Mood board/inspiration board/concept board – whatever you call ‘em they’re incredibly useful things and not just for designers.
I was introduced to the humble mood board at the very start of my design training at the tender age of 16 when I began my BTEC in Three-Dimensional Design; I was taught that it is the starting point of any design brief and indeed they have remained an integral part of my design process ever since. The times when I’ve got too big for my boots and thought I could skip this stage I inevitably headed down all kinds of Alice in Wonderland-esque rabbit holes from which I’ve had to crawl out of and start again.
So, what are they and how can you use them? The best way to describe them might be as a visual brain dump to help you organise your thoughts or ideas. They can be as simple as a page filled with images of sofas when trying to decide what to buy or something more wide-ranging such as a wall filled with what your aspirations are for that year. Basically it’s making something visual that resonates with you in a way that helps bring an idea to fruition - pretty cool eh?
The best part about a mood board is that you can create them in so many ways. The way I learnt all those many moons ago was as basic as you can get; get a load of magazines, flick through and cut-out any images that reflects what you’re trying to achieve. This could be a specific look, like a minimalist lounge for example, or it may be images of a holiday destination for a vision board. You then get a big bit of paper or cardboard (or even a cork message board) and stick your images together in a collage. Again, you can choose whatever form that takes; the images may all overlap in a higgledy piggledy fashion or it may be very structured and ordered. In some ways this analogue approach is the most ‘inconvenient’ but I still find this method the most creative and quite soothing in an increasingly digital world.
The digital methods are numerous and possibly endless but one of the easiest to pick up and run with is by using Canva. It’s free and they have a wealth of templates if you’re unsure where to start. The other quick to run with option is to use something like Pinterest. You can search for all the images you want and pin them to a board, the app then collates it all for you in one place which you can review and refine. You can make your boards private or choose to share them with people if you’re working on something with another person (wedding planning anyone?)
Digital options are such a convenient way of getting your ideas down quickly, I’ve often used them on my way home from a client meeting on the train when ideas from the brief are fresh in my head. Take a look below to see some of our concept boards created for clients:
So there you have it, if you’re stuck on what flowers to have on your table at Easter* then start a Pinterest board with all the images of flower arrangements you like and within 5 minutes I bet you will see a theme emerging – be it colour or shape or style and voilà your mood board has helped you solidify an idea to fruition!
*I realise this isn’t an issue in most households outside of mine and Hyacinth Bucket’s, it is a burden I have learnt to live with