Speaker 1: Mood boards can make or break your project, and they play a massive, massive role in figuring out the direction of your brand for your client. That's why, in this video, I'm going to be going over nailing the process of creating a mood board. So, if you've watched some of my previous design process videos, you probably would have seen me dive into a little bit of Pinterest, a little bit of making the mood boards, but nothing too in-depth. So, I thought I would dedicate this whole video in creating the mood board that I would send to my client. So, normally, I would be working with a specific client, and I would initially get them to send me over their Pinterest board. Remember that the Pinterest board that they send isn't set in stone, and it is just a really good starting point for us designers. For example, the typography or colors that your client chooses may not be quite right for the brand, so it's our job as designers to steer the brand and the client in the direction that we believe will benefit their brand. Remember, they are essentially hiring you as the expert for the brand, so don't be afraid to include something that they don't include in their Pinterest board, and you believe that the direction that you're giving them is a better fit for their brand. So, I'm going to be acting as the client and designer in this video. Therefore, I'm going to be coming up with a Pinterest board as the client, and then coming up with a mood board as the designer. I'm going to be making a Pinterest board and mood board for a gin brand that I have come up with that needs a new brand identity, new logos, etc., as well as some stationery. So, first things first, when you get your client to create a Pinterest board, you want to make sure you are telling them specifics to include within the Pinterest board, because this has shot me in the foot before, and my client has included so many pins that it just didn't even make sense. So, you want to make sure that they are including specifics like the following. So, they need to include photos and an overall vibe of the brand. For example, if it was a more colorful and energetic brand, your photos will represent this, and they will be full of that energy, full of color, and it will really show the vibe of the brand. Next is colors and color palettes. So, any colors that your client likes and they want to include within the brand, remember, it's just a starting point, and the colors that they may choose may vary, and it is our job to sort of come up with a color palette, but it is a good starting point. So, next is typography and fonts. So, getting your client to put in typography that they like and they see their brand having. Obviously, it is our job, once again, to see if the typography that they choose is a good fit for the brand, or if we feel like it needs to be steered in another direction. And lastly, I like them to include packaging or stationery that they've seen from other brands, just to give it that feel if it is an energetic brand or if it is more of a minimal brand, and you will be able to tell from the packaging if it is more minimal or if it is more of a playful style. So, let's go and put everything that I have mentioned into action and create our very own Pinterest board as the client. So, the first thing that I'm going to do is look for some really nice photos for this brand. So, this is going to include some models drinking some alcohol, maybe some really nice photo shoots of gin bottles, alcoholic bottles, etc. We're going to get some nice images of drink being poured, just to give it that overall vibe and feeling that we want to go for. So, this gin brand is going to be something premium, but with a little bit of fun in there, which you can get through photography. So, the good thing about Pinterest that I like is when you click on an image, underneath it you will see a load more curated images that Pinterest have found that are similar to the one that you've picked. So, this can be good and bad because I actually end up in a Pinterest loophole for hours and hours just finding images for a mood board, but I like this option because it always finds those similar images that you're looking for. There's also a thing that I found as well, which has really, really helped me. So, I think I did a reel about this, but if you haven't seen it, there is a micro... What's it called? A micro... Oh my God, my brain. Not a microphone. Micro... Magnifying glass. Not a microphone. So, you will notice on the right hand corner, there is a magnifying glass and this allows you to basically crop the image that you have found. So, for example, if you had typography on an image, you could select that bit of typography and then to the right, Pinterest will find the exact same images, a similar vibe to what you're looking for, which is really, really handy if you're trying to find a certain font or just something in general to match that photo. Okay, next, now we've done the photos, we're going to move on to some colours. Now, I see this being quite citrusy, quite summery, so I'm going to add some colours into this that I think would work. Does anyone else get excited when your mood board starts to look so delicious? Because I do. Seeing greens and oranges and just summery feels just reminds me of a gin brown already. Although I am playing the client, I am thinking, like, my design head is on. So, if you are a client wanting to work with a designer, this is a really good start with curating and putting together a good mood board, making sure you include lots of different things like photography, colours, branding, packaging, etc. So, we've got colours and photography and I'm going to move on to some typography and then I'll probably add in some packaging. I've got a few bits in here of some gin bottles and some other drinks bottles, but I really want to find some really nice packaging and drink bottles designs. So, I'm going to finish off doing that and then we can crack on with creating the