How I Make Mood Boards To Increase My Productivity

Anyone can benefit from the skill of creating mood boards. Whether its just as a creative outlet or a constructive tool in your life, knowing how to make them will exponentially increase the quality and quantity of your work.

I am a visual learner. Show me something once and I can almost always get it on my own. However, it wasn’t until I went to college for fashion design that I learned how to harness that skill and make it work for me.

My first experience with mood boards was in FD101. They were actually a mandatory part of the curriculum. We were taught how to create them in such a way that it not only helped us narrow and define our inspiration, but communicate to others what we were thinking as well. I was transformed. Suddenly I had an outlet for all my ideas! I could flesh them out in a tangible way and determine which ideas were worthy of exploring and which should be shelved.

Now, as a mother and budding flower farmer, its more important than ever to use mood boards in my life. My mind is in 324 places at once and creating them helps calm the flurry of ideas and thoughts.

The Basics

These days I prefer creating digital mood boards. I actually send a mood board out to my email list as part of my Friday Five the first week of each month. These are more of a general “vibe” I hope to have that month with a little explainer of my thoughts and intentions. If you haven’t signed up for my weekly newsletter…………. why?

Making digital mood boards is so easy. I use Canva to create them – they have templates you can use to jump start it, or you can start with a blank slate. I use the paid version, Canva Pro, but the free version is great too! With the paid version, you have access to thousands of high quality images, templates, graphics, and fonts to take your projects to the next level.

I also rely heavily on Pinterest. I find so many incredible bits of inspiration there. Its a constant source of beauty and info that I couldn’t live without. When I’m in the research phase of my idea and mood board, I’ll head there to look for images that catch my eye, quotes that relate to my vision, etc.

In the good old days, I made mood boards by hand. This provided me with an extra layer of tactile satisfaction because I was using my hands to create. I would comb through magazines, save fabric scraps, really look for anything inspiring that I could affix to my mood board.

Supplies You’ll Need

If you’re feeling like making mood boards by hand, Here’s what you’ll need:

• lots of clippable media (magazines, newspapers, etc) relevant to your idea
• other mediums – fabric, beads, foliage, yarn, scrapbook paper, etc.
• paint, markers, or other writing materials
• a base to start with – cardstock, posterboard, cardboard, etc.
• scissors
• glue/tape

For the digital mood boarders, you’ll need:

• A free Canva account – I love Canva because it has an amazing mobile app. You can switch between desktop and mobile seamlessly. Whenever the mood strikes, you can work on your projects!
• Pinterest, Tumblr, and inspirational websites.
• royalty free photos from websites like Unsplash

How-To

There’s an important distinction between mood boarding for fun and mood boarding for work. When you’re making a mood board as a creative outlet, there really are no hard rules. If you want it to follow a theme, pick a color story or a common thread that can be followed (seasonal, a quote, an outfit, etc).

When you’re mood boarding for a specific purpose its important to be very intentional with what you put on the mood board. You really want to convey a clear idea with it, so take your time and think it through.

For example: When I was planning my wedding, I made several mood boards to capture the essence of the day. They were shown to our team at the venue, the boutique where I got my dress, and referenced constantly when making decisions.

When you first start and you’re staring at a blank slate, it can be extremely intimidating. So break the ice by putting a few “fillers” on the board. Don’t secure anything, just start covering space. These fillers should be relevant to your overall theme, but vague enough to make up the background.

The Base

As I just mentioned, you’ll want to find a collection of images that will make up the base of your mood board. Using my wedding as an example, I’ll be looking for images of the florals I love, colors that fit the overall aesthetic I want to achieve, and maybe an inspirational photo of weddings that fit my concept. The goal is to cover up all of the white space.

I like to make a “scene” out of my mood boards when they serve a purpose. This is partly my visual brain doing its thing and partly my hatred of a mess of square pictures mashed together and called a mood board. Do what works for you! Never forget that I am the definition of over the top. To help demonstrate this mood board tutorial, I made one using actual images from my wedding pinterest board.

Finishing Touches

Another thing I love about Canva is that they have a tool called “background eraser”. If you’ve been reading this whole post, you’ll remember I hate mashing square photos together. There’s no sense of blending or layering. The eraser basically eliminates that issue entirely!

Here’s the fun part of mood boards. Now you just shuffle the images around until you find a layout that makes the most sense to you! If you’re making one by hand, rip the edges of some photos or use washi tape as borders. For the digital creators, find textures to overlay on your images like the lace edge on my mood board. Alter the size and orientation of images.

This is an extremely subjective process. There’s no limit (or minimum) to the number of images, textures, embellishments you can use to make your vision come to life. You might make a collage like me, or you may like a more organized layout. The point is to flex your creative muscle and enjoy the journey! If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.

I included some photos of my actual wedding because a) I love love love looking at them and b) the mood boards I created to share with the vendors bringing our day to life were clearly effective. Taking the time to make clear visuals for people to reference was not only helpful for them to understand what we wanted, but it also helped me weed through the chaos of wedding planning.

More Examples of Mood Boards

I’ll include a few more mood boards I’ve made to show the versatility of them. When I’m making mood boards for fun I prefer the templates that Canva has to offer. They make getting my ideas out quicker and prettier which is good for when I’m just trying to clear space in my brain.

Have I inspired you to create a mood board for something? I find these are the most effective tool for me to increase my productivity. They keep me on track and help clear away the noise. If you made a mood board, let me know in the comments. Happy creating!