REF.
(THE ARCHIVE)

WHERE THE
GOOD STUFF
IS KEPT.

Other people have spent decades collecting, scanning and cataloguing. This is a directory of those places. REF hosts none of it and owns none of it. Every card links out.

(12 SOURCES · REF HOSTS NONE OF THEM)

Preview image published by Are.na
COLLECTION

ARE.NA

Member-run channels of collected images, text and links. Slow, unranked, and organised by people rather than a feed.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
are.naVISIT
Preview image published by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
MUSEUM

COOPER HEWITT, SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM

A design-specific museum collection covering posters, textiles, product and interiors, catalogued with dates and makers.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
cooperhewitt.orgVISIT
Preview image published by Cosmos
COLLECTION

COSMOS

Visual references saved into clusters by the people who collect them, browsed as images first with the source of each one attached.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
cosmos.soVISIT
ARCHIVE

DISPLAY

A graphic design collection of posters, books and ephemera, photographed and catalogued by designer and year.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
thisisdisplay.orgVISIT
Preview image published by Fonts In Use
TYPOGRAPHY

FONTS IN USE

Typography indexed by typeface, industry and format, each entry showing the printed or screen artefact rather than a specimen.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
fontsinuse.comVISIT
Preview image published by Letterform Archive
TYPOGRAPHY

LETTERFORM ARCHIVE

A San Francisco library of lettering, type design and graphic design, with items photographed and catalogued and part of the collection readable online.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
letterformarchive.orgVISIT
Preview image published by Pinterest
COLLECTION

PINTEREST

Boards of images saved and re-saved by its users, searchable by subject, with each pin linking back to wherever it was found.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
pinterest.comVISIT
Preview image published by Poster House
MUSEUM

POSTER HOUSE

A museum devoted entirely to posters, from advertising to protest, with exhibition and collection records online.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
posterhouse.orgVISIT
Preview image published by Rijksmuseum
MUSEUM

RIJKSMUSEUM

The Dutch national collection, catalogued object by object, with digitised works published under stated reuse terms.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
rijksmuseum.nlVISIT
COLLECTION

SITEINSPIRE

A curated index of web design, filterable by style, type and subject, linking to the live site in each case.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
siteinspire.comVISIT
Preview image published by The Public Domain Review
ARCHIVE

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW

Essays and image collections drawn from works whose copyright has expired, with the provenance of each item stated on its own page.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
publicdomainreview.orgVISIT
Preview image published by Typewolf
TYPOGRAPHY

TYPEWOLF

Web typography posted entry by entry, each one naming the typefaces in use and the site they were found on.

RIGHTS NOT ESTABLISHED BY REF. CHECK THE SOURCE BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.
typewolf.comVISIT
(KNOW ONE WE MISSED)

(SUBMISSIONS ARE HELD UNTIL A MODERATOR READS THEM. NOTHING PUBLISHES ITSELF.)