Serif gives away 1.5 million extended free trials that include Affinity Photo during COVID-19 support campaign
Serif has given away more than 1.5 million free 90-day downloads of the Affinity apps as part of its campaign to support the creative community affected by the pandemic.
The support campaign was first staged during 2020, then renewed in January 2021 as the continuing effects of the pandemic became apparent. In addition to allowing anyone to use the Mac and Windows versions of Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher free for 90 days, Serif also offered 50% discount for users who wanted to buy the apps. And the company commissioned work from 100 artists, designers, photographers and illustrators, including many who had seen projects cancelled due to the economic fallout of COVID-19.
Now Serif has announced that it will end the offers at the end of June, when prices will be restored to normal and a shorter 10-day free trial offered.
Serif Managing Director Ashley Hewson says: “As it became apparent just how seriously the creative industries were being affected by COVID-19, we felt we were in a position to help in a small way.
“Allowing anyone to download our apps free for 90 days last year, then again this year, has meant people were effectively able to use Affinity free for six months. The response has been incredible, with many users telling us how valuable the extended trial and discounts were in enabling them to continue working.
“The response to our offer to commission 100 pieces of work was also immense and some of those projects are already filtering through into our apps, on the Affinity Spotlight website and in our marketing materials.”
Australian artist Will Schorer was among those commissioned, after seeing several projects cancelled by clients due to the effects of the pandemic.
Schorer, who created an eagle design, says: “The start of 2020 was a hard time for everyone, being a self-employed artist is stressful at the best of times.
“The Affinity ‘100 Days 100 Commissions’ project was valuable as it came at a time when we had several events cancelled and our income for the immediate future was fairly uncertain. The project helped to ease some of the concern we were feeling at the time and allowed me to alleviate some of that anxiety through creativity.”
Author Sarah Stackhouse of Wisconsin, US, started learning Affinity Designer during the pandemic and has now created the illustrations for her first children’s book, titled ‘Opening Our Eyes To The World’.
She says: “I had the story idea for many years, but didn’t know how I would complete the book because I wasn’t an illustrator and hiring one is quite costly. Thanks to having time at home during the pandemic, I self-learned how to design and create illustrations using Affinity Designer, a software that I had never touched previously.”
“I was only able to accomplish what I did because of Affinity and I want to shout that from the rooftops.”
Buyers still have until the end of June to get the Affinity apps with 50% discount on Mac, Windows PC and iPad. For details go to affinity.serif.com.
About Serif
Serif launched in 1987 and built up a reputation for quality and reliability based on an award-winning range of software for PC – low-cost alternatives to high-end publishing and graphics packages.
However, in addition to being locked into Windows, years of development meant the software was becoming bloated, hard to maintain and unable to exploit the capabilities of the latest hardware.
Instead, the focus of development switched to a next-generation suite of lean, super-fast apps for creative professionals using Mac, Windows and iPad. The change meant throwing away all the old code and starting from scratch and it took almost five years until Affinity Designer, the first Affinity app, was released in 2014.
Affinity Photo followed in 2015 and the launch of Affinity Publisher in 2019 means Serif now boasts a full creative suite of applications covering photo editing, graphic design and desktop publishing. Affinity apps have won some of the biggest awards in the industry, gained plaudits from reviewers, and been adopted by over 2 million customers worldwide.
Serif employs around 85 people at its HQ in Nottingham, UK.
