In this Affinity® Designer tutorial, we will continue to work on our DIY wedding invitation suite. We will create the 5 inches by 7 inches template for the save the date and the invitation cards.

We have already created the three main design elements, the patterned background, the text container shape and the monogram. Now we will import these in to a new document, which will become our template.

We will begin by placing the background on the bottom layer of our template. This will be followed by the text container shape and finally the monogram.

1. Start a new document that is 5 inches by 7 inches at 300 dpi.


2. From the Menubar, click View - Show Grid.

Now we will import the patterned background.


3. From the Menubar, click File - Place. Choose the DiamondBackground.afdesign.


4. Click to place the background graphic on the canvas (see screenshot).


5. Drag the background graphic to reposition the background so that it is evenly placed over the canvas.

Notice that the layer in the Layers panel is now named DiamondBackground.afdesign.


6. Change the layer name to Background.afdesign.

Let's do the same for the text container shape.


7. Click File - Place and choose the OctagonShape.afdesign file.


8. Click on the canvas to add the shape to the canvas. Position it in the center of the canvas.

Notice that the new layer is named OctagonShape.afdesign.


9. Change the layer name to Shape.afdesign.

Finally, we will add the monogram.


10. Repeat the previous steps to place the DiamondMonogram.afdesign to the canvas. Position the monogram at the top of the canvas, for now.


11. Change the layer name to Monogram.afdesign (see screenshot).

Let's add a drop shadow to the monogram (see screenshot).


12. With the monogram still selected, open the Layer Effects panel and check the Outer Shadow option. Set the following values (see screenshot).

Blend Mode - Multiply
Opacity - 25%
Radius - 35 px
Offset - 0 px
Intensity - 0%
Angle = 315

Now we have added all of the design elements, which are the diamond background, octagon container shape and diamond monogram. These design elements make up the Art Deco template. Feel free to replace the monogram and text container shape used above with the CircleMonogram or the ArchShape text container. Next we will add the text to the template.


13. Click File - Save As and name the document ArtDecoTemplate.afdesign.

Index - DIY Wedding Invitation Suite Template in Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer screenshots used by permission of Serif (Europe) Ltd. This article is not endorsed by Serif Ltd.