A discussion with Struck Creative Director, Tosh Brown
How many times have you had a conversation with someone, but your idea just isn’t getting through to them? You say “minimal,” and they think “sterile.” But, you really mean “simple” and “stunning.”
Sometimes, words can fall short. And when they do, the most efficient way to communicate can be visually. But even then, interpretations of visual communication can lead to shortfalls and disagreements further down the road.
Such is the case for mood boards. In one sense, mood boards can help kick-off the creative process and bring alignment to a project. In another, they can create rigidity and limitations.
We sat down with Tosh Brown, one of Struck’s creative directors, to talk about when mood boards are most beneficial and when differences in interpretation lead to limitations in creativity.
Struck: How would you describe a mood board to someone who has no idea what it is?
Tosh Brown: A mood board is a curated arrangement of images, color, typography, etc. intended to evoke or project a particular tone, style, or concept.
S: Why do you think mood boards are so popular?
TB: Mood boards tend to be the standard because it allows the creative team and client to align before the exploration really gets going. It’s a checkpoint that sets the creative team and client on the same path. Mood boards can also help with budgeting: It reduces time exploring from the outset and acts as a rigid check-in to set the framework for the rest of creative ideas.
S: So, what makes them restricting?
TB: The same reason why they’re helpful from a budgeting perspective — mood boards can also feel a bit restrictive to the creative process.
Mood boards are meant to elicit feelings or a tone, not show exact designs that may be created down the line. When a client isn’t later presented with work that exactly mirrors what was initially in the mood board, they can start to question the entire process and capability of the creative. Mood boards often put creatives in a corner of mimicking what’s on the board, rather than its purpose that is supposed to be a starting point for creative inspiration.
S: It sounds like the confusion between clients and creatives is literal vs metaphorical interpretations of mood boards?
TB: Exactly. Creatives are limited when mood boards are taken too literally.
I try to have an open discussion with clients when sharing mood boards to review this philosophy: Mood boards are not meant to be taken literally, but rather to share an overall tone. I like to explain that our creative team takes the elements of a mood board and blends them up, so that we pull the feelings from the mood board into the designs we create, rather than copy exactly what was on the mood board. That concept can understandably be difficult for clients to comprehend.
I’m definitely not anti-mood board. I just believe there is a time and place for them. If not created and communicated correctly, they can restrict creativity.
S: Tell us about a successful project that didn’t use a mood board.
TB: It does take time to completely get rid of a mood board, especially for a client that’s paying top dollar. But, not using a mood board is most effective when the client is very open-minded, or we have a solid foundation and relationship with the client already, or both.
For example, when we first started working with Nickelodeon, we would lean more heavily into mood boards to discuss creative inspiration and ideas. But over time, as our relationship deepened, Nickelodeon would just tell us their problem, we’d verbally communicate our idea, and they would respond with, “That sounds great, go make it!” But those relationships and trust aren’t built overnight.
S: Are there industries that could benefit more with a mood board?
TB: In Struck’s experience, it seems like the most success with mood boards is with clients who are newer to the creative process.
A lot of the biotechs we work with come to Struck at a point in their business process when they realize they need to look more mature, polished and professional. They’re usually in a round of raising money and need to be taken seriously, from a visual perspective.
People who work in biotechs are usually extremely smart, scientifically- and analytically-minded people. They’re creative, but in a different way than we are. So, when we’re working with an industry that’s so completely different from our own, that’s when mood boards can be most beneficial, because it makes communicating creative ideas a bit easier.
S: What role does strategy play in informing the creative discussion with clients?
TB: The best creative flows have a solid, underlying understanding of what the problem is we are solving.
Struck’s goals are to problem solve and to better a client’s business. Putting strategy at the forefront of creative helps identify gaps in a client’s current ideology, so they have to question themselves a little, and helps them to understand different perspectives than what they’re used to.
Strategy helps find underlying themes in a client’s audience and brand, and then informs a creative brief to kick-off that creative process.
S: Tell us about your ideal creative process.
TB: Ideally, it’s an organic process that usually differs from client to client. The first thing we need to do is assess who we’re explaining creative concepts to, and the best way to communicate. Then, pull information from a creative brief or overall strategy, and intuitively compile references that aren’t literal, but more so spawn an emotional trigger to excite the client.
An important part of this process is to really listen to the client and move forward with constructive feedback. An ideal creative process is not one where the client or creative is talking down toward one another. It’s a partnership.
