Affinity Publisher

For the price and function, this suite should be the go-to for organizations large and small. Serif has executed a competent product [that] can replace the function of the Adobe systems for most users at a fraction of the cost. The knowledge base, particularly the video side, is incredibly useful and complete.

I think it's good for newletter-type layouts with multiple text boxes and mixed images and graphics and text. It is not good for mixed text and mathematics.

If you are looking to get started using a publishing / creation application, Affinity Publisher is the one to go for. With a quick learning curve on all the basic functions, you'll be flying in no time. And then there is a whole heap of great features to get into as you become more comfortable with the software. The only down side is if clients are using Adobe programs, there are sometimes problems working with imported layers, but this is minor compared to the ease of use and features.

Honestly, I thought our department would use this more for creating documentation for our staff and doing some mock-ups and layouts to envision future projects. I also run the social media for us, and I didn't expect to come to rely on Publisher for some of my social media layouts. There are other apps and subscription services that can streamline some social media posts, but with a bit of usage I've come to like using Publisher, as well.

We had a few small growing pains in the transition from Adobe InDesign, but Finance is happy about the cost savings, and now we're fully on board with Affinity Publisher. We use it for all of our print design work, save for a single designer who pays for their own version of Sketch because that is their tool of choice. Other software (also made by Affinity) is better for working on web graphics (Affinity Designer) or photo manipulation (Affinity Photo). Still, for print, this is a no brainer for our org for several reasons mentioned above.

Our team typically uses other online resources instead of contacting developers/manufacturers for support. That being said, there is a forum and a growing, vibrant community of users available to answer questions and "make the switch." A simple "whatever function we used to use in Adobe InDesign," followed by "Affinity," usually gets us on the right track to an answer. YouTube and their forums are our team's go-to sources for help.

Affinity Publisher really shines by allowing our organization to create large (in pages) documents that are easy to layout, adjust content, and eventually print via ourselves or an outside source. We love Affinity's cost and the ability to interwork with other Affinity programs. The only issues we wish weren't present is Affinity Publisher cannot currently open InDesign files from our previous Adobe CC use.

So far, when we've needed support, it has been top tier. However, I rate it an 8 because sometimes searching for things within the application hasn't yielded answers I've hoped for, so I've had to turn to YouTube or other outside sources. Thankfully there's a fantastic community that surrounds Affinity and their various apps that's been quite beneficial.