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Event Design & Styling Module 06

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6. Module 06: Mood boards

Table of Contents

6. Module 06: Mood boards .................................................................................................................. 1

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................. 1

6.1 Creating mood boards ............................................................................................................................... 2

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6.1 Creating mood boards

Now you can see into the mind of the client and understand the project from their perspective, it’s time to

go over your notesand begin work on the conceptualization and design processes. By now you should be

armed with all or at least most of the information you need to get started. In this section we’re going to

focus on Mood Boards. We’ll have a quick overview of what they are, what they’re used for, different ways

they can be created and what they should communicate.

What are mood boards?

We noted earlier that mood boards can have different names like story boards or vision boards. In the event,

fashion, graphic, interior, textile and other related design fields they’re most commonly known as mood

boards. They are as their name suggests, a presentation board, that’s used to create the mood of the

intended design or its Look & Feel.

Once you’ve been through your conceptualization stage and you have a good idea about

the design directions you’d like to take, you can start putting together mood boards. These will eventually

be used for your first presentation to the client to give them an idea of how you see the moodor look & feel

of the event.

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What are mood boards used for?

Mood boards can be used for a variety of things depending on which design field you work in and at what

level. Some designers who work to create their own product, such as fashion designers, will use mood boards

to arrange their ideas for their “story” or fashion collection they are designing. It’s sometimes called a story

because there is a common theme that links everything together and takes you on a visual journey, a bit like

a story would.

These stories aren’t written with words - (although they often start that way with notes) - they are created

visually using different media. Media is any material you might use in the creation of a mood board for

example, card, paper, paint, ink, pencil, fabrics, and photos, etc. You can use whatever you need, to achieve

the right mood or look & feel for your design direction.

If you’re a designer in the event, interior or graphic design fields, you’re most likely going to be hired as

freelancer, have your own business or company or work for an event management company or design/ad

agency. In this situation you’ll mostly have to complete work for a client, whether they be an individual or

large corporate entity/group of companies.

Whoever the client may be, you will use your Mood Boards as a presentation tool to communicate your ideas

for the mood or look & feel of the event. This will be the first time the client has the chance to see what

ideas you’ve come up with and whether they fit their perspective of how they see the event. Presentations

are very important because this is where you will find out if you’re on the right track and you’ll also

get feedback from the client, good or not so good.

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Ways to create mood boards

When it comes to creating mood boards, you’re only limited by your imagination. How you create them is

entirely up to you and of course will be influenced by the type of clientyou’re working for and the type and

scale of the event – remember to stick to the brief and your notes!

Traditionally, mood boards are created on what is sometimes called Display Board or Poster-board. It’s made

from a rigid material that’s strong enough to stand on its own and have other materials or media applied to

it. You can usually get it at specialist stationers and art supply stores.

As mentioned earlier, there are so many different media that can be used in the creation of a mood board.

The selection will depend on the type of event and the style of the design. If the event is a wedding for

example, you might use photos, fabrics, textured materials, color swatches/patches, paints and illustrations.

Whatever you need to communicate the mood or look & feel for that particular event is what you will use.

Depending on the client and the event, you could also use technology to present your mood boards. Once

you’ve done your initial concept work, completed any research and created some roughs, you could then go

to the computer to create the mood boards. You could use software such as Photoshop, Illustrator perhaps

even InDesign and specialist software such as Sampleboard, Moodboard Lite or Olioboard to name a few.

We’ll take a closer look at design software in Module 4.

If you are using a mix of photographs and drawings, there are so many resources now available online, such

as Image Spark, Moodstream, and of course Pintrest are ideal for mood board material. Always be aware

of Copyright© law when using shared images in commercial environments!

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Another very important thing to remember when creating your mood boards is the basic Design

Principles! Always engage Balance, Proportion, Rhythm, Emphasis and Unity. You’ll need to use these design

principles to pull everything together so it works harmoniously.

Mood board layout

You can place the media on the board as collage (collection) in an organized balanced way, or a

more random, organic & emotional way. Again it depends on the event type, the client and style you’re going

for.

There are different ways a mood board can be laid out, again depending on the design theme. First you’ll

have to decide if you will go with a Portrait or Landscape orientation. Then divide the board according to

the Rule of Thirds – this will give you a focal point that will direct the eye to a main feature. With the rule of

thirds it isn’t a central focal point it’s always slightly off center.

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Standard layout of the media on the board comes in 5 arrangements, these include:

Band – linear row of images balanced with any text as well as negative space

Axial – for compositions that tend to branch out from each other

Group – as it suggests, arranged in groups perhaps according to different elements

Grid – in a grid like pattern, as you might see in a newspaper

Path – has an emphasis on the visual movement through the images

What a Mood Board should communicate

Mood boards should be evocative or emotionally suggestive and develop a theme to engage the client’s

imagination. The theme is based on the brief and your research will usually follow a trend such as:

Industrial

Lifestyle

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Nature

Retro

Pop-culture

Sub-culture

Minimalist

Ethnic

Environment

If you’re lucky enough to be on a job where you have some creative leeway or freedom, you can mix and

match trends to create new ones. Subcultures are a great example of mixing and matching trends. Just think

of Steampunk, Gothic Lolita, Cozplay, Hipster and New Romantic, to name just a few. By playing with themes

and trends you’ll not only have fun you’ll also have many concepts to draw on. All you have to do then is

decide which the right one for the job is.

