Tagged: designer
Has the Adobe Illustrator “killer” finally arrived?
Tomorrow marks an important day for long-time Windows developer, Serif. They’re launching Affinity Designer, their first foray into Mac software. And they’ve set their sites on one of the largest and most important Mac developers in the world: Adobe.
Affinity Designer is a vector art design tool rivaling Adobe Illustrator in the same way that Pixelmator is an alternative app to Adobe’s Photoshop. Which is to say, it’s the real deal.
I’ve been using Affinity Designer on and off for the last month or so and I must say that I’m extremely impressed. With a price tag of only $40 (special price until October 9th), and a most-impressive feature set, I’m betting that it will find a home on quite a few Macs.
Affinity Designer can import AI, PSD, PDF, and SVG files, and save/export as EPS, TIF, JPG, PNG, GIF, PSD, and PDF. It also offers both RGB and CMYK color modes, including 16-bit color support.
All the tools you would expect can be found, and are easy to use. And the app fully supports Apple’s iCloud, Spaces and Full Screen mode. Some pretty cool features include the ability to use pixel-tools to your vector art and have it remain editable. And the best part, Affinity Designer is fast. Really fast.
If you’ve used Pixelmator, you’ve no doubt come to believe that there actually IS a true replacement for Photoshop. I’m here to tell you that as of tomorrow, there will be a real replacement for Adobe’s Illustrator as well. And rumor has it, they’re working on a page-layout app to compete with InDesign.
Now I’m not a fool. I don’t expect designers everywhere to suddenly dump their investment in Adobe software. But true professional-grade alternatives are out there. Watch out Adobe… you’ve been king of the hill for a long time, but the competition is heating up.
Avoiding daily distractions
Being a designer requires more knowledge, experience and dedication than ever. Gone are the days of “specializing” in one area of design or the other; you have to work in print, Web and multi-media – all demanding more of your valuable time. Freelancers in particular generally have enough work to fill their day without figuring in time for distractions. I spent the last nine months freelancing, and was lucky enough to have enough work to fill my day. I was also spending some of my time each day searching for a full-time gig, so my time had to be managed well. It took a while, but I found a decent balance after about a month of trying different things. Below are a few of those things that gave me more time to focus on my design and writing, job searching, and even a bit of time for me to sit back and relax a little each day, go for a bike ride, or leisurely surf the Web. Read on to see what worked for me. (more…)