Do you keep samples?
Samples such as paper, printed pieces, etc? An IDEO method card suggests you should keep a workbench of materials and samples. On a visit to the New York design office Funny Garbage, I noticed right next to the designers' offices was a shelf filled with photo boxes. I was told this was the boss's collection of inspirational materials (don't touch).

Troubles To Keeping A Collection.
Have you ever tried to keep such a collection? Its a burden. First, keeping samples takes up a lot of room. Second, they need to be organized or cataloged if you plan on finding anything. Third, some pieces loose their currency and you'll wonder why you ever kept them. Lastly, a collection of any worth is prime for pilfering. Great singular examples of fantastic work are prone to go for a walk. No collection is worth the effort if, when you go to find something, its no longer where you put it.

In times past designers kept slides. Photographing our own work and that of others was just something you did. Now its easy to get examples of competitive work off the net. Most net examples are irrelevant collections of hobby materials like science fiction movie posters or paperback book covers. Regardless of the source, is the resolution of a net acquired scan or digital photograph high enough to show critical details? Typographically a JPG is useless.

Do designers really need to keep collections at all? Designers are always giving awards to each other and publishing the results in magazines or in the case of ID magazine, including a CDROM. Publishers like Rizolli, Chronicle, and PIC have published anthologies of designers' works for years. This is the cream of the crop and as with most examples, if you look back at much older work, say five years, its so dated to be useless. This makes it much easier to maintain reference materials. Clean the book shelf annually.

Reasons For Having A Collection.
Samples are good to refer to when you're bored. It's comforting to look at someone else's great work when you need to be reminded why you're still a designer (since you have not made art director and are still working as a trumped up production assistant). Its a wonder why designers don't keep samples just to mine outdated examples for ideas to swipe. My brother has a more direct approach. He asks, why not use what (other people's ideas) works? "You're trying to be too original," he always says.

Leading To This Month's Feature: 11 Graphics Collection Sites.

• Digital Scriptorium Database.
• Graphic Design Travel Ephemera from the 1920s and 1930s.
• Corporate brands and press quality art.
• Club flyers.
• Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness.
• Collection of transit related memorabilia.
• AIGA Annual Design Award.
• Cassette tape labels.
• Treasures of the Amsterdam Municipal Archives.
• Stick Figure Warning Signs.
• Euro's that never were.