Mood boards and its advantages

You’ve probably heard about a “mood board”, but really what is it and WHY on earth should you care? Right?

Well, a mood board is a document (physical or digital) that consists of a collage of images, text, patterns, and sometimes even objects.

It is also sometimes called an inspiration board. I just love the term just because it so accurately describes the main purpose of it. Giving you inspiration!

Whether you’re creating your own logo or will end up using a professional designer, making use of a mood board will help speed up the process immensely. Why? Because concepts like modern, feminine or rustic just have different meanings to each of us. A mood board helps to show the overall mood and visual concepts you have in mind for your logo.

So let’s take a look at a basic mood board and all the elements that should be included:

Imagery

You can source them from the internet, magazines, illustrations, photographs, etc. My personal favorite however is Pinterest. With its new Pinterest Lens tool, it is now so easy to use your phone’s camera to find visually similar images. These images can either be literal or figurative. A wedding cake baker can add images of beautiful cakes (the literal thing) or some images of soft, beautiful flowers (figuratively referring to femininity and beauty).

Colors

When choosing colors, it is important to keep in mind that colors evoke emotion in people and thus ads an unconscious association to your brand.

When choosing color combinations there are a couple of design principles to keep in mind.

To help you with your scheme, you can upload your images to online sites like Adobe at https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ or even Canva at https://www.canva.com/color-palette/

These sites will automatically help you by generating the perfect color scheme, based on the picture you’ve uploaded.

Texture and Patterns

Textures and patterns evoke hidden messages, for example. Gold will give the feeling of luxury. Repeating patterns gives a feeling of energy and motion. A rustic wood texture gives a natural, down to earth feel, etc.

Letters and Text

Different fonts also have added value in terms of hidden messages. A script font will be more feminine and a serif font more formal and professional. Lower case fonts give a more informal feel and upper case a more formal feel.

The text you add can also include your vision for your business, for example, the word fun, energy, youthful or soft, feminine, and comforting.

Advantages of a mood board

Helps you get started

When you start with your logo and brand and am not sure about what you want, starting a mood board can help you give direction.

Give you control

There is nothing worse than having this idea in your head of what you want, only to receive a design that is totally NOT what you wanted. A mood board gives you the control to set the tone and direction of what you want.

Quick and easy to create

With the help of Google, Pinterest, and easy design software like Canva, you can create your own mood board.

Seeing the big picture

A mood board helps you and your designer see the bigger picture. It helps to ensure that all designs keep within the overall style, feel, and colors of the brand.

Act as a compass

With a mood board, you have a compass you can use for your designer (even if you change designers), your web developer, interior decorator, or whoever interacts with your brand, to ensure that the look and feel don’t get lost in between there personal style. (My motto behind my designs!)

So with all the advantages of a mood board, it really forms part of your overall brand boards (you can see examples here).

If the thought of creating your own seems overwhelming, let me help you create your own, professional mood board that can act as your business brand compass.