The Design Guillotine Has Dropped

Somewhere in San Jose, an Adobe executive just spat out their oat milk latte.

Because Affinity just went full Robin Hood, it’s free now, and it’s already passed one million users faster than your favorite YouTuber can say smash that subscribe button.

You read that right: Affinity, the anti-Adobe, the underdog hero that crawled out of Serif’s basement with three apps and a dream, just detonated the design world’s paywall.

It’s officially free, as in no subscription, no limited trial, no one-time fee that mysteriously reappears every fiscal quarter.

Adobe’s been holding designers hostage with Creative Cloud like some corporate Stockholm syndrome therapy.

Affinity just busted through the skylight like, We’re free now, Karen.

Photoshop users are trembling. Illustrator stans are coping. InDesign refugees are rejoicing.

This isn’t just a software release, it’s the French Revolution of pixels.

And the guillotine?

It’s vector-based.

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Want in before the Affinity servers melt under the weight of one million broke-but-beautiful designers?

There’s a quick way to install it without screaming into your keyboard like a Figma intern on launch day.

👉 Watch this short (and actually clear) tutorial: How to Install Affinity — YouTube

It’s about 6 minutes long, doesn’t involve any weird command-line voodoo, and you’ll be designing like a mid-century Bauhaus cultist before lunch.

That’s right, no Creative Cloud, no sign-in, no please verify your soul via SMS.

Just pure, uncut design freedom. Affinity’s UX team basically said, You want to make stuff? Cool. Here’s the tool. Go wild.

Somewhere, an Adobe developer is coding a panic patch right now.

Let’s address the capitalist elephant in the art studio: If Affinity is now free, how the hell are you supposed to make money selling templates, brushes, and design kits for it?

Relax.

This isn’t the end of your passive income empire.

It’s the beginning of the free tools, paid taste era.

Think about it.

Free software means a massive influx of new designers (hobbyists, small biz owners, side hustlers, Etsy warriors) all desperate for pro-looking assets they can plug in and pretend they made from scratch.

Your Affinity asset packs are now digital fast food: cheap, addictive, everywhere.

While Adobe users were too busy updating to new version, the Affinity crowd is out there downloading anything with the word template faster than a dropshipper hitting refresh on Shopify analytics.

So yeah, if you’re a digital product seller, it’s time to pivot your storefront.

Start offering:

Because when something becomes free, it stops being exclusive but it becomes everywhere.

You’re not selling tools anymore; you’re selling shortcuts.

And in 2025, shortcuts are religion.

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Adobe had this coming.

For years, they’ve been the cable TV of design.

Overcharging, under-innovating, and giving us 19 pop-ups just to export a PNG.

Affinity’s rebellion is a direct middle finger to that.

And it’s not just about money, it’s about ownership.

Back in 2013, Adobe went all-in on subscriptions, a move that made Wall Street tingle but left designers shackled to the cloud like medieval peasants.

They promised constant updates, which translated to we broke something you didn’t ask us to fix.

Affinity’s strategy?

No DRM, no constant login prompts, no gaslighting about security updates.

Just download, use, and go create things.

And the fact that they dropped the price to zero after being acquired by Canva (the pastel Death Star of easy design) is poetry.

It’s the first time a corporate acquisition made the world better.

Here’s the cultural twist though: The design community’s reaction wasn’t just gratitude, it was vengeance.

Tweets like Goodbye Adobe, you’ll never get another cent are trending harder than AI-generated LinkedIn thought leadership posts.

This isn’t just about software anymore. It’s about revenge capitalism, the joy of watching a bloated monopoly get out-designed by a lean, hungry team that actually respects its users.

We’ve officially entered the Open Source Renaissance, where:

So go ahead. Delete Creative Cloud. You’ve earned this moment. But maybe screenshot your fonts folder first.

Here’s your brain-melting design fact of the week:

Affinity hit 1 million users in under a week after announcing it went free.

For context, it took Adobe two decades to reach that number for Photoshop.

It’s the fastest adoption curve for any design suite… ever.

Also: Serif’s old offices reportedly had a sign that said, “Don’t compete with Adobe — embarrass them.”

Mission accomplished.

In an age where everything’s a subscription, Affinity dropping the paywall is the closest thing we have to a digital utopia.

Sure, the servers might crash, and yes, you’ll have to explain to every boomer client why you’re not using Photoshop anymore, but that’s a small price to pay for the most powerful word in design:

Free.

So fire up Affinity.

Export something that doesn’t require your credit card.

And remember, the future doesn’t belong to whoever pays for the biggest suite. It belongs to whoever actually makes cool shit.

Have a nice day,

Miroslav from The Design Nexus

Even if you sell products other than mugs or t-shirts, it doesn't mean it will cost you more.

There are tools that can help you with the tasks, and most of them have free versions.

Disclaimer: Within the article, you will find affiliate links. If you decide to purchase through these links, I want to sincerely assure you that I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you.