mood board, which I will be making in Adobe Illustrator. So, the mood board is now done and this is what I would receive from my client. So, this is to just give me a base point, a starting point as to where my client wants to take their brand. Now, it is my job to put a mood board together, go through and describe why I've picked certain things and really figure out a good direction for this brand. So, we're going to hop over to Adobe Illustrator and I'm going to take some of the images that I found from Pinterest and start making my mood board. You will find as well when your client sends you over their Pinterest board, you will probably go onto Pinterest or another site or wherever you find your inspiration and you will actually choose some of your own images while still including some of their images from Pinterest too. It's sort of a collaboration between you and your client and you're both putting your ideas together to create a really nice outcome. So, when creating my mood boards for my client, I normally give them two mood boards to choose from. If the brief and their vision is a little unclear, it is good to give them two options for two different directions of the brand. So, this can include different images, a different color palette that you choose, but if the vision is quite clear from your client, the Pinterest board is really, really good and they know what they want, I will probably just provide them with one mood board so that we can nail that direction of the brand. You will pick this up as you start working with more clients, you'll get an understanding for whether you need one or two mood boards. So, I'm in Adobe Illustrator now. So, I like to create nine boxes. So, I'm literally just going to color them black within Adobe Illustrator and I'm just copy and pasting them to fit my board. So, once you have got this, this is when I can start dragging some of the images from Pinterest over into Adobe Illustrator. So, I'm going to choose some bits from my Pinterest board of photography, packaging, typography and a color palette and this will essentially make up my nine blocks of my mood board. So, once I've got some images in my Adobe Illustrator file, I will then use the clipping mask tool which is Command and 7 as a shortcut and I will just simply go in and place some of my images, move them around until I feel like they are a perfect fit. I always like my mood boards to sort of go a color, then a photo, then a color just because it is more pleasing to the eye and it's a lot easier to look at because if you have sort of loads of colors going on in one section, it can be quite confusing to the client. So, with some images, you might find that it is either a little too dark, it is the wrong color. So, I actually like to go in with the transparency of some colors. So, for example, this green is a little too dark for my mood board. So, I'm just going over the top with a lighter green and then I'm going to go to my transparency box and I'm just going to play around and see if there's one. For example, this green has made the color a lot brighter which matches my mood board. I'm trying to go for like a more lighter summery vibe and then I'm thinking of my other mood boards to be a little darker, a little deeper colors. So, then my client would have a choice of either going for more of a summery look or more of a premium and deeper, darker color scheme. So, this mood board looks really, really nice. I'm loving the incorporation of the oranges and the greens as well as the premium typography. We've got really nice thin parts of the typography which I feel would work really nicely with the brand. I'm going to create another mood board just with some deeper, darker colors and then we can go into actually trying to describe this to the client. So, when I send my mood board across in my PDF document, I will actually put some text and writing as to why I've chosen specific things, talk about the colors and why they've been chosen just to give my client an understanding of the direction of the brand that I want to take this in. So, at the end I also like to go over to Pexels or Unsplash and see if there's any better imagery than what I have found on Pinterest because sometimes they have incredible imagery that just goes a lot better. I like to go onto Pexels as well and on their homepage they do a really clever thing which they put it in color order. So, as I'm scrolling down you will see there's grayscale, then all of a sudden it will go onto neutrals, then pinks and greens. So, when it gets onto the color palette that I've chosen for my mood board, there may be some images in there that I like and I actually use within that. So, it's always good to have a look at other sources than just Pinterest because it might spark some more ideas for you. Okay, I have been a little busy bee doing these two mood boards so you guys can have a look into my process and see the thought behind these mood boards. So, we're going to start with mood board number one and basically I like to include everything I said at the start. So, I will talk through the imagery, typography, the color palette and then I will put a little note at the end to basically just say that the design colors may change throughout the process when I'm actually designing the brand. Because I found in the past I've presented a color palette to a client and then I've actually changed it because I found something else that fitted a lot better. So, I just note that down so they know that things may change. So, mood board number one, as I stated at the start, it is full of color, full of life. It's got something about it that makes it feel really fruity and just a really nice drink that you would have in the summer, in the summer evenings with your friends. So, we've created a really nice and uplifting feel to this brand. So, I have put this mood board is more colorful and energetic and creates a summery feel to the Gin brand. Although it is high-end, there is still some