Make a Name Pendant in Affinity Designer

Jules · November 28, 2018, 6:02pm

Okay this is just a quickie in response to a question about how to do it…the customer wanted to create a name pendant in Affinity Designer:

Open the software and select your font, type out the name:

Select everything, right click and Convert to Curves.
Select everything, right click and Ungroup. Resize or shift the letters over so that they overlap at some point.

Select everything, right click, Geometry >Add.

Set the fill color to Null and give it a stroke color.

If you want to add a small hanging ring, draw up a couple of circles, centered, and combine it with the name shape using the Add function again:

That’s about it!

techyg · November 28, 2018, 6:45pm

Nice writeup, Jules! I was going to try to eventually get around to learning how to do this with Adobe Illustrator. But I keep hearing good things about Affinity Designer, so I may have to check it out! Looks like it’s only $35 in the Mac store.

Xabbess · November 28, 2018, 6:45pm

Just an aside…a faster way to make the hanging ring is to use the donut shape. Just make sure the center part is the size you want it and …ADD it

Xabbess · November 28, 2018, 6:50pm

I’ve been using Affinity since pretty much day one. I tried others…Inkscape, plus a couple more. Just didn’t seem that user friendly, so bought Affinity. I paid $50 for it, which was still a bargain…plus, there are no subscription fees. I recommend it highly.

Jules · November 28, 2018, 6:53pm

I’m just bored enough today that I might write that up. (Not hard, same process, just different places where the tools are hidden.)

tapoutms3 · November 28, 2018, 6:55pm

Jules what is the settings you use when you open the new project

Xabbess · November 28, 2018, 6:57pm

I use the geometry/Boolean stuff from up above in the contextual menu (is that the right term?)…that menu bar across the top…rather than the drop downs.

Jules · November 28, 2018, 6:58pm

You’ve been using AD longer than I have…I only bought it to test Snapmarks on when I got onto that Beta.

Jules · November 28, 2018, 6:58pm

Settings look like this:

Xabbess · November 28, 2018, 6:58pm

Oh yeah… I remember that now.

mnemosyne · November 28, 2018, 6:59pm

great info, thanks - gives me a push to really learn AD. I use an old version of Illustrator (CS6 - pre cc) and I’m pretty sure one of these Mac OS updates is going to kill it forever, so this is much appreciated.

Jules · November 28, 2018, 7:00pm

I use CS5. (Hey if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!)

mnemosyne · November 28, 2018, 7:01pm

Cheers to the old days when we bought software, hahaha.

techyg · November 28, 2018, 7:03pm

Nice! I am on CS6 and plan on staying. I just can’t justify spending $250 a year right now for it. I suppose if I start making a steady income off the GF each month I might decide to upgrade to the cloud.

Jules · November 28, 2018, 7:04pm

Haven’t seen a darn thing in the CC that I can’t do in CS5, so you can bet i won’t be subscribing. (Mine’s not quite as fancy, but who the heck cares?)

techyg · November 28, 2018, 7:07pm

I’ll probably do the same. As long as I can do what I need to, no point in upgrading. I’ve noticed that lately, I get alerts saying “would you like to downgrade this design” because I am buying designs that are done in a newer version.

mnemosyne · November 28, 2018, 7:08pm

have you run into anything that doesn’t actually open though? I haven’t yet… knock on wood…

tapoutms3 · November 28, 2018, 7:10pm

Thank you again Jules

Jules · November 28, 2018, 7:11pm

My pleasure!

tapoutms3 · November 28, 2018, 7:12pm

Jules what is the Font name the you use