A Designer’s Guide to Creating Mood Boards

Whether you want to give a pitch or get across an idea to your team, there is no way you can explain it to them verbally. Visual aid helps people to imagine how the initial project or the design will look like. Mood board is a visually pleasing collection of ideas. You can play with different textures and use a lot of images to paint a full picture in your audience’s mind. As a designer, you need to know how to present your ideas. Here are some of the ways you can create a mood board that is visually appealing.

Take inspiration from your surroundings

You don’t need to do too much effort for this one. There is an inspiration all around you. Just use your phone’s camera to capture whatever pleases you. Real world inspiration is powerful to convince people to understand your point of view or concept. You do not have to be a professional photographer to capture photos, just capture thoughts, impressions, themes, and feelings!

A curator, not a collector

It is easy to get confused between too many ideas. Organize your materials and choose only a few that fit your mood board’s vibe. Think of yourself as the curator in an art exhibition, and not a collector. Rather than putting too many things at one place, strategically put pieces which fit like a puzzle. Make it easy for interpretation so that it can be convincing.

The right format matters

It really affects the type of work you are trying to put across if you know where it would be presented. If you are using email as your desired platform to present your work, then you will need to work harder as people can easily get distracted. However, in person, you can present your thoughts through your own interpretation too as you will be the presenter. The style of both formats would also have to be different. Put yourself in the shoes of the audience and then create the content.

Include text

Some people think the mood board is all about images and visual aid. However, text can be very convincing too, especially if written well. The power of words is enormous. You can include a few words here and then to attract the viewer. Try using big bold words, they will do wonders. You can put one-liner or smart phrases to go along with the images.

You can use these tips to create design plans, project proposals or just pitch an idea to your clients. Remember to have fun with it and follow the theme.