I’ll use the color picker to work on a color palette, any typography to work on logo design or as inspo for the type to include, and for the photography style and different patterns or textures I want to use in that brand identity. You break that aesthetic down into smaller chunks and pinpoint what resonates with you from each thing in your board.Ī mood board that captures your personality is the basis of your brand identity design. You know the style you like, but you’re not sure how to break it down into the individual components of design, and that’s where a mood board comes in. It can be so challenging for non-designers to create their branding. You’ve made your mood board, now what do you do with it? Keep playing and rearranging until you it just feels right! Incorporate some simple textures (ex: marble, snakeskin, paper, wood, leaves, clouds, etc) or patterns (ex: polka dots, plaid, stripes, herringbone, etc), in addition to photographs of people, places + things. Incorporate other monochromatic or neutral colors to create balance. For example, if you make high-end luggage, you could uses photos of a suitcase, a chic traveler walking through the airport and a luxury resort. Rich in detail vs minimalīalance images with a lot of detail (for example, a bustling city street) with something more simple (like a logo on a solid background) The final product vs the vibeīalance photos of your actual product/service with others that just add to the mood. Let the star images breathe, by surrounding them with simpler images and whitespace. Not every image can be a focal point–or you won’t know wherre to look! Some are the star and some are the supporting cast. You want to balance: Points of emphasis vs. Next, look back at your source images and try to find others that will complement them, without stealing the spotlight.Ĭontrast is key. Start with 2-3 images that jump out at you the most–the ones you absolutely MUST use–and add them to your template. Now, you don’t want to be generic or lean too heavy on these, but they’re good jumping-off points. Whether it’s skincare or the movie industry, there’s iconography that people associate with it and a culture you can draw from. When capturing the vibe, the last piece is the visuals, graphics – the touchstones of the industry you’re in. For my brand, I love animal print and high contrast like something luxurious paired with a metallic, like steel. If you’re in construction, you could incorporate close-ups of wood or concrete. Is it soft, rough, metallic? Are there any textures that just feel right to you? For example, if you work in something natural, you could incorporate textures like grass, leaves or clouds. I also really love incorporating textures. Color has so much emotion and psychology tied to it that if there are any that stand out immediately, that’s a great point to brainstorm off of. We all have favorite colors and colors we hate. Does it capture that mood?Īs you can likely imagine, colors are an excellent reference point. Everything echoes back to the mood board. I’ll start by making them a mood board with lots of options, they’ll give feedback, and we’ll make tweaks, and once we’ve landed on the right one, we refer to it throughout the design process. When working with a client, it’s something we can always measure against and return to. It helps me set the objective for the whole brand project. Not all designers do them, but they’re key for me. Moodboards give you a vision to measure againstĪs you build out your brand identity, the moodboard can guide all of your other decisions: type, colors, photography, logo. This is why mood boards are so important. But if you don’t set the stage and create that vision, how will you know what you’re working towards? The details will all be disconnected – you’re working with the little pieces, not the big picture. Mood boards are the first pass at capturing the vision of a brand. You don’t have any context or vision for what the brand itself is supposed to look like – you need the big picture! You need to know the vibe you’re trying to create before you can get into the little details like a logo. That is how I feel when someone starts the design process with a logo. You’re like, “wait, back-up, I need context. Have you ever had someone start talking to you right in the middle of a conversation? Like they’re just jumping right into the action, and you have no idea what’s going on. Moodboards set the tone for your entire brand And if you don’t figure out how that personality actually translates to visuals first, you can end up with the boring, generic & borrowed branding. Why you should make a mood board for your brandīrand personality is one of the biggest differentiators.
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