Moodboading 101

Look no further because we are about to give you the 411 on Moodboards. If you have never heard of Moodboards before they are essentially the key foundation in creating almost anything whether it may be planning your Instagram feed, visualizing your future business, or simply what inspires you. This inspirational board can be a tool to help you put your ideas in place and give you a better idea of how it may actually look like in building your next creative project. These collages of pictures, texts, prints, colour palettes will eventually guide you in your work.

Can I use a Moodboard?

The answer is YES! Anyone can create a Moodboard for anything. Many might think only people in the creative field use this tool but even you can use it for your everyday life. This concept serves two main purposes and that is to refine your ideas and also communicate them. 

It helps to refine your ideas by gathering all that jumbled mess into something you can actually visualize and put together. With this, it gives you a sense of direction on what you want to do and the little pieces that can come together to create it, like a puzzle. Whether you are starting from a blank slate or already have an idea you want to hone down on, this will give you the clarity you need before making any bigger steps. 

Sometimes it may be hard to describe what your vision is to a client or even a friend and with a Moodboard it will give them some groundwork to build off on. When working with a client it is always a good idea to have different versions of Moodboards so they can choose between multiple ones and form an opinion to see what direction they are exactly going for. 

How to get started

First, depending on the project you must decide whether you want a physical or digital Moodboard. If you are working on something more physical like redecorating your room, you might want to consider a Moodboard a bit more tangible if you are incorporating fabrics and different textures so you can really get a feel of what the end result can be.

The second step is to brainstorm your ideas and draft out what type of theme you are trying to portray to whoever the audience is. You probably have some sense of direction of what your vision is, so jot down any keywords that inspire the idea, colour palettes you may want, the type of look you are trying to achieve, etc. The best way to get inspiration is through visuals. Whether it may be from Pinterest, movies, magazine pages, or Instagram, the possibilities are endless! 

Gathering all your ideas and actually putting them into motion is the next step. After collecting all the elements you have, try putting them all together and see what you come up with. Take the inspiration you had in the beginning and challenge your creative mind to think outside of what you had intended. Switch up fabrics, designs, fonts, materials, etc. This will allow you to really get your creative juices running and discover ideas you had no intention of implementing but was a blessing in disguise. Now that you have more material you can work with, putting the samples together to create harmony is the last step. Avoid any colours or fabrics that might be clashing so when you take a step back and look at it as a whole, it looks like one cohesive breath of fresh air. 

The Finished Product

Now that you have your final Moodboard go out and showcase it to the world! It is something you should be proud of and gain inspiration within the board itself to create even more. Don’t be afraid to change it up if one particular element turned out to be a bust. Life is about trial and error and if one thing doesn't work there will always be another solution. 

Let us know what your thoughts are on Moodboards or if there is anything you think is essential when making a project like this. We would love to hear your feedback!