A note about Pinterest and mood boards.

When Pinterest first came out, it was more of a passtime for me, just going through all the beautiful pictures, and saving ideas for interiors, or art works for inspiration. Now, it’s one of my go-to tools for designing, especially for developing a brand identity and identity design. I will still visit the site for inspiration and ideas, just like I would Behance and Dribbble, but I love being able to save the pins and create a digital Pin Board.

Developing a Mood Board, whether on Pinterest or in a Brandscape/Stylescape format, helps to create a visual language and reference point for you and your client. When you organize everything you’ve collected, like images, illustration styles, typography and logo styles, colors, textures and patterns, and any other inspiration, you can start to see how all these elements come together and interact, overlap, and create rich layers into your design work. You can also see what your client likes and doesn’t like, and you both have a more tangible reference in developing the overall look and feel of the design.

Another tool that’s helpful that I’ve learned from @thefuturishere is creating a stylescape, similar to a moodboard, but organized in a format much like a storyboard utilizing primary and secondary user profiles, 2-3 keywords, logotype samples, typography samples, color palettes, and examples of identity systems, graphics, print collateral, way finding, packaging, photography, navigation, patterns, materials, printing techniques, interface design, texture, architecture, exhibit design. If you haven’t already seen their videos on it, I highly recommend starting with their episode “How to Design Brand Identity Stylescapes” with @josecaballer.