The Assets Tab: the time-saving feature you never knew you needed

Ever wish you could save your design elements for later? We know the struggle of copy and pasting objects between documents, or keeping post-it notes with hex codes next to your monitor. With the Assets Tab, you can keep all those frequently used resources right at your fingertips.

Whether it's a specific set of motifs you use in every illustration or those go-to design elements your clients love, the Assets Tab is your own design library right within the app.

What is the Assets Tab?

The Assets Tab is nestled within the Library Tab in the Inspector. It's easy to miss at first, but once you discover its power, it's bound to become the highlight of your Linearity Curve experience.

With this clever feature, you can effortlessly stash anything on your canvas for future use. Everything you need is right beside your document, allowing you to grab all your pre-designed elements with a quick click or tap. No more copying, pasting, or rummaging through exported files.

How to create your assets library

Anything in your canvas can be saved as an asset, whether it’s a single stroke or a whole group of objects. Storing elements in your Assets Tab couldn’t be simpler.

Just follow these steps:

1. Draw something on your canvas.
2. Select the elements you want to preserve as a single asset.
3. Head over to the Library Tab and find the “Assets” option in the bottom left corner.
4. Hit the "+" button, and just like that, your selection will be securely saved in your Assets Tab library for future use.
5. Long press on any asset to rename or delete it.

How to use assets again and again

Bringing your stored assets into your designs is quick and hassle-free. Here's how you do it:

1. Open the Library Tab and navigate to the "Assets" section in the bottom left corner.
2. Locate the specific item you want to incorporate into your design. This is where naming your assets comes in handy, since you can use the search bar to find the one you’re looking for.
3. Simply tap on the desired asset, and it will seamlessly appear at the center of your canvas, ready for you to position it wherever you need.

Don't forget, you can edit an asset just like any other element on your canvas. If you come up with a fresh variant, why not save it in the Assets Tab as well?

How the Assets Tab can boost different design projects

Using the Assets Tab in your workflow can simplify your tasks and save your time. That means you’ll have more time for refining your concepts and crafting work that truly stands out. No brainer, right?

To make the most out of the Assets Tab, it’s important to know what kinds of items you should be adding to your library.

Single elements: These are your fundamental building blocks, essential for quickly creating brand compositions, patterns, and more. You could save a shape, a brush stroke, or just an outline of a motif.

Grouped elements: These are more comprehensive assets, such as entire illustrations, intricate logos, or stylized lettering. By saving these grouped items, you'll significantly cut down on design time, as you can effortlessly drop them into your canvas with just a click.

References: You can also use the Assets Tab to save references that you like to keep close by while you design, such as a photo or a color palette.

Check out these practical design examples that highlight the benefits of the Assets Tab.

Brand assets

When creating branded assets, maintaining design consistency is crucial. Illustrations and graphics play a vital role in reflecting a brand's personality and communicating its message. Well-designed illustrations can find a home on a company's website, across their social channels, and even in print materials. So, once you've aced a client brief, keeping those well-designed elements on standby for future projects becomes a game-changer.

The Assets Tab simplifies the storage and retrieval of all your pre-designed brand assets with just a tap. From shapes and logos to slogans and characters (more on that below), everything finds its place. When the next project rolls in, you can easily dive into your repository and seamlessly weave your brand's narrative into the design, effortlessly maintaining consistency throughout.

Character illustrations

If you're an illustrator, you understand the importance of maintaining a signature style. And when creating characters, it's crucial that they bear your unique stamp of creativity from the get-go.

Utilizing the Assets Tab allows you to preserve distinctive features that appear across all your character designs. Whether it's specific facial details, hairstyles, clothing, or accessories, the Assets Tab keeps your signature elements handy, ensuring that your characters are unmistakably yours.

So, next time you're drawing a character, use the Assets Tab to add those special elements. No need to redraw tricky details like eyes and hands every time. Just drop in your pre-made drawings and tweak them as you like.

You can also save complete character illustrations as assets to reuse across social media, posters, and other projects. This is what the talented Maddy Zoli does in our recent Live Session on designing brand illustrations.

Packaging design

Packaging design is all about nailing the look and feel of a product. The Assets Tab lets you keep all your packaging design elements neatly organized for quick access. This means you can easily retrieve logos, label templates, lettering, mockups, or any intricate patterns you use regularly. It's a real time-saver, especially when you're working on multiple products or experimenting with different design ideas.

Social media graphics

Crafting captivating and engaging social media graphics is essential for fostering a strong online presence. The Assets Tab empowers you to create a repository of go-to design elements tailored for various social media platforms, ensuring a consistent brand identity across all your digital content. It lets you to effortlessly enhance your posts with attention-grabbing visuals, eliminating the need to start from scratch every time.

Once you've saved your favorite design elements in the Assets Tab, the next steps are a piece of cake. Simply open a new document with the right size for your platform—Linearity Curve has got you covered with pre-set artboard sizes for Instagram, Facebook, and more. From there, it's as simple as a quick tap to bring your assets into play. Mix and match, rearrange, and let your creativity flow to craft content that not only looks great but also sparks genuine engagement.

Web design elements

Building a visually appealing and user-friendly website requires a diverse set of design elements, from icons and buttons to backgrounds and textures. The Assets Tab simplifies the management of these crucial components, allowing you to create a comprehensive collection of visually consistent elements for every web project.

In a nutshell, the Assets Tab is your practical tool for streamlining your design process. By simplifying the storage and quick retrieval of your design elements, it grants you more time to focus on your creative work. Ready to make the most of it? Start saving your elements in the Assets Tab today.