How to make moodboards by Breanna Rose

How to make creative moodboards by Breanna Rose

Hello Blog Milk readers, my name is Breanna Rose and I'm a designer + blogger from Minneapolis! While Ana is on vacation ( and hopefully relaxing a ton ), I thought I'd share a little insight into how I create moodboards for clients, which I share quite regularly on my own blog. So without further ado, let's dive into the above moodboard I created especially for this guest post!

First things first, when I'm just starting up with a new client, I always have them answer a basic questionnaire about their brand. This is a great way to open up conversation about the direction their brand is headed in. I find out what they'd like they're overall look + feel to be, who their ideal audience is, etc. etc. While these are all great questions to look into, nothing beats having a client visually show you what they're looking for.

To do this, I have my clients start a pinboard via pinterest specifically for their branding project. I have them pin color palettes, typography, and anything that just feels right for their future brand. Side note: If the client doesn't have pinterest, that's totally okay. Pulling images into a folder on their desktop is fine, too!

To help explain the process further, I created an example pinboard for a fake client! You should be able to tell right off the bat that this client is looking for something beachy, clean, and neutral ... complete with a pop of yellow. Overall, the imagery shown is airy and simple to the core. Normally after seeing a client's pinboard, I would pull my own inspirational images to match - but let's pretend that I've already done that and ended up with this board.

The next step is to actually create a moodboard. The reason I like to do this is because it's a great way to make sure you and your client are on the same page as far as their design aesthetic goes. This part of the process is usually messy for me and involves a lot of trial and error. I drag a bunch of images to my desktop and start placing them on my artboard. I may be a little crazy, but I like to ONLY include images that fit the proposed color palette. This takes extra time, but is definitely worth it in the end. The ending result should be a seamless look into the direction you're taking with your client. Color and all!

This particular moodboard not only includes a color palette plus examples of typography, but imagery to match! It's important to capture the aesthetic you're going for - which can be done by using photography that fits the bill. For example, I used beachy photos or things that were quite simple in composition.

So there you have it ... the process I follow when creating a moodboard. It's honestly one of my favorite parts of the design process, simply because I find it therapeutic to match up inspirational photos and make sure everything looks just right.