What Are the Boolean Functions in Affinity Designer?

Most design applications tackle the same types of design and editing projects. The learning curve comes with the interface functions and tools. Using an industry staple, like Photoshop, you’ll be familiar with the shape builder tool. If you use another design application, you may wonder what would be the equivalent of tools and functions you’re accustomed to if the program has one.

Boolean functions in Affinity Designer are geometry tools designed to alter shapes, similar to the Shape Builder tool in Photoshop. The functions allow you to turn basic shapes into more complex creations non-destructively.

Since Boolean functions or operations allow you to build with existing shapes you can find in the toolbar to the left of the Affinity Designer canvas, you can use these functions repeatedly until you get the desired shape or design. Keep reading to find out how many functions there are and the simple steps to execute them.

How to Use Boolean Functions in Affinity Designer

There are four basic shapes in Affinity Designer: circle, ellipse, rectangle, and square. These shapes are used in conjunction with the Boolean functions or operations, of which there are five. These functions or operations are located in the toolbar on top of the Affinity Designer canvas. Let’s tackle them in the order you will see in the Affinity Designer interface.

Add Boolean Function
Subtract Boolean Function
Intersect Boolean Function
Xor Boolean Function
Divide Boolean Function

Let’s take a deeper look at each function and how you can use it to build your shapes into the complex designs you desire. Once your designs are complete, you can take them to placeit.net to use them on business cards or other exciting templates.

Add Boolean Function

Starting with the first icon, you will see in the top toolbar the Add Boolean function. You will recognize the function by the blue square and circle overlapping with a plus symbol in the circle. The plus signifies the operation of the function to combine selected overlapping objects.

Start with a blank canvas in Affinity Designer.
Select a shape from the toolbar on the left side of the canvas and place it on the canvas
Select an additional shape, whether the same as the first or different, and place it on the canvas overlapping the first shape.
Navigate to the Add Boolean function on the top toolbar and click the icon.
The intersecting lines of each shape should disappear, making way for one large solid shape. The shapes are now fully combined.

If the overlapping shapes were each filled with a different color, the new shape would take on the color of only one of the shapes. If you want to change this, you can use the Color Picker tool in the left toolbar.

Subtract Boolean Function

The second icon, to the right of the Add Boolean function, is the Subtract Boolean function. The icon is the same as the Add Boolean function, except the circle is greyed out with a subtract signal to indicate which shape will be removed using this function.

Start with a blank canvas in Affinity Designer.
Select a shape from the toolbar on the left side of the canvas and place it on the canvas
Select an additional shape, whether the same as the first or different, and place it on the canvas overlapping the first shape.
Navigate to the Subtract Boolean function on the top toolbar and click the icon.
The second shape added will be removed, along with the intersecting portion that overlapped the first shape.

Intersect Boolean Function

Continuing down the line of the functions in the top toolbar, you have the Intersect Boolean function to the right of the Subtract Boolean function. The icon is the same square and circle as the previous two function icons, but the shapes are greyed out, aside from the intersecting portion, which is blue. The coloured portion indicates what will remain of the two shapes when the function is used.

Start with a blank canvas in Affinity Designer.
Select a shape from the toolbar on the left side of the canvas and place it on the canvas
Select an additional shape, whether the same as the first or different, and place it on the canvas overlapping the first shape.
Navigate to the Intersect Boolean function on the top toolbar and click the icon.
Everything but the intersecting portion of the two shapes will be removed.

Xor Boolean Function

The second to last icon is the Xor Boolean function, which acts and looks opposite to the Intersect Boolean operation. The overlapping square and circle in the icon are blue, aside from the intersecting portion, which is greyed out. The grey area indicates what will be removed from the two shapes.

Start with a blank canvas in Affinity Designer.
Select a shape from the toolbar on the left side of the canvas and place it on the canvas
Select an additional shape, whether the same as the first or different, and place it on the canvas overlapping the first shape.
Navigate to the Xor Boolean function on the top toolbar and click the icon.
The intersecting portion of the two shapes will be removed, and the remaining portion of both shapes is what is left on the canvas.

Divide Boolean Function

The last icon on the toolbar is the Divide Boolean function. The icon of the square and circle is fully blue with no greyed-out portions. When you use this function on two overlapping shapes, they will divide into three distinct shapes.

Start with a blank canvas in Affinity Designer.
Select a shape from the toolbar on the left side of the canvas and place it on the canvas
Select an additional shape, whether the same as the first or different, and place it on the canvas overlapping the first shape.
Navigate to the Divide Boolean function on the top toolbar and click the icon.
Three shapes will appear: the top shape minus the overlapping section, the overlapping section on its own, and the bottom shape minus the overlapping section.

Conclusion

The Boolean functions in Affinity Designer assist you in creating unique shapes to use for your illustrations, graphics, logos, and so on. The functions are simple to use and provide some shortcuts to the shapes you desire.