 30 years are a lot, and many designers have been helped by it with their work. This is why there are few programs that can compete with both the experience and community that Adobe has.

Still, Affinity Designer can be one of its rivals that can deserve a chance. It has an intuitive interface and it looks very similar to Adobe Illustrator. The program also has its own features so it should deserve some attention.

Tool sets

For any designer no matter if they are new or pro, Affinity Designer has a simple and modern interface. This helps anybody that wants to transition from Adobe to something else. You will see all the tools that are clearly organized and accessible and the default ones really feel familiar.

It doesn’t take a lot of time to get used to the program. Soon enough you will be finding yourself doing many great designs.

Learning Curve

As we already mentioned Affinity Designer and Illustrator are not that different in terms of how you use them. If you worked before on Illustrator is going to be quite easy to jump on Affinity Designer. What the team that builds Affinity Designer did was to make some intuitive changes that make easier the learning curve for a new user.

So Designer is for sure easier to use and you can learn it fast and AI usually takes a bit more of time when you are starting out.

Workspace Features

Affinity Designer comes up short in terms of workspace options. Illustrator CC gives multiple workspaces that can be used for different projects for printing to web design. The designer gives you some similar features like color swatches, effects but they are not that advanced if we really check them out.

Even though the program has many effects and supports different vector shapes it lacks other capabilities. You can’t import libraries, custom shapes (.csh) and this can be a bit frustrating for a designer that has a lot of libraries for these design elements.

Pricing – Affinity Designer vs Adobe Illustrator

Probably the biggest difference between these two is the price tag. If you want to go just for a single app you are going to pay $20 per month and if you want all the apps from Adobe expect to pay up to $50/month.

 

So, this means you will be paying between $200 – $600 per year. Now, if we check Affinity Designer it just has a one-time fee of just $50 including free updates. For a beginner designer that wants to go for something lower as a budget, Affinity Designer is going to be for sure the winner here.

Availability

Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo (their image editing software) are both available only on Mac OS. Windows is still in beta but you can download it and give it a try.

Adobe Illustrator is available on both Mac and Windows and they also have a mobile app. You can use it to create and keep certain artwork in your Creative Cloud to use it across platforms.

Support

Adobe CC does many periodic updates that fix bugs and add new features as it has a monthly subscription model. For Affinity, they usually release a main update each year together with bug fixes.

Ending thoughts on Affinity Designer vs Illustrator

In conclusion, in the Affinity Designer vs Illustrator discussion, we can say they are very close as programs and choosing one depends on what you want to use them. Illustrator is capable of doing more things but comes at a higher price and Designer gives you all the basics you need for a graphic designer. Don’t rush and analyze which is the one that is going to help out the most with what you are planning and make your purchase.

If you enjoyed reading this article about Affinity Designer vs Illustrator, you should read these as well:

• Adobe XD vs Sketch: Which one to choose and why
• Photoshop vs Lightroom: Which to use for your photos
• Affinity Photo vs Photoshop: What’s the difference and which one to use

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