Some of y'all may know about this already. And for those who don't, some of y'all will want to know about this...
Affinity Studio
tl:dr = it's the equivalent of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign all in one. And it's FREE. no catches.
I haven't done alot of photo/design stuff over the years. And when looking to do a bit a while ago, knowing Adobe Photoshop was the standard, I was quickly turned off by the subscription model. I recall a time where you used to be able to buy it outright for $100... so when I saw the price at $20 or $30 per month... no thanks.
Then last year, I stumbled across some sorta drama in the space. I clearly wasn't the only one unhappy with Adobe's pricing policies, and Affinity took advantage of some fiasco with Adobe to launch a killer sale of their Photo 2, Designer 2, and Publisher 2 bundle for a hundred bucks. Recognizing the value, I pulled the trigger and bought it. Had no plans of using regularly, but knew I would at some point - and far preferred to own outright rather than pay a ridiculous monthly fee for something I'd only use occasionally.
And in October, Affinity made an announcement that something new was coming.
Rumors stirred. Anticipation built.
And then came the news: Affinity Studio - all 3 programs now integrated into one. For free.
With no catches.
No data harvesting. No "you are the product if you're not paying" dynamics, as many skeptically suspected. Simply a different business philosophy & strategy: give everyone professional tools to make art - attracting in users from Adobe's ecosystem, with trust that upsells of Canva's pro AI features will balance things out.
While Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign still may have some unique features that Affinity doesn't, for all intensive purposes, they're pretty much the same. And unless you're a top pro doing something highly unique with some vary rare technique that can only be done exclusively with some Adobe feature, Affinity is just as damn good.
So IF you've been using Adobe but haven't loved the monthly subscription costs, it's well-worth checking out Affinity to see if it'd work as a replacement.
And if you haven't been using Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign because the cost has been a turnoff, you can download Affinity for free (on Mac, Windows and iOS) and do all the same stuff with it.
And if you've never even really considered using such software before but are curious to expand your creative explorations & activities, I'd definitely recommend Affinity...
😎✨