The Right Way To Create Your Next Moodboard

Ever had an idea of how something should look but unsure how to get it across? Mood boards (or cookbooks) are ideal to quickly share your vision. We use them before we start any creative or brand project. The most important thing is to get vibe and vision across.

Wherever the inspiration comes from (in your own category or beyond, preferably beyond).You receive visual inputs every day. When you walk to work, you catch the tube posters, you catch ads on your phone, you remember something from TV and you see something on your way to lunch. Good inspiration isn’t just typing it into Google, it’s a collage in your brain that is just sitting dormant, ready to be used to help you put together all the best ideas you’ve seen throughout your entire conscious life.

We find inspiration is the foundation for not only delivering good work but also for bringing our clients along for the journey. It gives discussion points to go through together, no matter how fine a detail you’re looking at together. Think of it as before you make a presentation – it’s always best to map out what you’re going to say first, right? This is the same logic.

We find clients rarely want to look like other people in their space, that’s why they come to us. So the more varied and diverse the examples that we find, from across everywhere and anywhere, the better job we can do at carving out a new space – and that’s what makes a brand into an industry leader.

Although, all the most stunning visual references in the world won’t help if there’s no structure. At Wildish & Co. we spend a lot of time organising our mood board around core themes or ideas. The more interesting way this is done – whilst remaining relevant to the brand’s value, the better the output. This means the better and more varied images you discuss, the better and more varied the final creative will undoubtedly be.

Initially, it’s best to pull together a vibe. Scandi? Latin? Grown-up? Playful? You don’t have to pick one, but it’s a useful jumping-off point for collecting visual cues within a feeling or a mood. At this stage, you don’t need to overthink it – just add things you like and have something to say about. It can be the smallest detail, background, texture, icon, colour or font.

Now, we’ve pulled together a feel for a direction, we’ve probably picked out what works and what doesn’t and discussed why. We’ve narrowed down & refined the core colours and started to carve out what the brand is going to look and feel like. At this stage, it’s still quite subjective and that’s ok. It’s just direction and already, a direction begins to work itself out.

Overall, the most important thing is to leave this phase of the workstream with a consolidated direction. If it isn’t clear how to move forward, you might need another round of mood boards, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Feel like Mexican is the way to go but not sure how time to look at a Mexican inspired mood board.

Because the knack in getting it right is not how it looks, it’s to consolidate and curate inspiration with a view to moving forwards – as a joined-up team, united, both client and agency together.

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Wildish & Co. are a brand & creative agency with studios in London and Wiltshire. We re-invigorate emerging brands, future-proof the world’s most trusted businesses and helping startups catch their big break. For more, visit wildishandco.co.uk