How to Organize Design References for a Project

Project references have a different shape from your general library: they’re temporary, focused, and shared. You gather a burst of them for one brief, use them intensely for a few weeks, then the project ends — but the good ones shouldn’t vanish, and the noise shouldn’t clog your permanent collection. The trick is a structure that keeps a project’s references together while it’s live and sorted correctly once it’s done. Here’s how to run both at once.

The two-layer approach

Don’t choose between “a folder per project” and “one big library” — you need both layers working together:

  • A project layer that groups everything for this brief in one view, so you can scan the whole set while you work.
  • A library layer underneath, where each reference also carries its normal descriptive tags, so it survives the project and stays findable forever.

A single project tag (or a dedicated space) gives you the first; your usual pattern/mood/source tags give you the second. One reference can wear both — that overlap is the whole point, and it’s why tags beat folders here: a folder would force you to pick project or topic.

Running a project, start to finish

  1. Open a project tag or space at kickoff — redesign-acme, q3-brand.
  2. Capture into it fast. Every reference you grab for the brief gets the project tag immediately (this one is worth tagging at capture — it’s a single obvious tag), so the set stays whole.
  3. Add descriptive tags in your weekly pass. Layer on the normal pattern / mood / medium tags so each item is also indexed for the long term.
  4. Work from the project view. While it’s live, filter to the project tag and you’ve got a tidy board of just this brief’s material.
  5. At the end, don’t delete — demote. Drop the project tag from the keepers (or archive the space). Their descriptive tags remain, so the best references melt back into your library instead of being lost or cluttering it.

Why this beats a project folder

A folder-per-project buries references where you’ll never look again once the brief ships, and a great reference used on one project is exactly the kind you’ll want on the next. The two-layer method keeps projects clean and compounds your library over time — every brief leaves your permanent collection a little richer.

Where Kelu fits

Kelu supports both layers directly: tag a burst of references with a project tag to keep them together, add descriptive tags so they outlive the project, and filter to either view from iPhone, Mac, or web. When the brief ships, the keepers stay searchable in your wider library. First 2,500 items free. For gathering the raw material behind a specific board, see organizing moodboard photos.