Affinity Designer Problems & Issues

Unlike Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer lacks a built-in image trace or auto-trace feature to convert raster images to vectors. This has been a top requested feature for years. Users must rely on third-party tools like Imag-R or manually trace with the Pen Tool, adding significant time to workflows that require bitmap-to-vector conversion.

Despite being marketed as a vector tool, the 'vector' brushes in Affinity Designer are actually pixel-based. This breaks pure vector workflows and causes issues when exporting to PDF or SVG formats. Users expecting true vector brushes like in Illustrator are disappointed to find rasterized output.

New users find the interface confusing, particularly those without prior vector editing experience. The software lacks comprehensive onboarding, and users report the official documentation and forum are poorly organized. Color settings and layer management work differently than Adobe products, causing frustration for those transitioning.

Unlike Illustrator, Affinity Designer does not support third-party plugins or extensions. Users cannot add functionality like advanced grid systems, specialized export tools, or workflow automation. This limits the software's extensibility and forces users to work within its fixed feature set.

Users cannot merge multiple vector objects into a single layer in the way Adobe Illustrator allows. This limitation complicates organization when working with complex artwork that has many individual vector elements, forcing workarounds that add steps to the workflow.

Working with artboard layers is difficult compared to Illustrator. The layer system doesn't behave as users expect, and navigating between artboards with multiple layers becomes cumbersome. Users switching from Adobe products find this particularly frustrating.

Unlike many competitors, Affinity Designer doesn't include a built-in library of templates, shapes, or starter assets. Users must create everything from scratch or import external resources, adding setup time for new projects.

Users report persistent issues with SVG and PDF exports. Exported SVGs often have incorrect dimensions requiring manual resizing, and PDFs with gradients or embedded SVGs render inconsistently across different applications. Export settings don't maintain consistency between sessions, forcing users to reconfigure each time.

Windows users report more crashes than Mac users, often when opening, importing, or creating new documents. Issues are frequently tied to graphics card driver conflicts. Users must manually disable hardware acceleration or update GPU drivers to stabilize the application, which isn't obvious to most users.

Users report strange intermittent bugs where background windows somehow receive focus and commands. Various 'little' interface oddities accumulate to create a frustrating experience. Tools occasionally stop responding until the application is restarted.

Performance degrades significantly when working with complex vector artwork or large file sizes. Users with high-end computers report sluggishness, especially when using effects like blur. The software has memory management issues that cause lag even on systems exceeding minimum requirements.

Affinity Designer cannot export files in native Adobe Illustrator (.ai) format, complicating collaboration with teams and clients who use Adobe products. While it can open AI files, the inability to save back in this format creates workflow friction in professional environments where AI files are the standard.

The iPad version suffers from gesture recognition issues. Holding the iPad while drawing frequently triggers unintended gestures. Some useful workarounds from v1, like selecting multiple layers by sliding, were removed in v2. Processing complex vectors or exports can cause noticeable lag.

After Canva's acquisition and the shift to a freemium model, some users worry their projects could be used for machine learning purposes. The integration with Canva's AI ecosystem has raised privacy concerns, though Canva states projects remain private unless explicitly shared.

The software update process requires downloading a new installer rather than updating from within the app. Users find this inconvenient compared to applications with built-in auto-update functionality, particularly frustrating for those managing multiple machines.