Creating a new document in Desinger V2 is very similar to V1. Things may look a little different, but all the same options are there.

While it’s pretty much the same, here is the same tutorial specific to Affinity Publisher.

New to me was the Scale tab, which allows you to set a scale in your document (for example 1:10 inches). For books and printables, don’t worry about this. One possible use for this might be for POD, to have an idea of how big the elements on your finished product will be.

1. File –> New

Click on the File Menu and select New

2. Layout Tab: Select Dimensions

In my Affinity Publisher New Document tutorial, we used the Presets. For this demo, let’s enter our dimensions manually.

In the Layout tab, enter your document dimensions (yellow highighted area). In this example I am going to create a 1000 by 1000 pixel document.

In the Document Units (highlighted with a blue square) choose your unit type. I am using Pixels, but you can also choose Inches, Millimeters, etc.

In the DPI, select the resolution you would like. 300 DPI is standard for print. If your document will be digital only (e.g. a social image or a digital planner, you can choose less. I use 144 for most digital images so that it is still hi-resolution for screens, but a smaller file size)>

I am going to create an Artboard, so I will check the box next to Create Artboard (red circle). This is not necessary, but handy if you plan to create multiple images within the same document.

For example, I could have 4 Pinterest Pin artboards side by side and they would be saved in the same file, yet I could export each Pin separately as a JPG or PNG.

3. Color Tab

You can set your color settings here (e.g. CMYK or RBG). I leave this as default.

If your are sending your work to a printer, or a POD (print on demand) site you will want to set this to whatever they specify.

In this tab, you can also choose whether to create a transparent background or not (yellow highlighted area).

4. Margins and Bleed

If you want margin guides to show on your document, you can set that in the Margins tab.

Enter how far away you would like the margin guides to appear from the edge of your document.

If you click the chain link symbol (highlighted with a blue square) you can link your dimensions together. You can enter dimensions in one box, press enter, and it will put those same dimensions in every box. If you don’t want them linked, click the chain link symbol to “break” the link.

Similarly, in the Bleed tab you can enter how much bleed you would like to add, if any. This is only necessary if any of your image will be extending to the edge of the page.

Exception: I do not add bleed when creating seamless pattern tiles.

5. Scale

This option is new to me. If V1 had this, it was located elsewhere. This allows you to set a scale in the document such as 1:10 inches, or 1:20 feet. If you are using Designer for architectural use (for example) this may be handy. For printables and such, I ignore it (leave it off).

6. Click Create

Now that you have adjusted your settings, you can hit Create.

Handily, just above the Create button you can see a snapshot of the main settings: Size, DPI and color profile (blue square area).