Hi everyone and Happy March!

I've thrown myself headlong in to creating content around the new Affinity app, including converting all the classes I had started to create in V2 to classes for V3 for desktop. (Before you ask, I don't have any info to share on the iPad version of the app; hopefully we will see that soon!)

New classes, including an Intro to Affinity class, where we'll be using the app like a pair of digital scissors and tape to create digital collages, are in the works. That, and planner and other digital tool classes are coming as soon as NEXT MONTH!

In the meantime, I wanted to share 10 tips that I hope make working in Affinity V3 more efficient for you. Because the more efficiently you create, the more time you have to create all the things!

If you have your own quick tip to share, let me know in the discussion below!

One of my favorite new features in Affinity is the ability to create customized studios.

The first time you open the app, you will see four built in studios: Vector, Pixel, Layout, and Canva AI. You can use those as is, edit them, or create your own. If you don't want to use the built in studios, just click the three dots next to the studios and toggle them off!

Creating your own studios means you can create the space you need, without unnecessary tools and panels taking up space. Best of all, you can mix and match tools: vector, pixel and layout, you aren't held to a particular type.

In the example above, I'm switching back and forth between my main studio, which houses a mix of my favorite tools and panels from the vector, pixel and layout studios, and a custom studio I set up just for creating anchors and hyperlinks in a planner, notebook or other digital tool.

(Pro tip - A studio doesn't need to be toggled on to use it. Just open the menu under the three dots, click on the name and the studio will open without taking space on your contextual menu!)

Want to know more about setting up your own studios? Find my quick tutorial dedicated to just that, here on YouTube.

Quick Export allows you to export a single selection, a group of objects, or a full document, quickly with the click of a button, rather than going through the full export process or heading in to the Slice studio.

This is perfect when you're creating things like digital stickers or transparent PNGs that you want to export as a one off. I use this to quickly export digital stickers I've create, shapes I want to turn in to custom frames in Canva, and more.

A few things to note:

The Quick Export button can be added to any studio, whether built in or a custom studio you create.
When you click the carat next to the export button, you will be able to set your export parameters, choose a different format, adjust the resolution of your export and more.
While three formats show by default, you can add or remove formats by clicking the plus sign in the settings.
Quick Export remembers your the settings used last and will continue to use those settings until you adjust them. So all you need to do is select your object and click on the Export button.
In addition to the usual formats (png, jpeg and SVG) you can also export a design directly in to Canva with the layers in tact.

Symbols aren't just an efficient way to create surface pattern designs, they're an extremely useful tool for making quick changes to multiple objects without having to start over again, or adjust each individual object.

I use symbols when I'm creating things like binder rings for digital planners, which I save in my assets panel (stay tuned, that's an upcoming quick tip)

In this example, I turned a single binder ring in to a symbol and saved it to my assets. When I pulled it in, I duplicated it, and that created multiple copies of that single symbol.

Because these are duplicated symbols, when I changed my mind on the color and size, I didn't have to start all over again. All I had to do is open one instance of the symbol, select the part of the ring I wanted to change, in this case, the color and the size, and those changes apply to all.

You can create a symbol out of a single layer, or a group of layers (just make sure you group them first!) by going to Vector and choosing Create Symbol, using the assigned shortcut, or by choosing "Create" in the Symbols panel.

I think we can all agree keyboard shortcuts are a definite time saver but, did you know that, in Affinity, you can create your OWN keyboard shortcuts if one isn't already assigned? Even better, you can create shortcuts specific to a custom studio.

To access the shortcuts, either go to Affinity at the top of the screen and choose Settings or, with the Move tool selected, deselect any objects and you should see App Settings in the contextual menu. Click to open and find "Shortcuts."

A few tips for this dialog box:

You can filter your search using the drop down boxes at the top.
If the box next to a tool is blank, it means nothing is assigned, and you can assign it yourself.
If you choose a shortcut that's already been assigned to another tool, you'll get an error message so don't worry about cancelling anything out.
If you want the shortcut to apply to the tool in all studios, leave "Apply to all" checked. If not, toggle it off and it will be specific to the studio you're in.

Have a bunch of objects, or images, that you want to make the same size, either width, height, or both? There is a quick and easy way to do it!

Let's say I want all three of these mushroom images to be the same width as the one on the right.

