Today we’re going to find out the difference between Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer, so you can know which one to buy.
And if you don’t like reading, you can watch our video review of the two apps. 🙂
What are you replacing?
Ok, here’s the quick and dirty answer. If you’re looking for a photo editing program to replace Photoshop, Gimp, or Pixelmator, you want to get Affinity Photo.
But if you’re looking for a vector drawing app to replace Illustrator, Inkscape, or Corel Draw, you want to get Affinity Designer.
Practical Examples
If those other programs don’t mean anything to you, here are some practical examples of what each Affinity app is typically used for. If you want to remove acne, replace skies, or make some fun photo effects, then you want to get Affinity Photo.
You can easily remove blemishes and retouch skin in Affinity Photo.
This sky replacement is a good introduction into composite photography.
By following the steps in this video, you can put any image inside of a lightbulb.
This clone effect lets you have a bunch of friends that look just like you!
On the other hand, if you’re someone that’s less interested in photography, and more interested in creating custom art from scratch, then Affinity Designer is the choice for you.
You can’t help but let this adorable cactus put a smile on your face.
This gorgeous floral design helps you learn the basics of opacity and gradients.
There’s nothing fishy about this cute fish design.
Making logos like this beautiful diamond is easy in Affinity Designer.
You can design and shade your own flat design character, too.
Other Uses
Affinity Photo is also used for digital painting, making panoramas and HDR images, as well as developing RAW images taken from a DSLR camera.
On the other hand, Affinity Designer is great for preparing small items for print (like business cards) as well as making mockups of websites and apps.
The confusing part is that both programs blur the edges, and have a few tools that overlap with each other.
Affinity Designer can do basic photo edits, and Affinity Photo can be used to design simple graphics. But just because you can do these things in each program, that does not make them the right tool for the job.
If you’re still not sure which one is right for you though, both Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo have a free trial, so you can test them out before buying anything. Yay for free trials!
