How To Expand Text In Affinity Designer

There are several ways to transform the text on your Affinity Designer project. One of the most popular methods of transformation is simple expansion. Expanding your text allows you to test different text sizes, locations, and shapes to see what type of text fits best on the page. How do you expand text in Affinity Designer?

Read on to learn how to expand text in Affinity Designer. The process is quite simple and can help you become more familiar with other text transformations in Affinity Designer. From basic expansion to more complex features, you will see below how to expand text in Affinity Designer.

Select Text

Before expanding your text in Affinity Designer, you have to select the text box that you wish to transform. Simply click in the area of the text box to select the text box as a whole. When you do this, the text box will be highlighted and show options for you to drag or expand the box from different points around the perimeter.

If you want to expand one piece of text that goes with another piece but needs its own edits, there are different ways to approach the situation. One of the easiest things to do is create separate text boxes for each piece of text, each letter, etc. This way, you can easily customize individual letters within the same text conglomeration.

You can also convert your text to curves, which you will learn more about shortly. Changing your text to vector curves entails more complex design strategies, which you may or may not find appealing.

Expand Entire Text Box

Once you have selected the text box for the text you wish to expand, you can expand it by simply clicking and holding one of the points that allow you to change the dimensions of the text box. Drag the point however far you want, thus extending the text.

To ensure that your text’s dimensions remain the same, you can utilize the Gradient Tool to keep the coordinates even. Of course, this only applies if you wish the expanded text to remain horizontally aligned. More complex customizations may not require the use of the Gradient Tool.

Like much other software, clicking the text box and expanding it with the outline points is the easiest way to expand your text in Affinity Designer.

Select Filters

A more complex way to expand text in Affinity Designer is by changing the filters of your text box. You can choose certain filters that will essentially allow you to stretch or resize your text however you wish. This type of text expansion allows more freedom in creating unique text styles.

One way to use Filters to expand text in Affinity Designer is by distorting the text. Click Filters in the customization tab at the top left of Affinity Designer. In the drop-down menu, hover over Distort. When the new drop-down menu comes up, find and click Deform.

You can choose the rigid setting with the edit box that pops up. Click different areas of the text that you want to experiment with expansion. Like the coordinate points on a highlighted text box, dots will appear where you click that allow you to drag the text in different directions. The difference here is that when you expand the area of a certain dot you have clicked, the other dots remain in place, thus distorting your text. 

The entire text piece will stretch in some way or another but will maintain its former shape before you distort the other dots. This is a way to more uniquely customize your text by expanding specific areas.

Expand Stroke For Customized Shapes

Even more complex a way to expand text in Affinity Designer is by expanding the stroke of a shape. Of course, this only applies if your text is not necessarily text from a text box, but rather, a shape you create into the resemblance of a letter or block of text.

Select the shape you want to expand and click the Move Tool or the Node Tool. Choose Expand Stroke from the Layer Menu. This function makes the shape’s stroke detached from the concrete shape. Dots surrounding the shape will pop up that allow you to expand individual areas of the shape, creating intricate designs from your basic shape.

As mentioned, this only works if your text is made of customized shapes instead of a text box. You will see a similar method below.

Convert To Vector Curves

Converting to curves is a popular way to expand certain aspects of text in Affinity Designer. Much like expanding the stroke of a shape, converting your text to curves allows you to alter certain chunks of one letter to better suit your customization preferences.

Select the text you wish to expand and right-click. Click Convert to Curves in the drop-down menu. In the layers menu, you can expand your text options and click an individual letter to customize. You can then move individual letters around and resize them by expanding the coordinate dots surrounding the text box.

For more enhanced customizations, you can select the Node to surround individual letters and stretch them like the expanded-stroke shapes mentioned above.

Takeaway

Basic text expansion in Affinity Photo is simpler than ever. Additionally, there are more complex ways to expand text in Affinity Designer. If you want to add a touch of creativity to your customizations, be sure to remember the steps listed above.