Size matters (as does position)
The positioning and size of things on your mood board should ideally reflect their importance or relationship to the original idea itself. It can be a good idea to have one image or texture that you use as a reference point for all the others, and arrange them accordingly. This serves 2 purposes, firstly, it creates a focus for all the elements on the board, secondly, it guides your client to the graphic concepts you consider to be more important.
Client’s understanding
Remember that unfortunately not all clients will understand the process of the mood board template. Your job is to create something that gives them a visual feel for where you’re going in terms of style and concept. This may mean creating 2 different boards, depending on the project.
Format
A physical mood board is great, unless your client works on the other side of the world. Before you get too excited consider how you will present the board, in person or online? Via PDF or jpg? All of these elements will inform the way in which you compile your investigation.
Quantity of images – examples of loads and not many
Some projects require a lot of imagery, designing a complex website may need a wide range of interactions and visual codes, whereas perhaps a logo may not. Whilst you may, like me, have 50+ boards on Pinterest from which to draw your ideas, don’t overwhelm the client.
Media (photography/illustration/3D)
Mood boards templates don’t have to be limited to illustration just because your project is about illustrating a children’s book, nor does it have to be all in 3D graphics because you’re designing a 3D video game. Be sure to draw your references from very different worlds and to communicate across all registers.
The Moodboard of Moodboards
If you really get into this like a mad scrapbooker would, you can create many moodboards for the same topic. Then, we would suggest creating the moodboard of all moodboards. This means, collecting and cross-referencing for repeating concepts and patterns, shapes, sizes and colours to really curate and refine to make the best moodboard EVER.
