Affinity Designer (Vector Studio) – Introduction Course
Learn the essentials of vector design with a clear, practical introduction to Affinity Designer (Vector Studio). This beginner‑friendly session shows you how to create clean, scalable artwork using the core vector tools you’ll rely on every day.
It’s ideal if you’re new to Affinity, moving across from Adobe Illustrator, or finally ready to understand vector graphics without the overwhelm.
Virtual Online Affinity Training | Onsite Affinity Courses
What you’ll learn in this session
This intro session gives you a clear, solid foundation in vector design. You’ll learn how Affinity Designer actually works so you can create professional artwork with ease.
We remove the confusion around shapes, curves, colour and layers, and replace it with a workflow that feels logical, manageable and confidence‑building.
Whether you’re brand new to design or switching from Adobe Illustrator, this course helps you build skills quickly and sets you up for more advanced Affinity Designer training when you’re ready.
What you'll create during this session
Clean, scalable icons built from simple shapes and curves
A small illustration using the Pen Tool and node editing
A tidy, layered mini‑layout such as a flyer or infographic
A set of reusable vector assets you can adapt for future projects
A finished graphic exported correctly for print, web or social media
Quick Tip, did you know? A Little Vector Background
If you’re completely new to vector graphics, a little background goes a long way. Understanding how Bézier curves work helps you draw smoother shapes, edit paths with confidence and get far better results from the Pen Tool.
The tool itself is named after Pierre Bézier, a French engineer who developed the mathematical curves used in modern vector drawing. His work forms the foundation of how paths, nodes and handles behave in Affinity Designer and in almost every vector application used today.
If you’re curious, Wikipedia has a great overview of Bézier’s work and how his curve system became the backbone of digital illustration.
Who is it for
This Affinity Designer course is ideal for anyone who wants to create clean, professional vector artwork without feeling overwhelmed by tools or terminology. It’s designed for complete beginners through to self‑taught users who want to build confidence, improve accuracy and understand how vector drawing really works.
It’s perfect for:
Marketing teams creating icons, graphics, social media assets and branded visuals
Designers and illustrators moving from Adobe Illustrator or starting fresh with Affinity
Educators and students learning vector graphics for coursework or teaching
Small businesses producing their own logos, diagrams and promotional artwork
Photographers and creatives who want to add vector elements to their projects
Anyone who struggles with the Pen Tool and wants smoother, cleaner results
Whether you’re completely new to vector graphics or looking to refine your existing skills, this course gives you the practical foundations you need to work confidently in Affinity Designer.
Affinity Designer Course Overview
This Affinity Designer course gives you a clear, practical introduction to vector graphics and digital illustration. You’ll learn how to draw clean shapes, work confidently with nodes and curves, and create professional artwork using Designer’s powerful tools. Everything is taught step‑by‑step, with plenty of guided practice and real‑world examples.
The course is suitable for complete beginners as well as self‑taught users who want to improve accuracy, understand the Pen Tool properly and build confidence with vector workflows. By the end of the session, you’ll be able to create icons, graphics, illustrations and branded artwork using clean, editable vector shapes.
What you'll learn
This Affinity Designer course gives you a clear, practical introduction to vector graphics and digital illustration. You’ll learn how to draw clean shapes, work confidently with nodes and curves, and create professional artwork using Designer’s powerful tools. Everything is taught step‑by‑step, with guided practice and real‑world examples.
You’ll learn how to:
Draw clean, accurate shapes using the Pen Tool, Pencil Tool and Shape Tools
Understand nodes, handles and Bézier curves for smooth, controlled paths
Edit and refine vector artwork with precision using the Node Tool
Work with colour, gradients, swatches and brand palettes
Build icons, diagrams, illustrations and branded graphics
Use layers, groups and constraints for organised, editable artwork
Combine shapes using Boolean operations (Add, Subtract, Intersect, Divide)
Create reusable assets, symbols and styles for faster workflows
Work with text, typography and vector‑based layout elements
Use StudioLink to switch seamlessly into Photo or Publisher
Export clean, professional artwork for print, web and digital use
This course focuses on practical vector workflows rather than theory, helping you build confidence quickly and produce artwork that looks clean, modern and professional.
How Affinity Designer Training works, Onsite and Online Courses
Affinity Designer training is available either onsite at your premises or as a live online course, giving you complete flexibility in how you learn. Both formats are fully instructor‑led, practical and tailored to your documents, workflows and experience level.
Onsite Serif Affinity Training
Onsite Affinity Designer courses are delivered at your premises across the Midlands and wider UK. This option is ideal for teams who want hands‑on, face‑to‑face training using their own graphics, brand assets and real‑world projects. All examples and exercises are provided, and sessions can be customised for marketing teams, designers, educators or small businesses.
Online Training (UK & Worldwide)
Online Affinity Designer courses are delivered live via Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet. These sessions are interactive, practical and run exactly like an onsite course — with screen‑sharing, demonstrations, guided exercises and plenty of time for questions. Online training is ideal for individuals, remote teams or organisations who prefer flexible scheduling.
Intro Course with flexible content
This is an introductory Affinity Designer course, but there is still flexibility to tailor the session to your graphics, brand assets or workflow. You can bring your own icons, diagrams or simple illustrations to work on during the training, making the course immediately relevant without overwhelming beginners.
Bespoke Designer Training also available
If you need deeper or fully customised content, such as branding workflows, advanced vector illustration or reusable design systems bespoke Affinity Designer training is available. This option is ideal for organisations with specific projects, brand requirements or advanced design goals.
Related Courses
Affinity Publisher Training
If you need deeper or fully customised content, such as branding workflows, advanced vector illustration or reusable design systems bespoke Affinity Designer training is available. This option is ideal for organisations with specific projects, brand requirements or advanced design goals.
