When we talk about the visual identity of a brand, we refer to a part of the material world that communicates and reinforces the values of the brand. Every brand has its own set of values, visions, and a unique culture. The corporate visual identity supports, reflects, and strengthens brand culture.
If you think about corporate identity, each element you see from a brand such as a logo, language, music, typeface, t-shirts, everything serves as an identity. The stronger it is, the more recognizable it is. First seen in visual design, here are the components of a brand’s visual identity: The logo; The typography; The color palette; The graphic elements; The design effects and The photography.
Rather than aiming to showcase an idea or concept in a single image (which is almost always impossible!), mood boards gather together a multitude of visual insights that tie the concept together. Together, these insight pages give you a 360-degree view of your idea, so if a single image could get you 90% of the way there, you get one hundred percent coverage with an entire board.
In the past, mood boards were made with cut-out images taped together on a poster, or pinned on a corkboard. Scanner technology made this process much simpler, plus you could now use archives to gather images. Today, there are a number of moodboard creator tools tailored specifically for making digital mood boards.
So will any collection of images work? Well, yes and no. Thumbnails of the images themselves can and should represent the essence of the idea that you’re trying to communicate. A good mood board will help you remember the look, feel, colors, and concept behind a project, and serve as a reference throughout your entire design cycle.
The Role of Mood Boards in Branding
Mood boards are used by designers to establish the foundations of a visual identity plan with large creative ranges that evoke moods and emotions that trigger the proposed brand image. As such, color, texture, typography, interface and grid structural ideas, photographic style, and images referenced in their cultural and social context are some of the elements that come together as mood associations that give meaning to the proposed mood boards used in visual identity projects for brands.
Mood boards assist clients and design producers in deciding on proposed visual identity direction. As such, the images associated with the proposed color palettes, text, and grids all lead to individual associations that should translate the proposed visual identity mood. Consequently, when you use a mood board in branding, it should retain the goal of identifying the mood feelings to allow a unique identification.
Creating Your Mood Board with Adobe Express
Here’s a possible solution. For any beginner or an experienced brand designer, Adobe Express mood board has all the tools you need to build a mood board that matches your brand identity. It is simplified to the extent that its templates expedite your journey to create expressive mood boards. So, let’s get started in a few steps. Follow these steps to get started:
- Go to the Mood Board Maker and click Get Started.
- Sign in using an Adobe account or create one if you don’t already have it. You can also sign up using your Google account or Apple ID.
- Immediately after signing in, you will see the Mood Board Maker interface. On the left side will be the templates you can choose from.
- Click on a template to get started.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Mood Board
1. Select a Layout
On the left panel, you will be able to select the layouts you want by clicking the Layout tab. Select your desired layout.
2. Choose Images
Now that you have a layout, add images or photos to it. You can either do it by uploading photos from your device or using the built-in stock photos. To do so, select the Search tab on the left panel. Search for words that represent the visuals you want and drag the photos into your layout. You can reposition color pucks and delete some that are unnecessary.
3. Add Text
Once you have your images, it is possible that you need to label them with text, such as colors, materials, and textures. To do so, click on your text box and write the required context.
4. Change the Background/Fill
You can edit the fill of your boxes with colors and patterns. To do so, select the box you want to change and select a background/fill color from the taskbar.
Exporting and Sharing Your Mood Board
Once you’re happy with your mood board be sure to add it to your brand kit so that you can access it easily moving forward. You can do this directly from the mood board. Click on “Add to Brand Kit” in the menu at the top. Within Brand Kit, you’ll be able to create and save color palettes and share font combinations to ensure consistency across the rest of your branding.
When you are satisfied with the outcome, click the Share icon at the top right to download the mood board or share it to your brand’s social media. You can share it by copying the link, or sending it directly to your email. You can export the mood board for an external purpose, too. Download it as an image or PDF. Resize it before downloading so that it’s the right size! When using the tool, the “Download” button is located at the colorful panel at the top of the screen.
