Australian designs, Victorian designs, British designs, American designs
If you know the number and class of the design you require, you do not need an index. See the Australian designs page on this guide to find out how staff can request the design from our collection.
If you do not know the design number or the class number, you can consult one of the indexes listed below, or ask a librarian to do this for you.
To ask a librarian to help, you can phone (03) 8664 7002 or click on the Ask a librarian link on the State Library Victoria website. This takes you to our online inquiry form. A librarian will respond to your enquiry.
Print Indexes
Content includes name of registered owner of each design, date of application, design application number, Class number, name or nature of each article (eg chair),and subject index.. From 1907 to 1981, Australian Class numbers are listed. From 1982 to 1986, International Class numbers are listed for applications; and Australian Class numbers are also included, but only in the list of registered owners. From 1987, only International Class numbers are listed. From 1982, the name or nature of the article is listed as part of each entry, but there is no separate alphabetical index of articles.
Concordance for years 1982 to 1993
Designs: application to acceptance concordance... 1982-1993
Print journals - Name and Class listings section
From 1906, these details are published weekly in
Includes names of applicants for designs (from 1906+), together with Class numbers, brief descriptions of designs, dates filed, and application numbers. Also included are lists of numbers of designs officially registered, together with dates registered. The journals are held offsite, and issues need to be pre-ordered by staff. The Australian Official Journal of Designs (2002 onwards) is searchable on the Designs Searchable Journals database on the IP Australia website..
Online database for Australian designs dating from 1973 onwards.
If it is an earlier design and you do not know the design number or the class number, see the Australian design indexes page on this guide. Registrations not active between 1973 and 1985 are not included on the database and will be in the print indexes and paper collection..
Available on the IP Australia' website. The Australian Designs Search database includes all applications and registration from 1986 onwards and all registrations from 1973 to 1985 that were still active in 1985.
Use the 'Quick Search' option to search by product name, owner or design number..You may need to search using varied product names to find the product you want. Example: flag.
'Advanced Search' gives you more search options, including design number, date and classification code. There is a link to the Designs Classification Codes.
Example: Class 16-01 is made up of:
Class 16 Photographic, cameras cinematographic and optical apparatus.
Sub-class -01 photographic cameras and film cameras.
Individual design applications
Although most of the designs held in the collections of the National Archives of Australia have not been individually indexed or digitised, it is worth searching their NameSearch database, as some individual records appear here.
Go to RecordSearch on the National Archives of Australia website to find NameSearch. You can search NameSearch by individual family name, using the surname of the designer and selecting the category Copyright, patents, trademarks, which gives you a date range option. You can then order a copy of the design, if it has not already been digitised.
