Steal My Mood Board Process

It should have been obvious I was going to be a designer. All I wanted to do every weekend was hole up in my room, listen to music and create collages or write.

Expressing my creative impulses has always been my happy place. Every time I neglect it or try to hide it- it comes back with a vengeance totally wrecking my plans. So far this summer has been filled with creative inspiration and awesome web design projects.

Dark, celestial and witchy aesthetic mood board I created this week

Basically, I loved creating mood boards before I even knew the phrase “mood board”. Now I get to create them as part of my job.

Younger me would be so psyched!

Creating an inspiration board from scratch can be intimidating. That’s why I’m going to walk you through my 3 step process to create a mood board.

Before Starting

There’s definitely more options for this step but I’ll focus on Pinterest. You probably have an account which makes it easier.

If your want more options check out other places I find web design inspiration.

Define Your Concept

Make sure you have an idea of what you’re looking for before searching. It’s so easy to get distracted by all the visuals in your feed.

Resist the urge to pin and save things that aren’t relevant just because they look pretty. Easier said than done, I know!

When defining a concept I find it easier to write it out or have a few photos or visuals that illustrate what I’m looking for.

Our Example

An example would be if you wanted to create a brand inspired by Charli XCX’s new album brat, please someone do this thanks!, you could have a screenshot of the album cover, some of the visuals from her music videos and write down a few words to capture the vibe you’re looking for.

Step 1: Gather

Now that your vision is loosely defined we can start searching. One of the best parts of using Pinterest is the search bar can help you if you aren’t sure exactly what you’re looking for.

Staying with our example, you don’t want to just look up photos of Charli XCX because that’s just one piece of the brand.

You want to find things and objects that scream brat even if they aren’t in her music videos.

The good thing about this example is a similar aesthetic or vibe is indie sleaze which will definitely come up with a lot of results on Pinterest. Create a new board and start pinning!

Important note: Don’t try editing in this stage. If an image makes sense on some level save it and keep going. We will do editing later in the next step.

Step 2: Evaluate

After that frenzied afternoon of pinning, literally me 3 days ago, with fresh eyes on another day look at the images you’ve saved.

Do some of them scream brat. Are some of them more like whispers or totally not relevant? Delete or add to another general inspiration board if you don’t want to lose them.

One thing I struggle with is that I can be inspired by so many things. If I tried to mash up everything that inspired me into one cohesive thing it would be a bit too chaotic.

Could be a fun challenge though?

This is your time to be ruthless. Pick 10 of your strongest images or visuals. Dump the rest.

Step 3: Refine

Now it’s time to dissect these visuals to find the common threads. Are all of the photos taken with similar lighting? Do they all look like they are at the same place?

Find the through lines and the most important elements to bring out and retain in your new brand aesthetic. This will help your branding, website, and social media posts look cohesive and also make it easier to create content.

For the indie sleaze plus brat aesthetic lots of photos are taken with a flash and seem to be at secret house parties. Throw in some glitter, grunge and messy eye makeup and you’re starting to define this aesthetic to be able to replicate it.

Why Use A Mood Board?

Besides the fact that it’s fun, having a visual guide or document to refer back to makes creating content online that is consistent with your brand so much easier.

You won’t need to chase trends or change everything on a dime.

Having a mood board for your branding is the first step to creating a consistent and cohesive brand strategy that helps you stand out from the sea of sameness online.

More Design Fun

You’re done! Now let your mood board guide you when choosing colors, photos, fonts and more for your brand. Don’t be afraid to have your mood board and branding evolve over time.

If you want to see my branding mood boards, check out my Pinterest boards and if you love any of my concepts book a consult call so I can create it for you!