25 years ago I worked in a print shop, and every designer there used Macromedia FreeHand (later bought and buried by Adobe). At some point I decided to learn Illustrator — I no longer remember why. But I clearly remember running around design forums figuring out how to do in Illustrator what I did in FreeHand, and why this tool felt wrong. I argued passionately that guides should work one way and clipping masks another. I imagine forum members saw me as the local madman. Most techniques and tools are a matter of habit or a different approach.
Now I know Illustrator very well and work in it almost on autopilot. But for the 30 Logos in 30 Days challenge I added a rule: make every logo in Affinity Designer. It is hard to describe how it breaks someone who knows how to do everything fast in another app — when you want to jump back and finish in five minutes. But exploring other tools is a deliberate step out of your comfort zone. The tool changes your hand.
I have finished logo 17 and can say: Affinity Designer is a full working tool. Much is missing, but much is also implemented differently.
Keep learning, compare, and look from a different angle.