Here's how to do that with the click of a button:

Select all of your objects or images.
To designate a key object (the one you'll base the final output on), Alt/Option click on the object until you see a bold blue line around it.
Under Alignment options in the toolbar (standard in the Vector and Layout studios, but can be added to any studio), you will see "Make Same" at the bottom.
Click on width or height and toggle on Maintain Aspect Ratio. This will size all objects or images to the same width or height, while maintaining their original ratio.
You can also click on both width and height to override the aspect ratio.
Make same also works to rotate multiple objects or images to the same degree.

The pasteboard is the area behind your canvas. Right click on it to quickly change the color of your pasteboard or toggle on/off grids, guides, margins and other settings.

Templates are, hands down, one of my favorite time savers. Whether you're creating mockups, digital planners, branding packages or anything else you'll use over and over, templates are an efficient way to reuse designs without overriding existing ones.

The beauty of templates is that they save all of your layers, effects, text styles, margins and other settings and creates a fresh copy whenever you open it. You can access templates from your home screen (pull in your templates by clicking on the plus sign at the top left).

In this example, you can see that I'm opening a mockup I created, adding a design, then opening a fresh, new template so I can add a different one. All the while, my original template is left untouched so there is no worry about overriding anything I've already created.

Want to know how I created the mockup template above? Find this, and a beginner friendly tutorial on creating surface pattern design mockups from images here on my YouTube channel.

Did you know that you can clip layers using any object you create in Affinity as well as transparent PNG images with clipping masks? You can even clip images with other images!

This makes quick work of creating just about any shape you can imagine. I use it to create realistic digital tape and paper for stickers for planners and notebooks.

Here, I'm taking a piece of torn cardboard I scanned in and turning a piece of digital paper I created, using tables and a vector rectangle, in to a piece of torn paper.

To create a clipping mask:

Import, or create, the object you want to clip with.
If you're using an image like the one above, make sure it's a transparent PNG.
Drag the clipping object in to the other objects layer and hover over the thumbnail on the left.
When you see the thumbnail light up, release and you've got your clipped shape!
This is a non destructive mask, so you can easily move the mask, but toggling on Lock Children in the contextual menu of the layer you just clipped.

The assets panel is the perfect place to save objects you're going to use time and time again. It saves you the hassle of having to remake like objects over and over again.

Assets will maintain any effects you add to them. You can even save symbols as assets. I've created asset packs for my mockups, my surface pattern designs and, even a planner kit so that I don't need to recreate the same designs more than once.

A few notes:

I don't recommend saving assets with a ton of raster texture because you will potentially cause lag with the app or, even worse, run the risk of having the assets panel crash out and lose everything you saved. Some is fine, a lot is not a great idea!
Groups of symbols don't do well when bringing them back in to another document. Instead of working as one symbol, they come in from the assets panel as individual symbols. For that reason, I recommend only saving ONE instance of a symbol, rather than a group.
You can rename assets on the desktop version of the app. This is handy when you hover over the asset as you'll get a pop up with the name.
You can change the background color of your assets panel, if you find some of your assets are difficult to see. Click on the drop down carat at the top right of the panel and choose Background.

Speaking of saving assets, let's move on to the final tip...

Text styles are handy when you want text to look consistent throughout a document.

For example, I use text styles in digital planners when I want particular fonts applied to large and medium headers, my calendar grids, and other text frames.

The problem? Text Styles are not application wide, they're document specific. While you can pull an existing document in to apply the text styles in that document to your current, there is a MUCH easier way: saving text styles as assets.

Saving text styles as assets allows you to save groups of text styles, whether from the same family or a mix of fonts, and pull them in whenever you need them. Pulling the group of text styles in from assets essentially tricks Affinity in to thinking they were used in the document. Sneaky right?

In this example, I pulled a font trio I grouped and saved in from Assets long enough to have it apply to the document, then deleted it. Then I used those saved text styles to add the styles quickly, and efficiently, to my Year at a Glance calendar.

Want to learn how to save groups of text styles in Affinity? Check out my full tutorial here on YouTube. Heads up, I have a full tutorial on how to create that Year at a Glance calendar using data merge and saved text styles coming up on my YT channel so stay tuned!

Have you tried out the new Affinity app yet? If so, what do you think?

Is there a particular topic you would like to learn more about? Let me know in the discussion below.

Many thanks to everyone for being a part of my teaching journey. I love sharing knowledge, and I appreciate every one for being here!

Happy Creating!

--

--