Mood boards, or aesthetic boards as they are sometimes referred to on Pinterest, are most often a collage of images that are used to portray an idea, concept or mood (hence “mood” board).
Traditionally, mood boards were a tool used by fashion designers, photographers, stylists and other individuals in the design industry. They use them as a way to be able to capture the ideas they wanted to use in a project, but with the rise of Instagram and the ever-growing list of trends and visual aesthetics to follow, the mood board has been adopted by people of all professions.
Although the mood board was originally mostly used by those in the design industry, mood boards are a great tool for visual communication between the creator and their client, but also a starting direction for the creator.
Mood boards are also useful for businesses when creating their brand for the first time, rebranding or even creating and advertising new products. A mood board is not only great to conceptualize ideas, but also a visual way of showing potential clients and customers what you have to offer them.
People and professions that benefit from making and using mood boards include (but are not limited to):
- Fashion designers
- Photographers
- Interior designers
- Web designers
- Businesses
- Artists
- Writers
Beyond this, mood boards can also be useful when moving into a new apartment or house, figuring out your new wardrobe and parties, etc. If you are planning something and don’t know where to start, a mood board is a great tool to help you visually show what you are aiming to create.
However, not everyone who makes mood boards creates them for a project. Mood boards can be a fun and creative outlet in your free time, and many Tumblr and Pinterest users create entire boards dedicated to their favorite books, movies and TV shows.
Creating a mood board
If you would like to start making a mood board and are unsure of where to start, a good piece of advice would be to start a board on Pinterest.
Pinterest is a great tool for creating mood boards as you can search by key terms to find images that match the idea, theme or mood you are trying to convey.
Once you have a large collection of photos, you can pick a few pictures from your board (usually a minimum of four and a maximum of 12 images for a collage) and you can start creating your mood board.
There are several great websites you can use in order to create it, including Pic Monkey and Canva. You can also use Photoshop if you have the software.
Once you have arranged the pictures the way you like, you can edit them as you see fit within your website or software of choice.
When you have finished, you will have a great new mood board. You can share your creation on Pinterest or Tumblr or save it to your computer for inspiration.