Mood Boards
Source: http://www.viget.com/inspire/getting-moody/
What is a mood board?
Mood boards, being a lot like they sound, are typically used to help establish a style, theme, expression, environment, atmosphere, or feeling. They often consist of found objects from magazine tear outs or digital imagery to fabric or color swatches, but really can be anything that inspires (like a favorite saying, or phrase, for example). We'll collect these inspirational tidbits to help establish a general look and feel direction prior to jumping head first into a full, precise design. It's all about starting loosely and getting specific as you progress through the design process.
Why they are helpful?
For a company providing fixed bid work, one of the worst things that can happen is to spend substantial budgeted hours on getting the design right for an initial presentation only for it to fall flat with the client. By abstracting the design through several variations up front without spending exhaustive hours on it, we can get a general direction to proceed. If a client can see about three distinct stylistic directions and clearly articulate their impressions and feelings of each, we'll get the feedback necessary to create a full composition; thereby moving a crucial step closer to a completed design the client adores. The sin of starting all over again after an initial presentation can often leave both the client and agency defeated. Mood boards allow a designer to start broadly and get more specific over time by including the client in the process along the way. Think "wire framing" in the practice of user experience design. The same can be done with visual design.
How they are used.
The most common outcome of a mood board is a color palette, but they also help in choosing textures, imagery and general inspiration. In graphic design, we use them to help establish typographic directions and hierarchy. Should a design use serif type for a classic feel or san-serif type for a more modern feel? Or, should the design have a mixture of classic and modern? More specific to web design, we can use them to propose button styles, form elements, iconography, photographic treatments, and additional typographic elements (headers, sub-heads, paragraphs, etc.). Consider the term "mood board" as an over-arching reference to at least two more specific meanings:.
1. Inspiration Board
If we think about mood boards being used as a collection or collage of objects and images found to be inspirational we can put them into a somewhat organized composition and refer to it as an inspiration board. An inspiration board usually does not have apparent style or theme (just yet). It serves primarily to gather ideas quickly from which to create an underlying style.
2: Style Board
Style boards can be thought of in a slightly different way. It suggests patterns of colors, textures, or design elements, and can potentially be described by using adjectives. It is generally more compositional in nature and moderately more formalized than an inspiration board in that it begins to hint at a specific design direction.
Source: http://www.viget.com/inspire/getting-moody/
What is a mood board?
Mood boards, being a lot like they sound, are typically used to help establish a style, theme, expression, environment, atmosphere, or feeling. They often consist of found objects from magazine tear outs or digital imagery to fabric or color swatches, but really can be anything that inspires (like a favorite saying, or phrase, for example). We'll collect these inspirational tidbits to help establish a general look and feel direction prior to jumping head first into a full, precise design. It's all about starting loosely and getting specific as you progress through the design process.
Why they are helpful?
For a company providing fixed bid work, one of the worst things that can happen is to spend substantial budgeted hours on getting the design right for an initial presentation only for it to fall flat with the client. By abstracting the design through several variations up front without spending exhaustive hours on it, we can get a general direction to proceed. If a client can see about three distinct stylistic directions and clearly articulate their impressions and feelings of each, we'll get the feedback necessary to create a full composition; thereby moving a crucial step closer to a completed design the client adores. The sin of starting all over again after an initial presentation can often leave both the client and agency defeated. Mood boards allow a designer to start broadly and get more specific over time by including the client in the process along the way. Think "wire framing" in the practice of user experience design. The same can be done with visual design.
How they are used.
The most common outcome of a mood board is a color palette, but they also help in choosing textures, imagery and general inspiration. In graphic design, we use them to help establish typographic directions and hierarchy. Should a design use serif type for a classic feel or san-serif type for a more modern feel? Or, should the design have a mixture of classic and modern? More specific to web design, we can use them to propose button styles, form elements, iconography, photographic treatments, and additional typographic elements (headers, sub-heads, paragraphs, etc.). Consider the term "mood board" as an over-arching reference to at least two more specific meanings:.
1. Inspiration Board
If we think about mood boards being used as a collection or collage of objects and images found to be inspirational we can put them into a somewhat organized composition and refer to it as an inspiration board. An inspiration board usually does not have apparent style or theme (just yet). It serves primarily to gather ideas quickly from which to create an underlying style.
2: Style Board
Style boards can be thought of in a slightly different way. It suggests patterns of colors, textures, or design elements, and can potentially be described by using adjectives. It is generally more compositional in nature and moderately more formalized than an inspiration board in that it begins to hint at a specific design direction.
View our Mood Boards:
Natural Silk
Colour Tip
Warm or Cool?
Colors are often referred to as "warm" and "cool." Orange, red, and pink are considered "warm" colors, while blues, greens, and violet are thought to be "cool." Knowing the theory behind color can help you select the right tone for the feel you're trying to achieve.
Warm or Cool?
Colors are often referred to as "warm" and "cool." Orange, red, and pink are considered "warm" colors, while blues, greens, and violet are thought to be "cool." Knowing the theory behind color can help you select the right tone for the feel you're trying to achieve.