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How do Mood Boards Align Creative Teams with the Brand’s Vision?

Mood boards are used by the creative department to carry out the further branding process seamlessly. They are widely used in visual art that includes branding, fashion, graphics etc. It is widely used to craft a brand identity in the minds of the workforce behind the brand. The visual tools serve as a bridge between abstract ideas and concrete execution, ensuring that every member of a creative team is unified in their understanding of the brand’s identity and goals.

Mood boards can be defined as an arrangement of images that evoke certain feelings or emotions. They can be made up of anything from photos to textiles- anything that conveys the desired “vibe” or feeling. Advertising mood boards are important as they save time & energy. These basically help you find inspiration & also helps you visualize & communicate design concepts.

Evolution of Mood Boards in Advertising:

Mood boards are used by brands & individuals alike to communicate ideas & concepts visually. These were used by artists during the Renaissance as a way to collect images & ideas for their paintings. During the 18th century, mood boards became more formalized, with the emergence of collage. A collage is said as ‘the art of assembling disparate elements’ often on paper into a cohesive world. This technique was popularized by French artist Georges Braque & German artist Kurt Schwitters. These boards were also known as “scrapbooks” for writers & poets during this period & were used to collect snippets of text or imagery that could be used in their work. In the 20th century, these were first popularized by celebrity designers like French designer Coco Chanel & American interior designer Dorothy Draper.

Why do mood boards work?

These are collages that are approachable and easy to understand- even for people with little design experience. Motivational, energetic, & bright words work well for establishing a tone of voice for the content to be created. If you are to design an app for a grocery delivery e-commerce store, you can use a mood board wherein visual elements related to the product are implemented. It sets a brand tone and a design thinking cycle. Purpose of mood boards:

  1. Quickly convey the product’s tone.
  2. Align interpretations & future design directions.
  3. Generate ideas to collect design inspiration together in a single place.
  4. Tone-of-voice words.
  5. Interaction-design patterns.

How do mood boards help creative teams to envision the brand?

These boards can serve many purposes starting with organizing the inspiration around a project. They can be a valuable resource in the branding strategy throughout the project. It is imperative to keep the style & aesthetics consistent & also on track with a client’s goals & expectations.

Here is how creative teams are helped via mood boards:

  1. Gain a direction in for a brand’s visual identity & personality:
    These boards help designers dive deep into their creative side as these boards act as visual cues. In the creative direction process, it helps to blend different concepts, inspirations & moods in a coherent way.
  2. Elicits creativity:
    Visual references helps creative in campaign visualization. It supports in ideating fresh & creative ideas for projects at hand. The output drawn out is different for each & every creative person in the department. Each one has his/her own interpretation of feelings & emotions.
  3. Sets the foundation:
    The foundation acts as a reference point for the creative team to develop fresh & creative ideas for projects. This is because mood boards vary depending on the designer’s interpretation of their feelings about a specific brand/ design.
  4. Acts as a communication tool:
    These boards exude versatile ideas & can help create cohesive communication across departments. The whole creative team can brainstorm while in a discussion & come up with ideas to create compelling content. They are a visual inspiration to all the creative team members to start crafting compelling content or strategy.
  5. Creative teams can visualize the end result:
    The collage when put together can help the creative team envisage the potential end branding strategy & communication style of the product. It also formulates the brand voice & sets the tone.
  6. Visual metaphors:
    In setting the brand aesthetics, these boards help with their visual metaphors. These are an important part of modern advertising & branding, that can be included if they fit in within the brand’s values & tone. These visual metaphors only elevate the content creativity & sets the brand in full action if everything works as per plan.
  7. Formats of mood boards:
    These boards can be in digital or physical formats. Preferably the physical boards can help the designers & other creative people to think outside of a confined screen. Digital format, at times, may not allow that.

Why do mood boards work?

  1. Set a direction for your project.
  2. Collect existing material for visual inpiration.
  3. Add inspiring imagery.
  4. Add instances of motions & sounds.
  5. Include color, fonts & style.
  6. Remain open to inspiration.
  7. Explain your thinking.
  8. Collaborate & build on your ideas on a marketing psychology.
  9. Ask for feedback.

Conclusion:

One of the biggest advantages of a mood board is that it’s a valuable tool for communicating with clients & other team members. Anyone on the creative team can create the board and they can be effective when collaboratively used. It can also be used as a persona-creation process that helps to establish the brand identity.