How to create a mood board – Sophie Robinson (2024)

20Feb24

How to create a mood board – Sophie Robinson (1)

If you’d like to learn how to create a digital mood board – check out my online course here.

I’m a huge fan of a mood board – it’s an essential part of the design process and a way to really dig into your creativity, your authentic sense of style and personal colour palette. It’s like doing all the detective work before you start picking up that paint chart or flexing the credit card. It can not only save you time and money, but help you keep on track through out the design and implementation process – ensuring your final look is not only cohesive, but creates the mood and impact you desired from the get go.

If you’re looking at an empty room with no idea where to start, a mood board can help you focus, giving you a vision for how to proceed and help you edit all the ideas you may have down to something tangible and workable. Lets be honest, in todays media age we can often feel overwhelmed by all the available inspiration. But the process of designing a room doesn’t need to feel overwhelming, and I’d urge you to consider that at this stage you don’t need to fret about the exact products, the budget, the builders or the floor plan. At the start of any project it’s about creating a concept that resonates for you, that incapsulates the mood, feeling, style and purpose of the room. I recommend thinking about how you want the room to make you feel, and consider what you will be doing in there. Whether you want it light or dark, bright or muted, or whether you want traditional or edgy etc will all be discovered once you start the mood boarding process.

You can look for inspiration everywhere. Online is the obvious place to start but also build up an image album of inspiration that you snap on your phone.

You don’t need to restrict yourself to interiors images either, you can use images from fashion, architecture, nature, art – whatever you feel drawn to that creates that ‘feeling’ for you. This helps you explore the style, design motifs and colour combinations that you love. For instance if your wardrobe is bright and colourful (chez moi!), chances are having your home in a similar style will make your heart sing too. If you are more comfortable in an understated classic style, your home decor will likely follow suit and you will be attracted to a more muted colour palette.

I keep an A3 ring bound sketch book close to hand to work up mood boards for my room schemes, events, parties- anything visual

I love to use a large A3 sheet of card, but you can use a A4 sketchbook or side of a cardboard box too, whatever you have to hand. I also don’t restrict myself to images, but use other elements to give the board texture and a 3d dimension, really helping the whole look to come to life. Here are some of the things you could include:

  • Images from magazines, newspapers or catalogues
  • Images from online. Pinterest and Google images are my go-to
  • Photographs from your travels/holidays – or things you’ve seen out and about that you love
  • Fabric swatches
  • Wallpaper samples
  • Paint card chips
  • Your own paint chips made from tester pots
  • Ribbons or trims
  • Washi Tape
  • Pressed leaves, feathers, sticks or foliage
  • Tiles
  • Floor Samples
  • Materials and textures like wood, rattan, metal, mirror etc (Be creative! You could use an old thread bobbin or wooden peg to represent wooden furniture you will have in the room or a brass curtain ring to represent the hard wear or metals you want to use.)

I love to used some multi media for my mood boards which really helps to bring them to life. Washi tape, faethers, leaves, ribbons or flowers are all good elements to consider including

For the creative process to really work you need to feel loose and fluid so don’t restrict yourself by sticking anything down yet. Collect a series of images and materials and then you need to edit them down to the few that really nail the look or colour palette you are after. It’s as much about what you leave out as to what you include. Move the elements around, play with different combinations, come back to it after a day or so with fresh eyes. If you want to you can use washi tape, glue dots or adhesive foam pads to fix things on to your board once you are happy with everything. I can’t stress enough that there’s no need to rush this stage as it’s so worth getting right! It’s all in the curation of your images and materials, until you get the feeling that it’s just right!

Put off sticking everything down to the last minute and remeber the art of a good mood board is as much as taking elements away as it is adding them to the mix.

Once you are happy with your mood board, you have a great visual resource that will inform all the design decisions moving forward and help you to check against making any mistakes. For example the colour, material and texture choices you make, should all align with the original mood board. In fact, it’s a good idea to photograph your mood board so you have it as a reference on your phone too, which is really useful when you are out sourcing at the shops or antiques market.

After your initial mood or concept board, you aren’t done! You can then hone the look with another mood board that rather than just representing the concept, feel and mood behind the style of the room, can bring together the actual paint colours, fabrics and materials that you will use to ensure that everything works together. Try and get real life samples – so ring up the sofa company and ask for samples, use tester pots to create your own paint cards, tiles or grout colour chips etc.

A successful mood board will have a pleasing combination of colours, patterns, textures and imagery that all conjures up the feeling you wish to create in your home.

If you already own a few pieces that are staying in the room like artwork or sofa, make sure you include pictures of these too. You can follow my design process in more depth with my brilliant online course Be Your Own Interior Designer, which takes you through this process in far greater depth with lessons on how to use Pinterest effectively, source your samples and discover your original and authentic style through mood boarding. It then goes on to lead you through my entire design process, from initial inspiration to final execution. I also have a very popular mini online course to walk you through the process of creating a digital mood board , which are great if you want to work something up very quickly, or expand upon your physical mood board. But to create a colour scheme that has genuine depth of emotion and authenticity, it’s the real mood board for me every time!

