The Simple Formula for a Successful Mood Board
I love research. In school, my favorite projects were research and writing focused.
I squealed with delight, on the inside, while everyone else groaned when they were announced.
Everyone doesn't love doing research but when it's for your own personal project the process should be enjoyable.
Getting into the state of flow is also fun where hours pass and you didn't even notice because of how focused you were.
The basics of creating a mood board are pretty easy. Find some inspiration, gather it together and you’re done.
I'm going to share my simple formula for a successful mood board to make the process easier and help you find new sources of inspiration.
The Formula for a Mood Board
Research
If you have a general idea of the vibe or look you are going for this will be easy. If you don't yet- don't worry!
This process will help you find your vision even if you don't know it yet. You can of course use Pinterest but if you are looking for something new- here are two websites I recommend.
Same Energy - I can get lost for hours in this website! Once you select an image it will pull similar images.
Designspiration - This is like a more elevated, design centered Pinterest.
Also go offline if that's where you find inspiration. You can be inspired by almost anything and everything.
From a pattern of shadows falling on a wall to high fashion magazine photos to illustrations in a vintage book. Everything is inspiration.
I love looking at photographs, graphic design and art exhibits for fun and new ideas. Make sure to document so you have the image handy for later.
Now that you have tons of images, colors and graphics to pull from you need to edit down.
Time to look for patterns and colors that work well together. Just as important is getting rid of things you might like but don't work well for your specific project.
I'll give you an example. I'm inspired by many things and I love to save images that intrigue or delight me. Bright and playful colors are fun but they don't work for Redesignia.
Edit
For my Redesignia mood board I would take them out because they don't make sense for my brand and website. The mood board is dark, moody and floral and bright colors don't work with that.
I know it's hard but try to narrow it down to 10 items max even less if you can manage it. My guidelines are to have 2-3 images, 5-6 colors and 2 fonts.
Gather
Once you have your final images and graphics it's time to put it all together. You can do this in any program you like or print them out and put them on a sheet of paper. Totally up to you!
Canva is a great free option and Photoshop is a great paid option. Definitely don't buy Photoshop just for this exercise but use it if you already have it. And you're done!
With your mood board you can definitely still change things as your brand or website evolves but at least you have a starting reference point.
Branding
For branding this will be your style guide and how you determine which images, colors and fonts work for your brand.
Websites
For websites this will help you determine which design elements from images, colors and fonts will work best for your website.
Have any questions? Leave a comment and let me know!