⟶ View the Affinity Publisher Introduction Course
Affinity Photo Training
Learn how to edit images, retouch photographs and prepare graphics for use inside Affinity Designer.
⟶ View the Affinity Photo Introduction Course
Affinity Publisher Book Design Training
Perfect for organisations working across both Affinity and Adobe software, or anyone transitioning from Illustrator to Designer.
⟶ View the Affinity Publisher Book Design Course
Reviews for Greta Powell Training
“Thank you for coming here! It was great to listen to you and I learnt a lot. I was relieved to discover I hadn’t been using Affinity in full ‘muppet mode’ after all. I now have plenty of ideas to share with pupils to help improve their use of it too.” Miss Abigail Wickham, Head of Design & Technology, Epsom College
“Working with Greta Powell was an outstanding experience from start to finish. I began as a complete novice in Affinity Publisher, feeling daunted by the idea of creating a large, text‑heavy family history book.
Thanks to Greta’s excellent instruction, I was able to bring my project to completion, a 186‑page book containing more than 150 photos, a 50,000‑word narrative, a detailed table of contents, captions and page numbers, all laid out with professional polish.” Marnie Elmer, Author
Booking
If you’d like to book this Affinity Photo Intro Course, check dates or arrange a pre‑course meeting, you’re very welcome to get in touch. Training is available for individuals, teams, charities and not‑for‑profits, with flexible scheduling across short sprints, half‑days and full‑day sessions.
You can book or enquire using any of the options below:
Chat on WhatsApp [Click to Chat]
Response time: Usually within 15 minutes.
Email us:
Send us your team size and location for a quote within 1 business day.
Call Direct: +44 (0) 7889 761 241
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Affinity Designer FAQs
How does the Online Affinity Designer Introduction Course work?
As with all the onsite courses our Online Affinity Designer Training Courses are flexible; content can be customised to individual and group training.
The course is delivered on video software of your choice including both Zoom and Teams and is available across all time-zones.
They are delivered via live instructor in a virtual environment where you can share screens and interact with one another.
How does the Onsite Affinity Designer Introduction Course work?
Onsite Affinity Designer training is extremely flexible and can be organised for one to one sessions, company groups /workshops and larger team roll-outs
- The trainer comes directly to you
- No travel, hotels or other expenses are involved for your staff
- The course is focused on your objectives as there are no external attendees.
- Prior to the course we organise a meeting to discuss the training course
- Flexible dates and times
Who is this Affinity Designer Introduction Course for?
This is an Introduction to Designer Course is perfect for beginners or those looking for refresher training. It can be run as a one to one session or for small company groups.
Lots of people migrating from Adobe Illustrator choose this course to become familiar with Affinity’s tools and techniques
It’s a comprehensive course so ideal for anyone studying or wanting to work in vector graphics.
The course is ideal for beginners or anyone with limited skills wanting to extend their knowledge.
Over the years the course has been delivered to a wide range of areas including content creators, artworkers, marketeers, designers, product designers, fashion designers and educators.
What will you learn on this Affinity Designer Course?
On this Affinity Designer training course you’ll learn how to create, edit and retouch images for a range of different purposes including digital media, print and the web.
You will work with the interface, tools and Illustrator features to produce high quality artwork.
Our digital design courses are extremely flexible and can be tailored around you and your company so you can create artwork relevant to you.
For example you may want to change logos, colours and perspective of clothing or design high impact flyers and infographics or specialise in social media icons and logo design. It’s your choice and your Designer course.
On this Affinity Designer training you will learn how to:
- Work with Illustrator Tools, Panels & Interface
- The Illustrator AI Tools /Generative Fill /Generative Recolour
- Use Illustrator’s Selection Tools
- Create, Edit & Manipulate Geometric Shapes
- The Drawing Tools
- Use Illustrator’s Layout Tools Grids, Guides, Smart Guides
- Illustrator Type Tools
- Work with Images
- Exporting /Printing to Print & Web
The full course outline is available at the bottom of the page. We constantly update our Designer Training content to incorporate new tools and new releases.
This course often runs as part of an Affinity Course incorporating Designer, Publisher and Photo.
Find out more about the Introduction to Affinity Publisher Course
Find out more about the Introduction to Affinity Photo Course
What is Vector Artwork?
Vector artwork is a digital image created by geometric shapes and mathematical equations. It consists of lines, shapes, point which means artwork can be scaled without loss of quality.
- Use to create Vector artwork (you can find out exactly what vector artwork is here) some examples would be:
- Create logos, symbols, icons for screen, digital, print & video
- Website Mockup Design
- Design Packaging
- Social Media Icons
- Social Media Images & Posts
- Infographics
24 /7 and Weekend Affinity Designer Training
Our Online Affinity Training Courses are available on any time zone. We offer 24 hour availability, evenings, overnight and during the weekend.
We run our online training sessions via the most popular video conferencing software including Zoom, Teams, Google and WebEx. It’s your choice which one you prefer.
Do you record the Online Adobe Illustrator Training Sessions?
We do but due to privacy issues can only offer this to one to one courses and closed company groups.
Please note we can only run this timings for online Affinity Courses
How to Book an Affinity Designer Introduction Course
Booking with us
Please get in touch with us via the online booking form.
We will then get in touch and send the details of booking reservation and find out your timeframe for training.
We will then send across dates.
Once the booking is confirmed we then organise a pre-course call /meeting to discuss the course and any logistics around the day.
Payment
Payment for training is via BACS or Credit Card
Credit Card payment is via Stripe
*Greta Powell Training Ltd does not collect or store your card details.
Purchase Orders
We accept purchase orders from UK registered companies and the public sector.