Ultimately the mood board must communicate your design ideas to the client in a clear and visually exciting

way. It should fulfill not only the brief but hopefully the client’s perspective. If you have done your job well,

feedback should be positive and changes or revisions, minimal.

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Client feedback and redeveloping ideas

We’ve had a good look at the importance of the brief and the information it should contain as well as the

importance of trying to understand the client’s perspective. If you’ve followed the process from the

beginning and made sure you’ve listened and focused during any initial meetings or briefing sessions, you

should have a good idea of what’s required. Never be afraid to ask questions if you’re not sure about

something because we know how crucial it is that you see things from the client’s perspective and

understand them early.

We’ve talked more about developing your creative ideas from the information and understanding you

have.We’ve also re-examined the process from conceptualization to developing design themes,

trends and stories, through to the creation of mood boards and their important role in the presentation.

Once your mood boards are complete and ready for presentation, it’s time to meet with the client,

to sell your ideas, for their event. This is where you take those precious concepts you so lovingly imagined,

created and developed, out into the cold, hard light of day (harsh reality). It’s a big moment because this is

when you and all your hard work have to speak directly to the client, meaning it has to have a positive impact

on them.

Depending on the size of the occasion and whether you’re presenting to one person or a team, the whole

process can be a little daunting or overwhelming. This is where you’re communications skills really go-to-

work. You need to be confident and calm, so you can get your ideas across clearly and really sell them. If

you’ve done your homework and you know your client and what they want, this should make you

more confident.

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Presentations require:

Confidence

Communications skills/public speaking

Professionalism

Some sales and marketing skills

Analytical skills

Good personal appearance

Interpersonal skills

o Verbal communication

o Non-verbal communication

o Listening

o Questioning

o Manners

o Problem solving

o Social awareness

o Self-management/controlling your emotions

o Responsibility/accountability

o Assertiveness

It seems like you need to be perfect or superhuman but it’s not as incredible as it looks. You can teach

yourself all of these things and in most cases; if you’re aware of them you learn quickly

with practice and experience. You also probably won’t need all of these skills when you present mood

boards to a client but it will help to have a few.

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Getting feedback

After your presentation the client will give you feedback based on their thoughts of the design direction and

whether or not it fits with their perspective. If done professionally, feedback can be very helpful

in refining and improving the design direction.

If the feedback isn’t what you expected or you felt it was a bit negative, don’t be offended, insulted or upset.

This feedback is all part of the process and can be a very valuable experience. It’s rare to get things perfect

the first time and there are always changes made along the way for a variety of reason. Don’t take negative

feedback as a personal affront to your talent as designer. It’s not personal it’s about the client getting exactly

what they want.

Clients can often be wrong, so don’t be afraid to defend your ideas and back them up. Just remember to be

professional and respectful. During the feedback session, be sure and take notes as the client offers their

opinion and perspective. In some cases feedback may be given to you in a written report or a revised

briefafter the feedback session. This revised brief plus your feedback notes will be the basis of the re-

development of your design work.

During feedback it’s important to:

Be professional at all times

Listen carefully

Take notes

Be calm/manage your emotions

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Be flexible

Be understanding

Offer alternatives/be proactive

Post presentation and feedback

Once the dust has settled and you realize the world didn’t fall in on you, it’s time to get back to the drawing

board. The feedback given by the client should have been extremely valuable in helping you to refine the

design direction.

Head back to the studio, set up your mood boards and study the revised brief, your feedback notes, or both.

You might need to have a bit of a re-conceptualize at this point, to see how you can develop what you already

have, into what is ultimately needed. You don’t have to start from the beginning; you just need to find a way

to connect everything so it works.

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Take the things you have that do work and set aside the ones that don’t. Begin to incorporate new ideas or

variations that are consistent with the feedback. By sticking to your process and keeping calm you’ll be able

to get the look & feel back on track ready for approval.

Tip

Working well with clients is the most important part of your business because without clients you’ll have no

business. This doesn’t mean you have to do or think everything the client suggests because they can often

be wrong and sometimes they just misunderstand what you’re trying to do, or say.

Developing and utilizing good inter-personal skills, communication skills and design communication skills will

be invaluable in working well with clients. The feedback they offer is also invaluable because it can help you

refine your work and make it better. Being able to see things from their perspective will enable you to be

adaptable and develop design directions that work for the client and for you.

Just remember, you’re a designer and not everyone speaks your design language, so help them by

communicating clearly and by understanding how they see things. This will make for a wonderful and

rewarding relationship with the people you work with. It will teach you more about the process and it will

help grow your client base.