Strategic Mood Boards
Mood boards are a great place to start when you need inspiration for a project. Mood boards put together colors, photography aesthetics, brand elements, typography, and quotes that might have a part or simply be an inspiration within your project.
What makes a mood board strategic?
Strategy is a word floating around in the small business owner world lately and it’s the perfect introduction for a tool most business owners turn to: creating mood boards.
When we think of strategy, we think of guides and actions that help us to further our mission and goals. We’ve compiled a handful of questions to ask yourself when creating a mood board:
Is the item I’m adding going to become an action within my project?
Is the item part of the set up, launch, or marketing of the project?
If this mood board is specific to one aspect of the project (i.e. set up), does this item need to be placed on my current mood board, all mood boards, or a different mood board?
Is this item contradicting any of the other project details?
These questions won’t be perfect for all aspects of your mood board BUT they’re a good start to ensure all the items become action steps you can detail out for your project.
Let’s assume you’re adding a color to the mood board, does this color support your branding for the project AND your business brand? Does the color diminish or highlight the project? If you’re adding a font, is the font legible or should it be used as a design element? Does this font pair well with your business branding or is it causing problems with the cohesiveness of the overall design? Get curious and ask yourself these types of questions, while always referring back to your business branding. At the end of the day, a project is part of your business and should elevate, express, and embody your business mission.
What changes will you make when you create your next mood board? Let us know in the comments!
