The Affinity Publisher is making a tough time with its competitors, especially Adobe InDesign. Its unique attributes are filling the digital publishing space. Although it lacks certain features, the cost-effectiveness is enough to enter the market and stand against Adobe’s industry giant.
Read further and find out who is the winner in the Affinity Publisher vs. InDesign duel.
About The Affinity Publisher
Serif released the full version of Affinity Publisher in June 2019. It is running on a Mac OS and Microsoft Windows as well.
Publisher works like InDesign and is part of Serif’s product line alongside Affinity Photo. Affinity Designer makes him a powerful tool. With the use of the whole family, you can create any type of publishing media imaginable.
Affinity Publisher Making it Hard for InDesign
Tutorial Videos
The Affinity Publisher provides several tutorial videos for beginners. They help you understand the essential functions like setting a new document or adding the text etc.
Suppose you are a new user or even an advanced one. In that case, you should watch the introductory videos to utilize the program to the maximum.
I cannot merely say that Affinity Publisher is a copy of InDesign. If you are familiar with Adobe InDesign, you would probably know how to set up the master spread when designing a book or brochure.
The same feature is available in Publisher, but it works differently than in InDesign, so you have to get used to its design process.
Features And Workflow
If you are accustomed to InDesign, you will immediately see the resemblance between the two. They both have similar tools and features, but the workflow of Publisher is relatively unique, and like with every new program, it takes some time to get used to it.
If you haven’t used InDesign before, you will find Affinity Publisher smoother because it has a better UX design than InDesign, which makes you find the desired functions with ease and fewer clicks.
Use For Different Media
Affinity designer is not limited only to print media. Still, you can also use it for making online presentations e-books. If you’re a UX designer, you can neven use it for creating wireframes for apps or websites.
What About The Performance?
InDesign lacks in handling power of the workflow and is quite RAM thirsty. Especially users with slightly older computers or those who make designs on a laptop can definitely feel how much power InDesign needs for running.
InDesign Fast Display function can resolve the problem to some degree. However, you would have to complete the design without seeing the actual pixel quality, leading to a problem later on in the printing process.
On the other hand, the Publisher is quicker in handling the document. No matter what workstation you use, PC or laptop, images will remain sharp. You will not face any crushing problems, typical for InDesign.
Imitation of The Interface
To attract the users of InDesign, Publisher had to make the interface look similar to InDesign. For instance, Strokes, Swatches, and Colors are in their usual positions.
Even though the Publisher imitated some of the InDesign’s features, it improved the overall usability of a program, using the vital commands available right at your fingertips.
Asset Panel
Publisher’s assets panel is an attractive feature for many users. You can choose between different pre-made vector icons, which you can simply drag into your designs. This feature can improve and fasten your design process.
Should You Consider Switching to Affinity Publisher?
Affinity Publisher is an intelligent software to create magazines, brochures, and other print media daily. It has an impressive interface, enough capacity to deal with complicated tasks, and a unique attributes list.
It is also part of StudioLink, one of the most noteworthy things Serif has created. It enables you to alter photographs, make vectors, and create page breaks inside one application.
The best fit for Publisher would be a freelance graphic designer or small designer team. If you are one of the two, you should consider shifting from InDesign.
Despite being a new player in the publishing business, it is still a professional-grade all-in-one publication tool that will definitely suit all your needs.
On the other hand, if you work in an environment where everyone uses Adobe InDesign, switching to Affinity Publisher most likely isn’t the right choice.
The Publisher Needs Some Essential Nuts and Bolts
When the software was in sill in a Beta form, developers collected user feedback to make necessary improvements for the final version. However, some specific features are still missing, which might be pretty unfavorable for some users.
For example, if you want to make a three-fold brochure where you put together three spreads, one next to another, you can, for now, forget about it.
Another thing that you can not make with Publisher is interactive presentations. If you make a lot of those, I suggest you stick with InDesign for now because Serifs said that they are not planning to take any steps in that direction.
Farewell to Adobe InDesign?
Publisher covers print and in some way also web design, besides it’s made for both Windows and Mac operating system. You will be able to create single or multi-page documents, books, brochures, and magazines with ease. If you’re looking for processing speed, power, and flexibility, the Publisher is the ideal choice for you.
Before purchasing Publisher, be sure to check out how long your Adobe subscription lasts, so you won’t be stuck with two programs that do the same job.
Final Words: Affinity Publisher Vs Adobe InDesign
With the one-off payment of $49.99, Publisher is an excellent choice if you’re looking for an InDesign substitute, which runs at $239,88/yr. Besides being a cheaper alternative, Serif also offers free updates on all their programs.
Even though Affinity Publisher is not perfect yet, developers listen carefully to the design community. They are developing new tools that will come with future updates. Besides that, they try to make the program run as smoothly as possible without any crushes.
If you’re still on the fences, try the Publisher trial version, test it out, and it might convince you to dump InDesign for good (I know I did).
Suppose you’re interested in other Affinity products. In that case, you can also read my review about Affinity Designer vs. Adobe Illustrator here on DesignyUp.
