Founder and CEO of Netwave Interactive Marketing, a branding, strategic and creative marketing agency.
getty
When you’re starting a marketing initiative that revolves around visuals — whether a simple logo design, a new ad campaign or a full rebrand — getting everyone on the same page is absolutely crucial. The first deliverable sets the tone for collaboration and communication between your executive and creative teams. Rather than sending the latter into full production with little to no direction, I recommend starting with a mood board. It’s usually a far better alternative than saying, “Show me some sketches, and I’ll tell you what I like.” Mood boards enable you to see potential design styles while preserving the time and energy that it takes to develop final creative assets.
What Is A Mood Board?
A mood board is essentially a collage of inspiration presented by the creative team in response to a kickoff meeting with management. It may contain photos, fonts, illustrations, links, quotes, articles and other visual references that the creative team feels could potentially guide the designs for the projects at hand. If you’re meeting in person, it can be helpful for everyone to have a printed version of the mood board. Otherwise, a PDF works just fine.
Think of the mood board as a visual tool to find common ground among all stakeholders. Many industries, including fashion, architecture, interior design, event planning and even filmmaking, use mood boards. Right now, we’re talking about a mood board for branding and graphic design.
When To Use A Mood Board
I’ll admit to being mood board obsessed because I am a huge proponent of collaboration. Many people don’t recognize how much time goes into full-blown creative designs. If the designs are not a hit out of the gate, we’re immediately facing budget and time constraints. Mood boards also give clients input in the creative process rather than confining them to reactions to final artwork.
A mood board can be applied to virtually any marketing project. That said, I’ve found that they’re most useful for the following:
• Exploring a new visual direction for a company.
• Creating a brand from scratch for a newly established company.
• Exploring inspiration when you’re not sure what you’re envisioning but will know it when you see it.
• Bringing new creative energy to a brand that is beginning to feel flat.
• Pairing words with visuals for cohesive branding.
In any event, a mood board does your creative team a huge favor by showing that you’re conscious of their mileage. Designing something seemingly simple like a logo can take many hours, while a mood board is less time-consuming and has lower stakes.
How To Respond To A Mood Board
When reviewing a mood board, it’s best to leave literal thinking at the door. A mood board is a representation, not final artwork. So don’t feel the need to dissect every piece of every example. Focus on general impressions: what you like, what you don’t like, how the different examples relate to each other and how your preferences can help define the desired aesthetic.
Overall, think in broad terms, and treat the mood board presentation more like an open exploration than a decisive review.
The Ideal Outcome
A successful mood board review gives the creative team helpful feedback and executives the confidence to move forward. This helps avoid false starts and can reduce the need for revisions down the line.
Whether you’re working with an agency, a freelancer or your internal creative department, a mood board helps the process go smoothly. If your project is driven more by messaging than by visuals, consider starting there instead and then moving into the mood board phase once the messaging has been finalized. Either way, your creative team will likely thank you for being mindful of their time, and you can in turn thank them for knocking the project out of the park.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Go to Source
Author: Dave McIndoe, Forbes Councils Member
