Mood board and Colour Palette
Mood the board with pictures and texts that sets the tone of your project. This is what a fundamental mood board does. Mood boards are generally compiled visuals to inspire the artistic look and feel of the project. This project can be as small as a business meeting to a huge product launch and anything in between.
Now, a basic mood board doesn’t have any specific pre-requisites. You just have to be vigilant in choosing the theme of your project. It is more of an exploration exercise where you set the tone of your possible outcomes. So, for a particular project, iterations of mood boards can be done to choose from the best. Remember, it is important to keep an open mind to find the best fit for your project.
Next, What are the different types of Mood Boards?
There are majorly 2 types of mood boards:
1. Physical Mood Board: These are the hands-on experience of your mood board. Here, you curate and culminate your hero images. Layering and accentuating and the correct use of the intricate elements make a perfect mood board. This mood board comprises images inspired by the direction of your project.
2. Digital Mood Board: The same principle is followed in the digital mood board as well. The major difference is, that it is easier as compared to the former, as you get available templates to suit your project. Not just that, with the introduction of paid services, you can get your perfect curated mood board without any effort or you can hire a designer to make a digital mood board.
Moving ahead, What are the elements of the mood board?
Every mood board is different. The intricate elements of a mood board are chosen by the designer and it varies according to the project. But, the main elements include:
1. Images: These images can be downloaded from a third-party source, or can be self-taken photographs, product images found on Instagram etc. Pictures make up most of the mood board. It can also be cut-outs from magazines and newspapers if it is a physical mood board.
For digital, there are several apps to help you out. Canva, Adobe Express etc can be used to make unique and aesthetic mood boards. Pictures for the same can be browsed and collected through sites like — Pinterest- https://in.pinterest.com/
Shutter Stock — https://www.shutterstock.com/
Pexels- https://www.pexels.com/
Free images- https://www.freeimages.com/
Other than that, free available templates are also available to suit the purpose of each mood board. These templates with picture stock library https://www.istockphoto.com/, font collection ( https://www.dafont.com/ ) and other design elements are available for free as well as paid.
2. Colours: This is probably the first thing you notice in a mood board. The colour gives a certain ‘mood’ to the project. For example: If you want a very subtle theme, you go for monochromatic or pastel shades of 1 colour. If you want a very energetic theme, you would move towards colours like shades and tints of Red, Yellow, Orange etc. Hence, the colour can be included separately as swatch boxes or incorporated harmoniously in the images themselves. Further details about the colour palette have been included down below.
3. Font: You should be very careful in selecting your font as each font has a separate image for it. For example Serif and Sans Serif fonts. Serif fonts are those which have a line to finish off each edge of the letter. ‘Sans’ means without. Hence, sans serif fonts don’t have the line at their edges and arms. Serif fonts are used for body text generally. This type of font is easier to read. Whereas, Sans Serif indicates a more casual, conversational, approachable look. Hence, it is used by web designers mostly.
To understand further about fonts and their usage we have linked descriptive articles for you. Don’t worry we got you covered!
10 best pair design fonts: https://inkbotdesign.com/font-combinations/
The ultimate guide to font pairing: https://www.canva.com/learn/the-ultimate-guide-to-font-pairing/.Source to download the best fonts and best pair fonts: https://www.fontpair.co/
4. Textures: Any textures or patterns a design will incorporate should be included in the mood board. You should be careful about the textures used. It shouldn’t overpower your colour, images and other elements present on the mood board.
You see, whether it is a digital or physical mood board, one thing is clear, there are no defined rules to guide you through. This gives you a lot of freedom to design your mood boards according to your client or product. Spending sufficient time to culminate the mood board can result in a project running smoothly. Hence, they’re a valuable resource to help keep the style and aesthetic of a project consistent with a client’s goals and expectations.
Moving forward, now we all know how important the colour palette is. Great colour palettes can create the right mood and motivate visitors to take action. But when designing a product for a client there are so many possibilities which often confuses us. We have a few tips for you to make it simpler and easier to choose from.
- Initiating a project with Grayscale: By doing this, you can keep your attention focused on the type of images and mood needed, rather than selecting the colours and getting confused. First, concentrate on having a good and balanced visual hierarchy and then go on to add colours. Doing this helps you run your project a tad bit faster than the usual stereotype process.
2. 60–30–10 rule: This rule can be followed mostly in any type of visual design. This means, for a stable composition, you need a 60% dominance of colour, followed by a 30% mix of a secondary colour and approximately a 10% mix of an account colour. The idea is that the secondary colour supports the primary hue and the accent colour, accentuates the focal points of the design.
3. Consider colour psychology: Your choice of brand colours can have a deep psychological impact on your consumers. As discussed above, colours have an influence on your mood and behaviour.
4. Know your audience and get feedback: Conducting proper research about your audience will help you to fine-tune your idea and the message you want to communicate. Not just that, it will restrain you from failing miserably and being influenced by your own thoughts rather than the audience.
As we discussed the psychological impacts colour associations have on us, we for sure can’t take the colour theory lightly. Hence it is extremely important to take user feedback at the earliest and modify your design to suit the audience. Creating an interface by using colours your customers will love, is a sign of healthy design.
So, want to ace the game right from colour choice and mood boarding? I bet you want to. If you follow all the above-mentioned steps, you will definitely create a better design for your business. Stay tuned for further useful resources and tips.
References :
https://www.toptal.com/designers/visual-identity/guide-to-mood-boards
https://www.lick.com/uk/blog/how-to-make-a-mood-board
https://www.adobe.com/express/create/mood-board
https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/principles/web-design/ux-of-color-palettes/
