A Mood Board is a great way to create a brief or inspire yourself visually for a project. There are so many different ways you can do it – it could be anything: a physical board, a virtual blog, a Pinterest board – you name it. It mixes up different colors, images, illustrations, photos, fonts, textures, and many other elements.

If a Mood Board seems like something you could really use for your project, Setapp can offer you some great tips to create your own inspiration board right away.

Physical Or Virtual Board?

Most people will choose to create a virtual mood board instead of a physical one, because of many reasons. For example – it’s faster and easily editable: you can add any image and remove as many times as you want because it’s not glued or pinned to a board. More to it, there is a huge amount of platforms that you can do it on – special apps, blogs, Pinterest, and so much more.

A virtual board is also more easy to share with other members of the team and it’s easier to find visual resources for creating it.

On the other hand, a physical board can be more of a challenge – it will be harder to find visual elements to add to it because you won’t be able to use the search option and the entire amount of images is going to be smaller than on the internet.

Decide What Your Style Is Going To Be

First things first – before you start, you should determine your style and really focus on it. Because if you don’t, you will not be able to create a clear idea and a focused concept of a project. A mood board might seem like a random mash-up of visual elements and emotions, but it’s not. It has to be organized and purposeful – similar as with Instagram accounts.

So decide before you start – what’s the mood of your board? Are you about to create something sad or joyful? What’s the style of your mood board – is it vintage/hipster or is it very classy?

Choose The Main Colors For Your Mood Board

Colors play a role of high importance in a mood board. It’s the main visual component that connects everything on the board. Therefore you should decide what will be your color palette before you start. This way you won’t waste your time by trying to decide which color to choose from many pictures you have already gathered.

A wisely chosen color can also set a specific mood for your board and express emotions better. To learn more about choosing the best colors for your projects, make sure you read this article on Entrepreneur about The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding – it’s really worth the time.

Decide What Fonts You Will Use

If you decide to use fonts on your board at all, then there are some things you should know and consider. First of all, don’t overuse the fonts – avoid choosing a bunch of different ones, because it will create chaos on your mood board and look not esthetic.

If you struggle to find the fonts that would fit your board perfectly, you might want to check out this list of popular and modern fonts that are free to download.

Look For Inspiration In The Most Unexpected Places

The search for inspiration starts at Google image search and can lead you absolutely anywhere if you’re creating a virtual mood board. Great sources for inspiration and search for materials to use on the board are Pinterest and Tumblr – it’s an unending resource of visual content. And it really depends on your project and idea. If you’re working on something related to previous events, you can also search for images on social media or news websites.

On the other hand, if you decide to be more adventurous and create an old fashioned mood board, you can use old magazines, flyers, even photographs if you wish. Don’t be afraid to experiment and add elements from nature if it fits the concept of your project. A nicely smelling flower or a leaf will give a sensation of scent that will make your mood board even stronger.