For those of you that use Affinity Designer to create your SVG cut files, you may have noticed the “buzz” around the date, 30th October.

Why? Well, no-one seems to know, so here is a bit of a potted history of the journey so far to see if we can figure it out …

Who Is Serif?

Serif has had a long history within the crafting community, as many of you will know. First with it’s original incarnations of Serif DrawPlus, Serif PhotoPlus and Serif PagePlus. DrawPlus was intended to be a more affordable version of professional vector creation software like Adobe Illustrator and enabled those without the professional budget to create their own SVG cut files, as well as other graphic design tasks.

Later, Serif did release a more user/crafter-friendly software package called Craft Artist and Craft Artist 2.

Sadly both of these were eventually withdrawn from circulation.

In October of 2014, although the crafter-friendly software was not replaced, the “plus” suite of software was replaced by the Affinity suite with “Designer“, “Photo” and “Publisher” being the trio of tools.

Development for Craft Artist was stopped a couple of years later in 2016 with the eventual end of support in 2022. A shame as it was well loved.

Anyway, now, just over a decade since the switch to Affinity, the current versions have been removed from circulation and a teaser placed on the Serif/Affinity website stating, “Creative Freedom is Coming“.

So what does this mean?

I still don’t have a clue however in March of 2024 Canva, the people behind the popular online graphic design tool of the same name, acquired Serif (for approximately US$380 million) so it is no surprise that some change of some sort is due however after the acquisition, Serif said that there are no immediate changes to its pricing model, and both companies have committed to maintaining Affinity’s perpetual licensing (non-subscription) model.

So what is happening to Serif/Affinity on the 30th October 2025?

Truthfully, no-one knows (except those that do). The internet is awash with speculation.

My thoughts are, strategy. A press release from Serif/Canva back at the time of the acquisition was quite telling…

The acquisition significantly bolsters Canva’s vision to build the world’s most comprehensive suite of visual communication tools. While the last decade has seen rapid growth for Canva amongst the 99% of knowledge workers without design training, the integration of Affinity’s professional design software now unlocks the full spectrum of designers at every level and stage of the design journey.

Serif

To me it feels like adding more professional design tools to the Canva range, and some collaborative tools to the Serif range. Both Serif and Canvas are great at what they do, but, from what I have read, each is lacking in those skills. So, it would make sense. But as I say, I know as little as everyone else at this stage.

Speculating wildly, could it be version 3 of the Affinity packages and the older ones were removed to avoid costly refunds from folk that purchased in the weeks running up to the release? It has happened before, so…

Or, could it be both of the above. Or neither.

*shrugs unknowingly

What is for sure is that with more than 12 months since the acquisition of Serif by Canva, and with the amount of money involved, I can’t imagine that everyone has been sat around spinning on office chairs sipping champagne and nibbling nibbles; something will have been brewing in those intervening months and, as their website says, it will be happening soon.

In the meantime, we can still use any of the Affinity software that we currently have, we can still access our accounts on the Affinity website for licence keys etc and we can still access support for it too. So that’s always a bonus.

I for one am interested to see what happens on the 30th October as I have been involved indirectly with this brand as an end-user and one-time promoter (of Serif Craft Artist via Create & Craft TV) for over two decades.

Do you use it and what do you think could be happening. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

---

Ok, that’s it for this post. I hope that you have enjoyed your time here today and will subscribe to my email newsletter so that you can hear about future posts.

If have not already done so, please feel free to pop your email address in the box below and I will add you to the list (you can unsubscribe at anytime in the future if I bore you with too many).

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing you next time!

Much love,

John.