How To: MoodBoard

Why should web-designers moodboard?

What is a mood board one may ask? A moodboard is a layout or arrangement of pictures and inspirations for a project. In some ways, it is a type of inspiration collage.

Mood boarding is an important part of the designing and branding process. Items such as pictures, website design ideas, colour palettes, font ideas and others can all be seen on a moodboard. Moodboards are meant for the designer to help the client, figure out what exactly they want.

Now, some people might see moodboarding as copying other’s ideas, which is not at all its purpose. Moodboards are there to inspire you and sometimes inspiration comes from your peers works. The goal of a moodboard really is to capture the style or essence that you want to pursue for a client’s brand or other.

How to moodboard?

If you’re wondering how to moodboard the answer is simple. There are online extensions and programs that many professional designers use. But, other options are to create a collage by cutting out pictures from magazines or even pasting digital pictures onto PowerPoint or Photoshop. An even easier option is to use Pinterest as you can use the app on your phone or use it on your computer. In order to find the aesthetic, you want for the project, you should always confer with the client to see what they feel their brand represents.

Walking down the street could bring a flash of inspiration such as a building’s architecture or clothes from a fancy or hip store. You never know when you’ll find the perfect aesthetic or essence to pursue so keep an eye open. Now, once you’ve settled on an idea or two, you should start collecting research. That means, finding anything and everything that is pertinent to the aesthetic you’ve chosen. From there, you can narrow down the selected images/ideas you’d like to use for a more precise moodboard. Or, you can keep your moodboard more general. It’s completely your choice, whether you want a very detailed moodboard with only a few selected images or a broader moodboard with tons of inspirations ideas. The key to “mood boarding” is to follow your instinct and to get inspired. All in all, moodboarding is a wonderful tool to help your brain flow with inspiration to create logos, websites and other elements of web design.