It is literally impossible for anyone to know more about your brand than you do. You know everything by heart because it’s your origin story, your goals, your vision, and your organization or company’s culture. Despite this, you may find difficulty explaining or talking about the qualities of your brand to a designer.
Most designers are incredibly talented and multi-faceted, but they are not mind readers. What is the ideal way for you to best share all about your brand, then? Use a mood board!
What is a mood board and how will it help?
A mood board is very similar to a collage. There’s a lot of text, images, and various objects which visually define your brand and relay the identity of your brand. Mood boards can also serve as a business project’s guide when it’s in the development stage, like a website. That comes in handy whether you’re rethinking a brand that already exists or launching a new business. It also helps when you hire content creators near Phoenix to ensure that you’re on the same page throughout the campaign you hired them for.
How is a mood board created in the first place?
There are two ways of going about this: digitally or physically. It could be done through searching for relevant images online and putting them together, or using a corkboard, some glue, and cut-outs from a stack of magazines.
Physically, you can create a mood board that you can touch and bring with you. Some people use a corkboard, though a foam board base will also work. With the latter, you can spray mount materials and images on its surface. You can find images from resources like old magazines, newspapers, or even photos of your own. You can also look into art/craft supply stores, fabric stores, and the like.
Consider these when collecting images and materials:
- Find a balance – You don’t want to overload anyone’s senses. On the other hand, it’s key to have enough direction there.
- Keep your target demographic in mind – What may appeal to millennials may not appeal to seniors. Keep in mind where they’re from, too, whether rural, suburban, or urban. Also, look at the age range and gender. Are you specifically catering to men, women, non-binary folks, or everyone?
- Remain consistent – A nice image is always good to place on your mood board, but does it tie in with the brand message you want to convey? If the answer is no, don’t bother adding it, no matter how aesthetically pleasing it seems.
Digitally, there are websites that take the bulk of the searching and compiling work from you. You can work hand-in-hand with a content creation agency, too. Check out Moodstream, which is done by Getty Images and Pinterest, where you can grab images from curated “pinboards” that others have made.
Conclusion
One of the best ways to identify and develop your brand is to have a mood board. Making one can be done online through websites like Pinterest, while a physical one just needs a foam baseboard and materials from old magazines and the like. You can also use it as a guide if you’re still building your brand identity.
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