Moodboard is a collection of visually represented ideas that improve a designer’s workflow and enhance communication. It also minimizes the risks of the client’s rejection of the concept and saves the designer’s time and nerves.
The use of mood boards is not limited to just one particular field. Creative professionals like UI designers, Fashion designers, interior designers, Photographers, and many more use it to build a visual framework to generate better ideas. Mood boards are meant to showcase the right mood and bring the emotions expected from a product. It is also helpful in effectively collaborating with clients and team members.
Purpose of mood boards
Establishes a strong foundation - Mood board design establishes a visual representation of what the result could look like.
Helps to refine ideas - Mood board is the beginning of the design process of a product where you explore your imagination and try to find clarity before actually getting into the process.
Communicates ideas to others - Mere words can’t explain a design idea to a client. To help them visualize, you need a mood board. More information on how to improve client communication can be found here.
Organizes the inspiration around a project - One doesn’t put much thought when brainstorming and collecting inspiration. Although, when it comes to presentation, the mood board should be well organized and tell a cohesive story.
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. - Linus Pauling
How to create a mood board?
There is no "One Size Fits All" to creating a mood board meaning that there are different formats and styles. Cohesiveness sets the theme of the mood board as well as the final design based on it. For example, a construction company website might have imagery of buildings, and abstract architectural themes and colors would be well matched.
Know about the project or visual design problem
Understanding your audience is essential when creating a mood board so that your audience relates to your brand values and products. It is critical to select the proper color for your brand in order to attract customers.
Set up the tone for the project
Ask questions and make a list of keywords that emits the emotion of the project so that you’ll have a clear idea.
Gather resources based on the project idea
In this phase, try to collect relevant images and elements based on the questions asked in the previous step. Focus on making a collection of relatable visual representations.
Few inspirational websites:
Look for inspiration in the real world
Most designers rush online for mood board examples and inspiration, and Google surely has a vast collection of eye-catchy images but do not limit yourself to one source. Go beyond the digital media, and take inspiration from the outside world.
Collaborate with the design team to get more ideas from different perspectives
Before collaborating with the UI UX design team, you’d need to organize your images and elements accordingly. Also, this is a good chance to filter out some of those images that you might not like or look a little out of the theme.
You can take the help of google slides to organize your ideas, all you have to do is drag and drop all the images and arrange them according to the story you want to tell. Then you can ask your UI UX design team to come and give feedback on the mood board.
Things to include in a mood board
Feedback
Taking many opinions always extends one’s perspective and opens the door to more creativity and ideas. One needs as much feedback as possible to understand whether the mood board aligns with the brief and is easily understandable by everyone.
4 Most popular tools to create mood boards
Best tools to get mood board sample and to create mood boards, that are used by various designers
Examples of Mood boards
Mood board for UI UX Design
Mood board for Website Design
Mood board for Interior Design
Mood board for Fashion Design
Takeaway
There are no rules for creating a mood board. Try to only pick the most relevant images or elements that speak your mind. Designers get a chance to have creative freedom during this phase which also helps to give direction to the project. For assistance in creating mood boards or for any other UI UX design services get in touch with Ui Ux designers at Neointeraction design.