I’d absolutely love to hear about your ideas and tips for creating a successful mood board for a decorating scheme. Its a very personal way to design and I’d like to say there is no right or wrong. Please leave your comments below!

Do you want to discover your style and get confident with colour? My online courses will help you navigate the incredible world of interior design with ease and inspiration. Click here.

How to create a mood board – Sophie Robinson (2024)

FAQs

What is an example of a mood board? ›

Mood board is an arrangement of images, photos and other elements that are usually gathered together basing on the same or similar color schemes. They are usually used before starting projects or to simply have some inspiration in the upcoming task or event, so anyone can find the use case that will suit them best.

What should a mood board include? ›

A mood board typically includes a combination of images, texts, photographs, and textures to explore and present an idea in a way that words alone cannot. However, these design elements are not standalone features on a board. Instead, these components combine to tell a cohesive story about a vision.

What app can I use to create a mood board? ›

Make Adobe Express your go-to mood board app.

Establish a theme for your designs using photos, icons, logos, personalized fonts, and other customizable elements to make them feel entirely authentic. With Adobe Express, it's free and easy to make, save, and share your designs within minutes.

Are mood boards legal? ›

Legally Using Inspiration Boards

Yes, but it is important to take steps to ensure you are doing so legally. The safest way to do this is to share saved or pinned images that you created and hold the copyright to. It is also safe to share images that you have license from the copyright owner to use in that manner.

What are the 4 purposes of a mood board? ›

Creating mood boards allows you to collect thoughts, ideas, color schemes, and moods in one place and define a coherent design concept without the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture. Visual concepts are a constant source of inspiration and huge motivators that make you feel empowered.

What are the two types of mood board? ›

There are two types of ad mood boards: digital or physical. It's completely up to you and your working style to choose the one that best fits your marketing campaigns.

How to explain moodboard? ›

A mood board is a type of visual presentation or 'collage' consisting of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition. It can be based on a set topic or can be any material chosen at random. A mood board can be used to convey a general idea or feeling about a particular topic.

Is Pinterest good for moodboards? ›

But Pinterest does do what it sets out to do incredibly well: it is a place to collect ideas and visuals into boards. The beauty of Pinterest as a mood boarding tool, is that it's not merely visual.

What is a mood board with an example? ›

In short, a mood board is a collection of content to translate an idea or thought visually. A mood board sets a specific tone for anything. Whether you're building a new product, a campaign, or a brand, a mood board can communicate ideas using shared design references.

How to start a mood board? ›

There are three steps to making a moodboard:
  1. Brainstorm your theme. You probably have some ideas in mind from the get-go. ...
  2. Collect your elements. Take your early sources of inspiration, then challenge yourself to think outside of the box to find more. ...
  3. Review, curate and present your board.
Aug 30, 2021

What 5 elements must you include on a mood board? ›

These are the key mood board elements you must include in your design presentation:
  • Develop a Creative Concept Beyond Aesthetics. ...
  • Select a Consistent Color Palette That Represents Your Project. ...
  • Choose a Typography Series for Every Written Piece. ...
  • Create Textures and Prints According to Your Color Palette.

How to make a mood board in Word? ›

How To Create A Moodboard On Microsoft Word
  1. Create a new document in Microsoft Word.
  2. Insert images, text, and colors that reflect the mood and theme you want to convey.
  3. Arrange the elements on the page using text boxes, tables, and shapes.
  4. Experiment with different layouts until you achieve the desired look and feel.

What is the purpose of a moodboard? ›

A mood board is a type of visual presentation or 'collage' consisting of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition. It can be based on a set topic or can be any material chosen at random. A mood board can be used to convey a general idea or feeling about a particular topic.

How to make a mood board in PowerPoint? ›

How to Build a Mood Board in Power Point
  1. Step 1: Save Mood Board Images. The first thing I do is collect my images in a folder. ...
  2. Step 2: Open a blank document in Power Point and insert photos. I go ahead and add all of my images at once. ...
  3. Step 3: Edit Mood Board Images.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Allyn Kozey

Last Updated:

Views: 5864

Rating: 4.2 / 5 (63 voted)

Reviews: 86% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Allyn Kozey

Birthday: 1993-12-21

Address: Suite 454 40343 Larson Union, Port Melia, TX 16164

Phone: +2456904400762

Job: Investor Administrator

Hobby: Sketching, Puzzles, Pet, Mountaineering, Skydiving, Dowsing, Sports

Introduction: My name is Allyn Kozey, I am a outstanding, colorful, adventurous, encouraging, zealous, tender, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.