External references and reusable purposes
This library catalogues external inspiration and reference material. Auspicious layouts, authored campaign/toolbox designs, working mockups, component internals, personal swatches and assembled project palette artboards stay in Figma. They are outside the searchable reference catalogue. Source files and previous audit records are retained.
One library, five purposes
Purpose describes what we can study in a reference. A reference may have several purposes; these labels do not replace visual tags or make claims about who created an image.
| Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|
| Visual inspiration | Photography, objects, packaging, textures, botanical ingredients, colour relationships |
| Brand systems | Identity worlds, brand guidelines, wordmarks, palette documentation, brand toolkits |
| Layouts & interfaces | Guideline page examples, campaign/lookbook structure, editorial composition, navigation, asset portals |
| Mockups & templates | External presentation mockups, reusable layout templates, device or print staging examples |
| Strategy & research | Positioning frameworks, diagrams, brand narratives, reference charts and research communication |
Colour, ingredients, typography, fragrance and materials are subjects or existing attributes. They use keywords, the existing colour/material filters and these same purposes. They do not require a dedicated feature or a new top-level section.
A brand colour-page reference can be useful for both Brand systems and Layouts & interfaces. An external palette chart can be a valid reference once its origin is established. A personally constructed palette remains project work. Dominant pixel colours describe the image; they do not establish official brand colour specifications.
Keep the dimensions independent
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Source | The depicted brand or identified source; Unknown when a name cannot be established |
| Agency / creator | The credited author or studio, when established |
| Format | Existing visual format: photograph, web page, print layout, illustration, design board, etc. |
| Purpose | One or more of the five study purposes above |
| Figma board | The original Figma page on which the reference was saved |
| Board section | The original section/group context within that page |
| Keywords and visual tags | What is depicted or relevant: colour, ingredients, material, objects, layout details and cultural terms |
Figma board is visible beside Purpose in the library filters. Board section is in More and is scoped by the current board/filter choices. Each viewer has a Figma-board link and a section button; section navigation sets both the original page and section, and both survive a shared URL/reload. Source remains a separate brand/source filter.
Eligibility before tagging
- Check visibility and the containing composition. Hidden layers and dividers are not independent references.
- Identify an independent external asset. An uploaded raster file alone does not establish external authorship.
- Exclude authored layouts, project mockups, component internals and personal swatches. Preserve original files and record the reason by node ID.
- An external photograph placed inside an authored collage may be catalogued independently if its reference status is established. The constructed collage, added swatches and layout are not imported as a new reference.
- A section label is context, not proof of source or authorship. The Nanushka colour section contains an Auspicious logo; that logo is excluded rather than attributed to Nanushka.
- Keep external decks and sequences together through existing Read together collections. Do not split a mockup contact sheet into fictitious standalone designs or import placeholder rectangles as objects.
The two newly inspected boards
These are mapped, not imported. Candidate images still need the normal complete visual/source review and export pass.
| Board | Candidate assets | Excluded image nodes | Held for authorship review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation Best Practice (1776:3161) | 108 | 39 | 0 |
| Colour & Gradients (510:103) | 69 | 11 | 1 |
The presentation map omits Auspicious campaign/toolbox compositions, component internals, hidden embedded assets and the unconfirmed editable Classified working composition. It retains candidates for external lookbooks, resource portals, presentation pages, strategy diagrams and mockup templates.
The colour map selects individual uploaded reference assets, rather than authored palette frames. It omits hidden images, the Auspicious mark and authored GPT/colour exploration assets. One uploaded palette chart is held because its authorship is not established.
The maps are saved in tags/reference-scope, with source node IDs, original hierarchy and explicit exclusion reasons. They are reusable input to the import process; candidate counts are not completed-catalogue counts.
Existing records and corrections
Eleven previously catalogued records explicitly identified as own work or Auspicious V1 mockups are excluded from the searchable catalogue. This is an eligibility change; no original image or manifest was deleted. Other brands are not excluded merely because their name contains Auspicious, and ambiguous records are not relabelled from a brand name alone.
Purpose suggestions for existing material are seeded conservatively from saved captions and formats. They are not a newly completed manual review of every legacy reference. Explicit purpose labels, including an intentionally empty list, are preserved. Human corrections to purpose and library scope take precedence over machine suggestions and the initial record policy.
The fixed visual vocabulary is unchanged. The reusable purpose list and record-scope policy live in reference-model.json. No Own work tab, template builder, palette editor or topic-specific research interface is added.