With this easy to use moodboard creator you can create, share and export visually stunning mood boards that perfectly capture the essence of your brand. Use your mood board as an internal resource to inspire your branding choices as you go. Refer to it when deciding which typography, colors, photography, and brand design choices to make moving forward. Doing so will ensure that everything feels cohesive!
Selecting the Right Elements
Now that we’ve gathered ideas and inspiration, the question is: how do you pick the right elements for your board? Here are the three main elements to consider when building a mood board.
Choosing Images that Resonate
Use images that evoke a feeling, a thought, an aspiration about your brand and because they symbolize and express the identity and meaning of what you’re after. So rather than focus on your product, your imagery should represent emotion.
Use a number of images that resonate, don’t limit yourself to only a few. Unlike the graphic design phase, this is the stage for visual exploration and expression! You can merge more than one image together so they speak as one. Just remember: keep things in harmony–vagueness and randomness are mood board no-no’s.
Color Selection for Brand Alignment
Color is also proven to elicit emotion and conveys clear meaning. Psychological studies have shown that colors have specific values associated with them, and consumers often have a predetermined approach towards color and meaning. The science of color choice speaks a universal language and should be taken into consideration when making color choices for your brand. Therefore color as a selection criteria is an area you must be careful with. Look at your competitors’ color selections but use the moodboard creator to stand out and differentiate your brand.
The palette can either be created digitally using image manipulation techniques and design software or more effectively and tangibly by creating a physical mood board. Various color swatches are provided by paint companies and can be glued onto a physical board, where colors can more accurately represent the hue and complement the palette used in other images. Be sure to check that the colors complement each company image sample and that they resonate with the target audience. Once the favorite color theme is picked, note it down on the mood board, and shortcuts for color models can help with the selection of colors in future design projects and advertising materials.
Typography That Speaks Your Brand’s Language
Fonts are a huge part of brand imagery since they will literally be on almost every piece of digital, printed, or visual communication that you make – which makes creating a typography style guide for how to use different font types essential to the brand creation process.
Typography within design refers to how fonts are utilized within the visual. Certain fonts convey different feelings and attitudes, whether the feeling be traditional or playful, clean and corporate, or decorative and intricate. This is something you will want to absolutely take into consideration when selecting fonts to represent your brand – and luckily, you have time to figure it out right. Using brainstormed adjectives for your brand’s personality can also be helpful for choosing fonts, as the words you think of when associating your brand can lead you in the right direction.
If you’re looking for more direction on what fonts to choose for your business, consider browsing through popular graphic design font marketplaces to get a feel for different options or mirroring the look of brands that you like by researching their typography choices. Just remember, ultimately you want to choose fonts that set the right mood, attract your audience, and are easy to read. And of course, take care not to overwhelm your audience with too many different fonts being used in one piece of collateral!
Final Words
Consolidating all the benefits outlined above, it’s easy to see how building a mood board can help brands define, brainstorm, and creatively focus their visual identity. Following a mood building brief with both brand and visual value components, team members select images to complete the board; but the power of the mood board comes, not from just the photos, but from the explanation and discussion of the value and mood words offered by the team as a consequence of each image.
No mood board can ever be a definitive visual road map or end product for a website or campaign, but they should capture the essence and spirit. That being said, there are a few things to keep in mind to maximize the probability of a mood board successfully capturing special ingredients of your project and its execution.
Make sure that the “input” images, colors, and textures included are only things you personally love. That said, don’t let it become a free-for-all. Be a pendulum, enforcing that the materials used reflect serious intention but are also fun to explore.
The stylistic theme shouldn’t be too prescriptive either, for fear of not being able to “see” outside of the box. And finally, let the presentation format vary according to what feels truly authentic. Once a mood board has been defined (or redefined) in a collaborative and fun process, those special ingredients can serve as a guiding star in developing that project, ensuring there is emotional, artistic, and entertaining, differentiating factor that could otherwise be lost.
With those ingredients at its core, a mood board can make or break a project, setting the tonality not just for the execution, but whether the project is even developed or not.
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