top of page

Moodboards: What They are & Why Your Graphic Designer is Talking About It

Moodboard: A collection of images showing the style and feel of a design. Can be helpful for guiding vision when designing social media posts, creating a website, or print media.


Ex:




“Moodboard” is one of the words you might hear thrown around a lot, and it’s because it’s such a great tool. If done correctly, it is a one page summary of your brand or project’s aesthetic.


Whenever I put together a brand or start a new project, the first thing I do is create a pinterest board and then a moodboard. I use the pinterest board to dump all of the images I feel represent what I want this project to be. 


In project pinterest boards, you can include:

  • Social media post inspiration

  • Color palettes

  • Graphic design styles

  • Images that aesthetically fit your project vision

  • Font examples

  • Website design ideas

  • Product packaging

  • Quotes and phrases

  • Patterns


Once I feel like I have enough images, I take a few of my favorites and throw them into a moodboard. I try to take my time with the layout of the board because I’ll keep referencing it whenever I create a new design for my brand. 


If you are making your own moodboard, you can follow these simple steps


One – Decide on your theme

Is your moodboard for a brand? Specific project? Event?


Two – Decide if you’ll be making a digital or physical moodboard

A digital moodboard can either be made on a computer or a phone. Once you have the design down, you’d just export it and pull up the file whenever you need to reference it. A physical moodboard can still be made on the computer or a phone, but then you would either print out the entire design, or print out each of the images first, and put it together after.


Three – Collect your images and ideas

This is where you would go and find images that you feel represent your project’s vision. You collect images from pinterest, magazines, something you see outside, etc.


Four – Put it all together!

Once you have all the images, you will either print them out and create a physical collage, or open up your graphic design software of choice and create a digital version. If you’re making a digital moodboard, you can make it with adobe illustrator, canva, milanote, or any other option google gives you.


If you’re making a physical board, you can display it on your desk or on a wall that you look at frequently.


Whether you’re making a moodboard, or your graphic designer is making one for you, I hope you understand the concept better than you did before!


Xo,

Kae

Comments


bottom of page