How I Build Mood Boards for My Art

Mood boards are one of the most underrated tools in a designer's toolkit. They help you get out of your head and into a visual space before you start making decisions.

My process starts physical. I gather magazine clippings, printed photos, fabric swatches, color chips — anything that feels right for the project. I arrange them on a poster board and let myself react to what I see.

Then I take it digital. I recreate and expand the mood board on Pinterest, pulling in more references and refining the direction.

Here's my full step-by-step process.

What a mood board is

A mood board is a collection of typography, images, colors, fonts, and overall look and feel you want your brand to have. It is a very important part of the design process that shouldn't be skipped for branding or getting an overall idea for how you want your brand to feel. We create a mood board by gathering inspiration from different sources and creating a collection, or "board" to share with others as needed.

Collecting inspiration

Collect inspiration from other websites, real life photography, magazines, etc., and you can organize everything into a real, physical board with printed images cut and glued to large poster board or digitally through a Pinterest board (they can be secret or public boards).

Option 1 - Create a Physical Board

View full size

Physical mood board example

We start by finding images, printing and cutting them out. Organize them on the board so you can clearly see them all. Make the cutouts different sizes. You're done!

or Option 2 - Create a Pinterest (or similar) digital board

View full size

Digital Pinterest board example

Create a new board with a personal or business account. Under "Saved" click the + sign, then board. Under "Create Board" add a name. Now you're ready to add image pins. Use the search bar at the top to look for different images (pins). When you find an image, click it, click the red "save" button and click the small arrow next to the save button to change boards you want to add it to (if needed). Repeat until you have as many in your board as you want. You're done!

After you fill the poster board or digital board with pins or images, that's it! You have your board! Now you can focus on either designing yourself with similar ideas, or you can use these boards to send to others to show your ideas as a visual to someone else.