Benefits of creating mood boards while designing websites
A mood board is a sort of digital collage that helps in establishing the design and vibe of your website. The mood board is a sort of extension of a creative brief that is populated with mostly visual elements.
Some of the elements that are a part of the mood board are as follows: Images, Colours, Graphics, Patterns, Layouts, and grids.
The purpose of a mood board is to get you started and visualize as accurately as possible how your finished product would look like. Mood boards are a casual element where things can always be re evaluated and reiterated, nothing is set in stone in this stage. This could also be seen as an experimental stage where you can build multiple mood boards and choose the one that appeals to you the most.
Creating mood boards for websites could be very advantageous because this will ascertain in which direction you are going, the visuals of the website, and more importantly every other person on the team will know exactly how you want things to look (this eliminates a significant portion of miscommunication and reduces the error quotient.) This is exactly why designers create mood boards in the first place.
How to create a mood board?
It is fairly simple to create a mood board, but the purpose of one is to have an effective mood board that communicates what you want and also one that is shareable. Here is a short listicle walking you through the simple steps to consider while creating a mood board
- Ascertain the direction of your project
- Amass relevant and existing material
- Incorporate inspiring imagery
- Make sure to add examples of motion as well as sound
- Incorporate colour, fonts, and different files
- Organize the board to make it more easily understandable
- Remain flexible in case things need to be changed
- Justify your choices (with short one liners)
- Be open to collaboration
- Be open to feedback
There are obviously multiple ways of going about creating a mood board, so feel free to experiment and do your own thing to make this process more enjoyable for yourself .
Benefits of creating a mood board
Now that we have discussed a few pointers to keep in mind while creating a mood board let us illuminate some of the benefits of doing the same.
- Avoids misunderstanding More often than not a group of people are involved in the process of creating a website, this makes it very easy to misunderstand things and concepts, the biggest advantage of having a mood board is that the visual aspect of it eliminates most misunderstandings and communicates exactly the vision of the website. This could save a whole lot of time and effort simultaneously making the whole process more efficient.
- The mood board allows all the contributors to make notes, suggestions, and comments on every specific detail. This streamlines the collaborative process and makes it easier to navigate for everyone involved.
- The design process is what is focused on at this stage.
- They serve a dual purpose. They can be shown to a clients so they know what to expect as well as the design team for internal communication.
- Efficient way to experiment with the different styles and colours you want to experiment with considering it helps you visualise the final end product while also giving you room to change one or multiple aspects of it.
- They help establish the basics in any design or collaborative process.
- They help with responsive design Responsive design is all the rage right now, mood boards help greatly with this because they serve as an initial step in designing a website that can be incorporated to any medium or device.
- Front end illustrations They do a great job helping you visualize how the front end of things will end up looking.
Some resources that can make the process of making mood boards more convenient are as follows:
- Design systems
- Styletil
- Dribble
- Behance
- Pattern tap
- Image spark
- Moodshare
On a concluding note we would just like to mention that mood boards are definitely a time consuming step that might seem rather unimportant and laborious at first but is definitely worth it considering how it helps save time and streamlines collaboration during the length of the project.
Moreover there are multiple formats and ways of going through this process so you can pick something that complements your priorities and your manner of operation. Mood boards could be a real game changer in the designing process provided they are executed well.
