Mood Boarding – What it is and Why it’s Important

Creating a strong brand identity is an essential requirement for standing out in the competitive marketplace we live and work in today. As a small business owner, you know how important it is to ensure that your first impression is the right one. So where do you start? What’s the first step when it comes to creating a unique brand identity. For us, it’s usually a mood board.

What is a Mood Board

A mood board is a visual collage of gathered inspiration that we feel captures the aesthetic, tone and personality of your brand based on our discovery process. We use it as a way to communicate a general direction we’re looking to head in when designing your brand identity.

This document is often filled with imagery from a plethora of different sources all across the web. We’ll pull logos, branded items, color palettes, letterhead, business cards, anything and everything that could give you a better impression of what we’re looking to create.

Why Mood Boarding Matters

Mood-boarding is one of those steps in the creative process that many feel they’re able to skip or do as they work but we’d argue a mood board is one of the most vital pieces to the puzzle when it comes to clear communication and keeping the branding process on track. Without a solid amount of inspiration material, clients are left in the dark and often aren’t completely satisfied with a finished product. This results in unnecessary revisions, elongated timelines, and subpar creative.

There have been many times in the creative process where I’ve found that I did an insufficient amount of inspiration hunting and mood boarding and I’ve found myself stuck, wasting time trying to come up with something rushed rather than quality.

Clarity, Consistency, and Effective Communication

Often times a mood-board is a client’s first glimpse of their own brand. It’s a magical moment where they feel that real connection with a brand specialist as they see everything that’s been only in their head for so long, come to life. Mood boards offer a clarity of vision for clients, a consistent aesthetic and feel for designers to work with, and an effective line of communication at the start of the branding process that gets everyone on the same page right off the bat.

How We Can Help

At Mayhem Agency, we understand the importance behind doing each step in the process with purpose. We don’t cut corners and we know how imperative it is to keep our clients well informed of the work we’re doing for them. Need to craft a brand that shines? Or maybe you’re just looking for some creative services. Either way, feel free to reach out to us at joey@mayhemagency.com