In this Affinity Designer tutorial, we will create a simple diamond background design, which will work with the GoodNotes letter paper size.

We will build the pattern over the entire letter sized page. But we will also pay special attention to the part of the pattern that will be displayed within the border area.

Open Affinity Designer or your favorite software.

1. We will start with a new letter size document.

Now we will draw a diamond at the top area.


2. Click on the Shapes Tool icon in the Tools panel, to open the pop up menu and select the Diamond tool (see screenshot).


3. In the Context toolbar, set the Fill to black and the Stroke and Stroke Width to Null (see screenshot).


4. Draw a diamond shape at the top of the canvas.


5. In the Transform panel, set the X value to 8 px, Y to 0 px, Width to 16 px and Height to 56 px (see screenshot).

Your diamond should now be within the top and 8 pixels from the left edge of the canvas. We need a half diamond shape at the left edge. As the widest side of the half diamond will touch the edge of the canvas, this will give the illusion of a solid edge. We will duplicate the first diamond and cut it in half.


6. Select the diamond layer in the Layers panel and duplicate the layer.


7. Select the bottom diamond layer. With the Move tool, select and drag the diamond to the left and center the tallest part of the diamond over the left edge of the canvas (see screenshot).

To cut the diamond in half, we need to use the Convert to Curves feature.


8. With the diamond layer still selected, click the Convert to Curves button on the Context toolbar (see screenshot).


9. Select the Node tool and select the node that is extending beyond the left edge of the canvas. From the top menu, click Edit - Delete (see screenshot).

The diamond on the left edge should now be cut in half, with the straight side at the left edge of the canvas (see screenshot).

Now we will use the Power Duplicate feature again to create a row of diamonds.


10. With the Move tool, select the full diamond shape. Click Edit - Duplicate. Drag the new diamond shape to the right, until it is at the right edge of the original diamond shape (see screenshot).


11. To use Power Duplicate, click Edit - Duplicate. You should have a third full diamond to the right of the second diamond. Repeat this step until you have an entire row of diamonds.

The last diamond is extending beyond the right edge of the canvas. We already know how to fix that (see screenshot).


12. With that diamond selected, click the Convert to Curves button again. With the Node tool, select the node that is extending beyond the right edge of the canvas and delete it. Now the top and bottom points of the diamond need to be moved just a little. Using the Node tool, drag the top and bottom nodes to the right edge of the canvas (see screenshot).


13. Select all the diamond layers in the Layers panel, right-click and choose Group.


14. Name the new group layer Row of Diamonds (see screenshot).

Click the Next link below and we will use Power Duplicate again to fill the canvas with diamonds.

Next

Screenshots used by permission of Serif (Europe) Ltd. This article is not endorsed by Serif Ltd.
Screenshots used by permission of Time Base Technology Limited.