Using the library

Many times we use certain elements on our design repetitively. Logos for example are usually appearing several times throughout our documents. Once this repetitive element changes, we have to go through our document updating all the instances. There is a better way to do it. If you are familiar with Flash, you already know what I'm gonna say. In Freehand (and Illustrator) there is a panel called Library that can be used to keep frequently used elements.

To demonstrate the function let's suppose we've designed a logo. Once it's done we group it and drag it into the Library. You can rename it later if you want.

Let's design stationary with our logo. Every time we need a copy of the logo for the different elements of the stationary we should drag the logo out from the library. Notice that the Library keeps count of how many times we used the logo in our document.

Now that we look at the whole document we realize that we are not happy with the logo. Instead of replacing all the instances of the logo with the redesigned one, we can simply double click the library item. A new window will open with the logo.

Let's redesign the logo a bit and close the window.

Wow! All the instances of our logo have been automatically updated. That's what I call productivity.