The Designer files collection was assembled by Kellen Design Archives staff between approximately 1994 and 2008 from a variety of sources (on occasion new files continue to be added). Subjects are typically Parsons School of Design graduates, visiting critics, lecturers, or faculty. Folder contents may include press clippings, work samples, ephemera, slides, and such printed materials as business cards, postcards, and pamphlets.

The Ed Benguiat Collection contains original sketches, phototypesetting materials such as photographic prints and negatives, and printed materials relating to the design, production, and promotion of typefaces generated or accumulated during the life and career of type designer, Ed Benguiat. The collection contains objects dating from 1953 to 2001. The collection is organized into two series: I. Graphic Work, and II. Typefaces. The first series contains printed and design work for logos and newspapers, promotional materials such as posters and booklets, or in-progress work such as sketches and paste-ups. The second series contains materials related to the designing and production of specific typefaces, predominately photographic negatives and transparencies, paste-ups, and type specimens.

Giuseppe Zambonini (1942-1990) was an Italian-born and New York-based architect, interior designer, theater director, and teacher. This collection contains materials pertaining to Zambonini's architectural and design career, as well as items related to his tenure as dean of the New York School of Interior Design, founder and head of the Open Atelier of Design, and director of the architecture program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dating primarily from the 1960s through the late-1980s, materials in the collection include sketches, drawings, plans, and blueprints of Zambonini's architecture and interior design projects, as well as photographs of the building sites and finished work. Also included are correspondence, photographs, and printed material related to his teaching and administrative career. Zambonini's work as a theater producer and director in Italy is represented by photographs, scripts, audio, and a variety of posters and programs. Finally, the collection contains a small selection of Zambonini's writings and lectures.

Collection consists of senior-level student work produced during the first five graduating classes of Parsons School of Design's Integrated Design Curriculum program.

The Parsons School of Design Master of Arts (MA) Design Studies program was launched in 2012 with the aim of exploring design as "a field of scholarly research and an agent of social change." The program became a minor in 2018. This collection contains student theses from 2014-2018, representing all four graduating classes in the program's history as a major.