Overview
Affinity Designer is the vector application that also draws pixels, and switching between the two is a click rather than a different program. A logo can be built as clean curves, then have a raster texture brushed straight onto it in the same document, with both halves editable afterwards. For illustration and interface work that mix is the whole reason people move to it.
The engine is the other reason. Pan and zoom stay at full frame rate on documents that would stall elsewhere, live effects and adjustments recompute as you drag a slider, and there is a full history with a non-linear undo that survives a save. Everything is non-destructive: effects, adjustments, boolean operations and masks stay editable rather than baking into the geometry.
The toolset covers what production actually needs. Unlimited artboards for a full interface or brand set in one file, a pen and node editor with proper alignment and distribution, corner tools, boolean shape operations, a grid and guide system including isometric planes, symbols that update across the document, constraints for responsive layouts, and export persona with per-slice output rules that produce every size and format in one pass.
What it does well
Vector and raster in one file
Switch between drawing curves and painting pixels inside the same document without exporting to another application.
Live everything
Effects, adjustments, blend modes and boolean operations recompute as you drag, and stay editable rather than being applied permanently.
Artboards and symbols
Unlimited artboards with symbols that propagate an edit everywhere, and constraints that keep layouts sensible when a frame resizes.
Isometric and grid work
Configurable grids including isometric planes with a fitting mode that maps flat artwork onto a plane and keeps it editable.
Export persona
Per-slice export rules with multiple formats and scales generated in one pass, updating automatically when the artwork changes.
Changes in this build
- Vector warp added with editable mesh and envelope modes.
- Shape builder tool for combining and subtracting regions by dragging across them.
- Better import of layered documents written by other design applications.
- Export persona gained format presets that can be shared between documents.
- Performance improved on documents with several hundred artboards.
What is in the package
- Affinity Designer installer, 64-bit
- Vector, pixel and export personas
- Brush, texture and asset libraries
- Document templates for print and screen
- Multilingual interface files, 12 languages
System requirements
| Processor | Intel or AMD 64-bit with SSE 4.2 |
| Memory | 4 GB minimum, 16 GB recommended for large documents |
| Graphics | GPU with DirectX 12 support and 2 GB VRAM |
| Storage | 3 GB free |
| Display | 1280 x 768 minimum, HiDPI supported |
| System | Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit |
Installation
- Extract the archive to a local folder.
- Run setup to the default location.
- Apply the included configuration step before the first launch.
- Start the application and confirm all three personas are available.
- Turn off the update check in preferences.
Before you start
Documents from the other applications in the same family open directly, no export step needed.
The GPU renderer can be switched to software in preferences if an old card shows artefacts.
Files saved here do not open in a much older release of the same application.
Questions about this title
Can it do raster painting?
Yes, the pixel persona paints into the same document as the vector work.
Does it export multiple sizes at once?
Yes, export persona generates every slice, format and scale in one pass.
Is there an isometric mode?
Yes, with plane fitting that keeps the mapped artwork editable.
Does it open files from the big vector suites?
Common vector exchange formats import, with some effect translation.
About this listing
This entry was checked on a clean install of Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) before it was published, and it is rechecked whenever the package is rebuilt. The figures on this page come from the site index rather than from the publisher, so the download count is what people here have actually pulled.
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