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the tutorials, it includes a set of pull-out cards on heavy stock, providing keyboard shortcuts for Desiger’s various “personas” (draw, pixel, and export), plus other reference information. Designer Workbook covers everything you need to get up and running, including such topics as transparency, booleans, effects, masking, vector painting, brushes, and more. Going beyond the routine approach of creating the elements of a campaign, it also provides bankable advice on how to work with clients, and how to design for the demographic and for the client’s tastes. This can be very handy for the beginner. Observations The styles of the projects include the jelly bean Sponge Bob and the electric eye-fryer schools of illustration, as well as more refined, contemporary looks; all of which are supported by downloadable project files. Will filling a shape with jarring diagonal lines win you any commissions? Probably not, but by methodically going through every step of each of the tutorials you will learn a great deal. As for UI design, you may not be planning to create any mobile apps, but the skills are transferable for such projects as web design. Speaking of UI, Affinity has recently released a UI kit, which is a free download for Designer owners and it provides a ton of content for various projects. Being is a hardback book, it can slide off your lap as you are working and its stiffer spine requires something to hold the pages open when it is on your desk. Also, the satin gloss stock makes it hard to read under bright overhead lighting. These issues are obviously minor. As fro the content, we did find a couple of small errors in the content, but it only takes a moment to figure things out. Conclusions This book provides a solid foundation for developing more advanced skills. Despite my years as a design pro, when I first launched Designer, I did not accomplishing much by trying to guess my way through. The Affinity Designer Workbook the thing that turned the lights on for me, which makes this an easy thumbs-up. Considering the remarkably low price of the app, buying the Workbook at the same time is a no-brainer. The general nature of the content gives the book a good shelf life and chances are that copies will pass through a number of hands, which would justify the hardback approach. This book was designed to create confident, productive and enthusiastic users of Affinity Designer, and it accomplishes exactly that. Designer is a serious and powerful app, and it is ahead of the competition in many ways. Considering how advanced things are at version 1.5, chances are that many pros who will be switching to Designer over the coming years, and Affinity Designer Workbook is the fastest way to get up to speed. Now that I have gone through this book from cover-to-cover, I find myself looking forward to Affinity producing a similar publication for Affinity Photo. I’ll be fighting to be first in line. –––––––––––––––––––––– Title: Affinity Designer Workbook From: Serif (https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/) Price: $39.99 (introductory discount) Pros: Covers all the basics plus client-oriented and UI content; high production value Cons: Hardback format, glossy pages Rating: 4 stars out of 5