INTENTIONAL MOOD BOARDING
THE MUSE: SEPTEMBER CREATIVE FEATURE
Monthly brand challenge to inspire creative thinking & creative creating. Insights into branding and design trends.
Mood boarding is different for everyone. The way we love to do it here at Braaand is with a lot of variety — a lot of different images, textures, colors, font styles, patterns, etc. A brand with personality isn’t limited to a few attributes and elements that make it bland. It’s made up of all kinds of attributes and elements that give it depth (even the minimal ways).
We are so luckily to live in a digital age where mood boarding ease is at tip of our finger. Below is a practice I use to create an INTENTIONAL mood board and not a mood board that doesn’t look like it tells a story.
STEP 1: PINTEREST BINGE
Add absolutely everything that feels on-brand to a single board. Everything. Anything. No limits. You could be making a jewelry brand & pin a shoe that feels so on-brand. You could be making a clothing company & pin a stationary set that you love the look of. Pin everything that feels like it grasps the essence of what you’re creating.
IMPORTANT: Don’t click into that board until step 3.
STEP 2: MORE
The goal is to not look at this board until it feels like you hit a dead end & there’s nothing to add anymore. I like to re-route a few times until I hit 2-3 dead ends. In this practice, I think we tend to naturally overthink to make something look aesthetic. But although aesthetics are important, you’re trying to capture a feeling, not an aesthetic. Once you’ve hit your dead end—
STEP 3: FEEL INTO IT
Visit your board for the first time. What must go & what must stay? What’s giving the vibe & what’s killing it? What patterns are you seeing in color, typography, textures, facial expressions, scenes, attributes, etc? Does it feel cohesive? If not, what images capture the essence but need to be replaced? This is your moment to un-pin and find new pins until you have about 10-20 photos that really capture the essence of what you’re creating.
Here’s the subtle but completely noticeable mood board clean up after a small project we’re working on.
Effective mood boarding over aesthetic mood boarding.
Simple right?
Via reading this email, yes. But when you get in there and realize you have 100 pins to sift through and condense to 10-20, I promise it will challenge you, and only in the best ways. Effective mood boarding over aesthetic mood boarding.
BRANDING & DESIGN TRENDS
High Contrast Color-Use
Whether it’s black & white or color on color, we’re seeing a surge in light + dark color use.
Emblems
The classic traditional logomark is making a comeback.
Bold Minimalism
In contrast to our all-neutral 2023, 2024 is looking mighty bright.
Ready to put these thoughts into action & build the brand of your dreams?
