Creating the Ultimate Brand Mood Board
Today, we’re talking about creating a brand mood board. But first, an exercise. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and thoughtfully envision the aesthetic you would like to implement into your next design project. Picture the way the images, fonts, color schemes, and details all flow together like a beautiful chorus.
How do you portray this grand mental image to your client or your business partners? Designers everywhere are turning to mood boards as a segue from the initial brainstorming process to the execution of your design project.
What is a mood board? How do I get started? How can I get inspired? We have all of the answers you’ll need to create your own unique mood board.
What is a Brand Mood Board?
A mood board, sometimes referred to as an inspiration board, is a physical or digital collage of images, ideas, fonts, and other assets. These are created to spark inspiration, show the overall aesthetic that you are trying to portray, and brainstorm ideas for your business. Mood boards are most commonly used in fields like interior design, fashion, marketing, and graphic design.
These powerful tools allow you to get a holistic visual look at what you’re trying to achieve. They refine your ideas and in turn, let you properly communicate your design vision to others.
Physical or Digital Mood Board?
When considering creating a mood board of your own, the first thing to consider is the format that is best for your vision and project.
A physical mood board is the long-standing, traditional option. If you look back on your childhood, you may even recall creating a mood board in elementary school. You were likely assigned a subject and used a glue stick to attach magazine clippings, words, and other relevant items to a foam board.
In fact, this is precisely how you’ll create a modern-day physical board. We recommend starting with a foam board and attaching your design elements to the board using spray adhesive. For a more creative, casual look, overlap and layer your images to completely cover the board. If you prefer a cleaner look, you can adhere or pin your images in straight lines like a grid.
A digital mood board is the contemporary alternative. Here, you can organize a collection of digital images that you’ve photographed or saved from the internet. With more and more people working remotely, it is likely that your clients are not local to your area. Digital mood boards are a great way to collect, share, and collaborate with clients digitally.
There are a number of online platforms available where you can create a digital mood board. Some of the most popular programs are the following:
- Canva. Canva is a platform where you can gather and organize digital content for free. Canva’s mood board maker has a plethora of templates and an easy drag-and-drop tool to organize your images. You can also invite collaborators to view or contribute to your mood board on Canva.
- Pinterest. Pinterest is a social media platform that allows you to create digital “boards”. On these boards you can “pin” and organize different images, products, and ideas. This well-known platform can be extremely useful in the brainstorming stage because it contains heaps of images and collaboration tools.
- Adobe Spark. Adobe Spark is an intuitive, easy-to-use software. The user-friendly interface allows you to spend less time trying to figure out how to use the program and more time creating the perfect mood board. Plus, this program is completely free to use.
These platforms are free or generally inexpensive and are packed full of useful features to help you create your unique board.
Create your Brand Mood Board in 5 Steps
Ready to get your creative juices flowing and start piecing together your own mood board? Whether you are going classic with a physical board or are remotely collaborating with others on a digital board, follow these steps to create your mood board.
- Brainstorm your theme and/or project. In this beginning stage of the creative process, you are seeking inspiration both online and offline. You likely already have a vision in your head so now it’s time to think about how you can bring that image to life.
- Collect your design elements. Now, whether digitally or physically, you will start to collect your assets and elements. This stage is where your distinct vision begins to gain new life.
- Organize your board. Take your clippings or files and begin gluing them to your board. Thoughtfully place them in an order that makes sense for your style and your branding. You can’t go wrong when it comes to the layout of your one-of-a-kind board.
- Collaborate and gather feedback from peers. Before presenting your mood board to your superiors or client, it can be useful to gather feedback from your peers. Constructive feedback is vital and may bring something to light that you may have overlooked during the creation process.
- Print, share or present your mood board. Now that you’ve created your artistic masterpiece, gathered feedback, and finalized the details, it is time to present it to the appåropriate audience. Share your mood board with anyone and everyone who needs to know the artistic vision you have for your project, client, or your own business.
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It’s Time to Get Creative
The best thing about mood boards is that they are completely customizable, unique, and fluid to your design needs. They can be physical or digital, messy or organized, large or small. You can present a mood board portfolio consisting of several small boards or you can present one large board that is chock-full of design inspiration.
If you have hit a creative roadblock and aren’t sure where to turn for inspiration, look no further. No Limit Creative has design examples of every kind for you to browse through and seek inspiration from. We don’t mind if you use them in your mood board!
Lacking the Creative Touch?
If graphic design and mood boards aren’t your forté, we are happy to assist. Here at No Limit Creatives, we offer several packages to fit your design needs from monthly unlimited graphics to single-project graphic orders. Want to find out how we can help you with your next design project? Schedule a free consultation with a designer today.