Do you find the process of creating seamless patterns in Affinity Designer time consuming? Do you wish you had more time to create? This is the class for you! Discover quick and efficient techniques for creating seamless repeat patterns using Affinity Photo and Designer with Tracey Capone, a professional artist, designer, and teacher.

This class will guide you through the efficient use of built-in tools in Affinity Photo and the rest of the suite, making the pattern creation process easier and faster, regardless of whether you are working in flat vectors.

Elevate your basic pattern creation skills and save time to produce more patterns using the expert tips and tricks provided in this course!

Hello everyone, and welcome to class!

I believe in learning as much as possible about the apps we use, so we can make them work better for us. In this class, I’ll show you how to use tools built in to Affinity Photo that can make the process of creating patterns quicker and more efficient, even if you're using flat vector motifs from Affinity Designer.

As designers, working more efficiently, and effectively, with the tools at our disposal, means more time for the creative side. If you want to up your pattern game in Affinity Designer, and give yourself the gift of more creative time, come join me in class!

How to save and link vector Assets, so that you can easily access them in any application, no exporting and importing necessary.
How to maintain the infinite scalability of your flat vectors in Affinity Photo. You get the benefit of using Designer, and all of it’s vector tools and using Photo’s built in efficiency tools to complete the pattern making process in less time, without losing the flexibility of working with vectors.
How to create reusable Pattern templates which save all user settings such as size, grids and guides, symbols, and more, and can be used in any Affinity app, both desktop and iPad.
The benefits of using StudioLink, in both the desktop and iPad apps, which will allow you to seamlessly jump between apps, with a single click.
How to use the Pattern Layer tools in Affinity Photo to sketch out, and preview, a seamless pattern before you build it, and use it to check for any issues before export.

About macros in Affinity Photo… what they are, and how to create, and use, them to automate the more manual, and repetitive aspects of the pattern process in Affinity, and make them more efficiently. (Please note: Macro creation is only available in the desktop version of Affinity Photo, but they can be imported in to, and used, in both the iPad and desktop version)
How to use Pattern Layer in Affinity Photo to test your basic repeat at various sizes, quickly and easily. (you can use this for any pattern you create, not just those created in Designer or Photo!)
How to use Pattern Layer in Affinity Photo to quickly and easily scale your patterns to multiple sizes for Spoonflower and other sites. I'll also show you how to change the dpi of your pattern tile in Photo, for different sites, so that you don’t lose quality.
I’ll also show you a really handy way you can preview your seamless patterns in Affinity Designer, at any size, without leaving the app. (WITHOUT the white lines! :))
As a bonus, I'll show you how to use macros I provided to quickly, and easily, test your half drop repeats in Photo... no manual duplication and tiling needed!

Affinity Photo & Designer *
an iPad or PC **
A set of your favorite motifs. (optional)
- The class will not be focused on motif creation but rather technical tools built in to the Affinity suite. I will be using simple shapes to demonstrate, however you're welcome to use your own motifs to follow along, if you prefer.

A couple quick notes:

StudioLink requires Affinity Publisher. If you plan to follow that part of the lesson, you will need all three apps. For iPad users, StudioLink is only available in V2 of the app, not V1 (it is available in both version 1 and 2 of desktop)

** With the exception of the lessons about creating macros (only available in desktop), I will be using V2 of the iPad apps. You are welcome to use the desktop version for the entire process, as the process is the same, so long as you know where the tools are located.

This class is about how to take the basic pattern making process in Affinity and make it more efficient. This class is not intended for beginner's to the surface pattern design process in Designer as tt will not cover setting up the pattern preview, creating, and proper placement of motifs, or how to create a pattern or collection in Affinity.

The class is intended for intermediate to advanced students who have experience in, and a firm understanding of, creating patterns in Affinity including the basic process with symbols, vector tools, and more. We will be taking that basic process and applying efficiency hacks to it to make it more efficient, therefore an understanding of the base process is a must.

For those who don't have the desktop version of Affinity Photo, to create the macros, I have you covered. I will be providing you with all of the pattern macros (both basic and half drop repeats) we will be creating. These can be used in either the iPad or desktop app.

You’ll also receive a bonus set of Half Drop Repeat Pattern Testing macros that help you quickly, and easily, take a single pattern swatch and tile it in to a half drop repeat.

Hi there! I'm Tracey. I'm an illustrator, designer, and photographer located in the Chicagoland area. You can find more information about me, and my work in my full profile. (find the link above) I've been a full time artist for over a decade, after leaving the corporate world behind in 2011. In addition to teaching, I am a full time creator who sells my work on my own site, as well as print on demand sites like Spoonflower, Society6 and more.

I have been using Affinity products for the last several years and have had the privilege of being spotlighted by Serif, the company who created the app, twice as a go to teacher for their apps. You can find the spotlights here and here.

If you have any questions about the class, or would like feedback on your project, please feel free to let me know in the Discussion section of class, or by emailing me at hello@traceycapone.com.

I look forward to seeing you in class!

Birgitt Roch

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