Moodboard

Q: What tools can you use to create a moodboard?

There is a whole range of tools for creating a moodboard and, in the end, it is up to each person to pick the one that suits them best. Figma is one of the most widely used today, thanks in particular to its collaborative side: it is easier to work on it together. Pinterest also remains a timeless way to organise your sources of inspiration. Finally, there are tools such as Adobe Express, Canva or even Miro. The choice depends on the context, on habits and on preferences. There is no real 'good choice' of tool, just whatever makes you most comfortable!

Q: What are you looking for in a moodboard?

Take care as well to choose which moodboard to use, and when. An atmosphere moodboard and an art-direction moodboard do not come in at the same moment. An atmosphere moodboard is there to give an idea: it brings together images, textures and worlds to express an intent, an atmosphere. It is above all subjective and mainly serves to align everyone on the final world you want the product to convey. On the other side, the art-direction moodboard translates that vision into concrete choices: typefaces, colour palettes, photos or illustrations.

Q: What is the link between the style guide and the moodboard?

You often start the graphic design work with an inspiration step. The inspiration board lets you kick off the visual research by identifying the visual codes of a sector, for example. The moodboard is a tool for design work, an effective way to share a common vision with the teams, with the client, and so on.

Q: Is the moodboard a deliverable?

It can be, but it is not compulsory. We always present the inspiration boards to the project team to set common reference points. For some projects, we formalise it a bit more to turn it into a document in its own right. The point is above all to keep this kind of tool up to date. We favour online solutions such as Miro, Notion or FigJam.

Design deliverable

The inspiration board that sparks creativity

The moodboard, also known as an inspiration board, is an overview of inspiration material. The selected pieces relate to a theme specific to your project, brand or company. They can be magazine pages, screenshots of sites, images, drawings, words, diagrams and so on. The aim is to lay out and show a selection of creative ideas and concepts, to settle on an artistic direction for the next stages of your project. The moodboard is the equivalent of a UI benchmark.

The cataloguing process lets you list creative ideas, find sources of inspiration, and also share a common base to discuss and iterate on with clients. Here, before talking pixels or technique, the point is to bring out the emotion, the feeling. This phase shouldn't be taken lightly: it will save you time and effort during art direction and later when producing the high-fidelity mockups in the UI sprints.

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What is a moodboard for?

Finding inspiration
Being able to steer your idea towards one or several creative directions
A basis for discussion and exchange with your clients, contributors, colleagues, and so on
Picturing things more easily with concrete elements
Saving time in the art-direction phase
Focusing and centralising all your ideas

Why build a moodboard?

When there's no usable style guide, the moodboard lets the project team voice the direction it wants to give its service or product
When you're missing information about the visual tastes and needs of the client, the project or the brand you're working for
Helping your client picture the possibilities open for the direction of the product identity, its features or the interactions offered to its users

Moodboard and visual research

For the moodboard to be rich enough, an exploration step is essential. Before starting your research, list a series of keywords that match the project, along with your client's wishes and goals. They'll act as the basis for kicking off your research on certain sites. Many platforms like Pinterest, Awwwards, Dribbble, Instagram or Behance form a useful first-level research base. Of course, you can also take photos of outside elements (buildings, nature, art, and so on) or find your inspiration in brochures, books and so on. Any source of inspiration can be relevant. During this phase, it's important not to hold back and to put all your ideas in: sorting the pieces comes in a second step.

Group and sort your inspirations

Once all the inspirations are gathered, you need to categorise them by theme or visual style, to have several different directions to put forward. This step also lets you remove pieces from your moodboard that fall outside the project's scope. That's why it's important to re-read your keyword list regularly, to make sure you don't drift too far from the main subject. Several tools can help here too: Miro, Milanote, Pinterest boards.

Present and pick directions

When presenting to clients, set up a voting system (dots, stickers, and so on) and facilitate the exchange. This phase will help you better understand the expectations around the future product image, and also pin down the visual scope for the art-direction phase. You can prioritise your contributors' choices and preferences. Example: red dot for out-of-scope elements or ones people don't like; green dot for elements to keep; orange dot for elements that look promising but need rework. During this third step, keep an open mind. Your contributors may have a different view from yours, so it's important to factor in their feedback and gather it. Building shared ownership starts from this pooling step.

Finalise the moodboard

Once your iteration is done, duplicate your workspace (it's important to always keep an older version of your work, in case your contributors or clients want to revisit a specific point). To consolidate your work, remove the pieces that didn't get any traction. Try to group the pieces that got positive feedback to set up two or three different styles. Give a title and a description to describe your concept. Example: Option 1, Floral. Natural elements with branches, leaves and flowered pieces. Nature, simplicity, restraint.

Once your moodboard is consolidated, remember to have it validated by your contributors or clients, to make sure the directions chosen are clear and approved. You now have a properly enriched and complete moodboard, which lets you start your art-direction phase with more confidence.

What tools can you use to create a moodboard?

What are you looking for in a moodboard?

What is the link between the style guide and the moodboard?

Is the moodboard a deliverable?

Related methods

UX benchmark

A benchmark explores current trends in usage, features and design: the good ideas, and the ones to avoid.

Visual style guide

The visual style guide brings together a brand's visual rules: colours, typefaces and logo, along with the permitted or prohibited uses for each.

Visual identity

The first element your users perceive, the visual identity conveys your industry and makes you easily identifiable.

Colour palette

Brand palette or interface palette, the two are not to be confused. How to build a coherent, legible and accessible colour system.

Design sprint

The design sprint is a format, not a method, that condenses the design thinking steps into 5 days to tackle a problem as a group.

Sketching

Sketching is a technique for creating interfaces as drawings, most often by hand. It is often used in co-design workshops.

Storyboard

A storyboard illustrates a usage scenario in context. It is a UX tool for exploring a service idea or specifying the sequence of interactions.

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