Most images originate from Total Design's own company archives and were made accessible by the Dutch Archives of Graphic Designers (Nederlands Archief Grafisch Ontwerpers-NAGO). Generally, these archives cover the period between 1963, the year the agency was established, through to the early 1990s, when it turned into a strategic communication agency.

Records from the years 1955 - 1963
However, there are also records from the time prior to the establishment of Total Design, the earliest ones dating back to 1955. The various designers who went to work for the new agency in 1963 brought along their clients. In this way, older files found their way into Total Design's archives as well.

In the case of Wim Crouwel these clients included the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum and others, while Benno Wissing brought in the elegant Amsterdam department store Metz & Co. and Ben Bos brought in Ahrend.

Additions from other archives
Total Design's archives have connections to countless other archives and collections. In order to convey a fuller picture of the agency's designers, records from the archives of Jurriaan Schrofer, Jolijn van de Wouw, Wim Crouwel and Benno Wissing have been added to the agency's own archives.

Work by these designers from both before and after their time with Total Design is also on view. The collection includes almost 1,800 images of their work, chiefly originating from Schrofer's archives. He joined the Total Design board in 1972. He was an experienced graphic designer, who introduced a new impulse for experimentation to the agency. It was also thanks to him that Total Design began to concentrate more and more on graphic work.