Totally disagree with you. Sorry.
All apps require learning. It involves time, effort and practice, be it Photoshop or MS Word. The same is true for affinity. There are videos, books and website help. Anyone wanting the best out of the app will use those resources.
That could very well be. I was using Photoshop Elements for a few years but I haven’t used it for the last maybe 8-10 years. I have it now and quite frankly it did take some getting used to but I was never anywhere near completely lost.
PSE use to be easy, very intuitive for me. But it has changed a lot. However, it is based on Photoshop so your contention makes total sense.
You know, people learn differently and we all come to an app with different experiential backgrounds. Complicated by one day I may be able to conjugate a verb perfectly and another day I am stuttering. (That actually happened to me down in Mexico, I was dead tired from traveling and the language school we were enrolled in decided to test us before we even got settled. I was making up my own variations. LOL!!! It was something I knew well too.)
I shouldn’t have said it was easy because thinking about it I am relatively certain it is not. But I was able to just start and I enjoyed it. It was being held up as the comparative standard and I looked into it and was rather stunned how well I took to it. However, compared to Affinity Photoshop I found to be far more self-explanatory whereas Affinity sure wasn’t for me.
One main reason I love the Mac and Apple products are that they are designed NOT to make matters confusing. I guess I expected the same out of Affinity. I did download it again and figured out finally how to open a photo!
It brings to mind Scrivener which is an advanced app but you can just go ahead and start writing and learn as you go. That is what I expected out of Affinity Photo and I was pretty much stumped at the starting gate.
In all fairness, I did not even spend much time in Photoshop but I intuitively could find my way around and I was a wee bit proud of myself (after feeling like a big dope). Who wants to be involved in an app that is a drag?
So, yes, I definitely think your point of view makes total sense. And do you mind if I go to you for help when I get stumped in Photoshop? (I’m serious!) I am not too keen on spending $10/month but if it goes well maybe that’s exactly what I ought to do. We’ll see.
Thanks!
You obviously didn’t read all that I wrote (a lot) so I doubt you totally disagree with me. I love reading manuals. It use to be a little hobby of mine. I believe in learning- teacher here.
I do not think that it should be so difficult to use. I suspect someone was asleep at the wheel but that is conjecture. But I don’t think you should open up a new app and not have a clue how to do anything with it as it is that confusing.
You buy it, download it, open it and fool around with it. THEN you go do your homework. The help belongs in the app… enough so you can navigate albeit on an elementary level.
I don’t think it is. There are many users who use it quite happily. If they can do it, it must be possible. We all have the same resources available.
I think they may have intended the app to be for an advanced clientele but the reality is that it is a popular app much of it due to its price. That is why I bought it. And I would at least consider myself to be an intermediate but I was totally stifled. Every time I opened the darn thing I got nowhere.
I think your project’s problems when you tried to improve or simplify the project has something to do with human nature. Many people don’t like change. No matter how dissatisfied they might be they fear something is going to be taken away from them. And, indeed, it does involve risk which is a great point.
It is just quite unfortunate that they didn’t give your renovations and streamlining a chance. That really had to be quite discouraging, especially since you likely knew you were on the right track! After all that dedicated thought, planning and work! They could have at least tried it out.
Sorry to disagree again. Although price is a factor, the drawing power of Affinity is that I can do what I need done. Sales would stall if no-one managed to actually be able to use the app. It’s popularity is that people are doing what they were doing with Photoshop or some other app and achieving great results.
The thing I’m struggling with here is that you’re portraying the app as complex, impossible to use, poorly designed and unusable. Here I completely disagree. The app is used by many people who would class themselves as average users.
I found Affinity Photo easy to use, to the level that I use it which is not advanced at all. However I bought the Affinity Photo Workbook and now find the interface confusing. I don’t know where in the interface to look for any specific operation while working through the book. So I’m going to blame the book over the app! The app now seems disorganized, but maybe it was just presented wrong.
Since I managed to get the $25 price, I actually have all three but haven’t used Designer and Publisher (nor did I use Illustrator or inDesign). But I can imagine using them.
Agreed with the consensus that Affinity is great for casual use. Not a professional but I would think lack of interoperability with Adobe would stop you from using Affinity if you were a pro designer.
Also, I found Affinity Designer super intuitive (use it on a weekly basis) and Affinity Photo intuitive enough (only used it a few times for super basic things). I think it should be easy to figure out with a couple “how to do X” searches, no?
Good idea. (It has also been suggested to look inside the app.) That is great advice for most any app. I do often do so.
When I download it again in a few months, I’ll make more of a concerted effort to look elsewhere for assistance which I generally do. Sometimes it is easier just to do a search outside the app itself. It may be a diamond in the rough but I got plenty hung up at the starting gate. (Am I mixing my metaphors, perchance? That does sound peculiar.)
But for sure I will try again as it has so many aficionados here and I certainly respect the pov’s of the MacPowerUsers.
Yeah, for sure! I usually find that explanations from a passionate user are often better than explanations from the developer, if only because writing documentation is hard and devs are so used to their software that it becomes hard to explain.
That being said, there is definitely software that I haven’t clicked with either although I know many other people love it.
Thank you so much!!!
I have a number of apps that have taken me a while to master. I’ve found a few of things helpful.
Make the app your daily driver, force yourself to use the app to do what you need done. This is very time consuming, very frustrating, makes you very angry, but gives you the fastest learning curve.
If the above is not possible use the app until you reach frustration point and then put it away for a while. Then keep repeating the process. I’ve found the mind still processes whilst not using the app and when I return some things just seem to click. I’ve dumped apps in frustration only to pick them up a year later and find I’ve past the block.
Finally, find a good community where you can ask questions. I don’t particularly like Affinity’s choice of forum software, but there’s plenty of help. The Affinity website also has a helpful Learn Section that may prove useful to you.
That’s very nice of you! Thank you!
I really like the Affinity apps. I use Photo and Designer. Honestly, I like the UI more than Photoshop or Ilustrator and it is a relief not to have to pay each month.
I got kicked out of the Adobe universe because the price was too high for me. I am happy with Affinity Photo & Designer.
To answer your question
Awesome