Digital creatives can use Affinity apps on Mac or Windows completely free for three months, with a new 90-day downloadable trial and no obligation to buy

Serif has announced three measures aimed at helping students, designers and artists affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital creatives can use Affinity apps on Mac or Windows completely free for three months, with a new 90-day downloadable trial and no obligation to buy.

There’s also a 50% discount for users who would rather buy and keep the apps, including iPad versions of its Holy Trinity of Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer app and the recently launched Affinity Publisher.

But it’s not just software offers on show, with Serif also pledging to engage more than 100 freelance creatives for work, spending the equivalent of its annual commissioning budget in the next three months. More details of this will be announced soon.

Serif Managing Director Ashley Hewson says: Unfortunately we are hearing many stories from the creative community about how they are being severely impacted by the effects of the pandemic.

We know we can’t solve many of these problems, but hopefully these things will make life a little easier for people who rely on creative software to make a living but may be stuck at home without access to their usual tools, or for students who might suddenly be without access to their Affinity apps on their personal devices. By increasing our spend on commissioning work from creative freelancers we can also put some extra money into a part of the industry which will be particularly affected, Hewson said.

The free trial will be available to download until 20 April. The 50% discount will end on the same date and applies to the full suite of Affinity apps.