If you’re in the design world, you’ve likely caught wind of the buzz around Affinity’s full-blown rebrand and for good reason. The professional creative software suite, now under the umbrella of Canva, has relaunched with a new identity that manages to feel both connected to its parent and fiercely independent.
The logo now centres on a lowercase serif “a” symbol that balances wonky curves for illustrators and sharp angles for graphic designers—clearly designed with a creative duality in mind.
Rob Clark designed the new symbol and logotype, mixing juicy curves with precise angles to reflect both illustration freedom and design rigour. Meanwhile, type foundry Ohno created a custom typeface that stands out. Ethos badges designed by James Martin and campaign video by ManvsMachine.
Rather than broadcasting loud corporate identity, Affinity has gone subtle: charcoal, graphite, putty and paper tones serve as calm canvases, with a lime-green accent introducing that punch of punk energy.
The new brand also plays around: exported files will have a “.af” extension (pun intended), and the identity leans into in-jokes and design world references, naming convention tropes, creative culture quirks and all.