playfulness to the brand and that is represented really well with the images, the typography and just the overall feel to the brand. So, then I go on to the imagery and I say this shows the fun, energetic and colorful side to your brand. Using the sliced fruit makes the brand feel full of life, which it does. It creates a really nice sense of fullness and you always add fruit in to make it feel summery, more energetic and you just get a really nice feel with the imagery added in. I also like to use the imagery as the sense of direction of what the brand could use for their imagery. So, for example, the right-hand cornered image looks really, really nice and I could see the gin bottle sort of being in a really nice field or with some slices of fruit. So, that goes in there as well. Next is the typography used and I have put a customized sans serif typeface will be used to create a premium yet fun feel to the brand. Tweaking the typography will make it distinct to you and your brand as well as giving it that extra flair. So, for example, in the two bits of typography, the Mori typography has some really nice thin parts and it just feels nice and flowing. And this can be tweaked when creating the typography as you've seen in some of my design process videos. Next is the color palette. Now, I like to break all the colors down. So, to the left of my writing that I've used, you will notice that I've picked four colors. Normally, I go either for three to six colors depending on the mood board and if I feel like there will be a lot more colors involved. Obviously, as you are designing the brand, you can add in more colors. But this is just a basis of somewhere to start when you start designing the brand. So, I've put four colors have been chosen and used to create a direction for your brand. They have been chosen strategically. I always struggle to pronounce that word. So, then I go into each individual color. So, I say orange which is a fruity and flavor to the brand. It's associated with joy and happiness which is exactly what you get from the color orange. You feel summery, you feel joyful, you feel happy and it just brings a really nice sense of happiness to it. Next is the green. I love this green color by the way. It just reminds me of leaves and as you can see, this color palette normally I take from the mood board. So, either I drop or I find similar colors to the mood board. So, the green represents spring and that natural essence. It creates that envious feel as well to make people buy that drink. So, when you think of green that is that envy. So, those colors always have that bit of strategy behind the design. The off-white color represents pureness and a reminder of water and drinks. So, normally when you drink that sparkling water or vodka or an alcoholic drink, they can be clear. So, it just gives that reminder that it is a drinks brand. Lastly is the light blue color which creates that calm and peaceful feeling. And it is also associated with reliability and feelings of tranquility. So, those colors have been chosen. We don't just pick random colors just for the aesthetic. There should always be a reason to why you are picking specific colors. So, for this one it is more of like a citrusy, summery drinks vibe which we've gone for. So, next to this I put the colors just to make sure that they look right together which they do. I think I would probably add in two more colors. Maybe like a lighter orange and a darker green just to give my client some more options when actually using their branding. So, we're going to move on to the next mood board now. So, mood board number two is a lot deeper, darker and richer colors. It makes it feel a lot more mature than the mood board above. So, there are two different options that my client would be able to choose. So, this one says this mood board is more mature and high class. It creates a sense of being grounded and premium. So, I'm going to go on to the imagery which is shown to be very classy and a natural side to the brand with a soft and calming feel. Which the imagery do a really good of showcasing this. Typography is either going to be a sans serif or serif typeface which will be used to create a high end feel to the brand. Some curls and tweaks will be added to the typography to make it distinct and create that luxury look. The color palette, once again there are four colors and they have been chosen strategically. The red orange shows passion and desire and it is also associated with wisdom. We are going for more of that mature look. So, this will be targeted to more of the older generation. The dark green shows earthy tones to show the roots of this brand and to represent a nice refreshing feel. The off white also is pureness and the reminder of water and drinks. And then the dark green gray creates a balance and maturity to this brand. Once again it says, please note the colors may change in the design process but it shows a good direction of the brand. So, that is pretty much what I do when creating my mood boards. I then go and put this into my PDF template. By the way, I will be making some templates available to buy in the very near future of the presentations that I send to my clients. So, this is just a little look at what I do with the mood boards. Like I said, I go and add it in to another presentation which includes some strategy and a little look into the business as well as the direction of the brand. So, please let me know your thoughts on the mood boards and if you have a completely different process to me, if you do your mood board a little differently. When I used to do them, I actually never used to provide any text or any clarification as to why I chose specific images or text or colors. But I found it's really helpful to clients to know why specific things have been chosen. For example, the colors, the typography, it's just good to let them know what you're thinking. And you can even hop on a call with them to go through the mood board. Or if you're more comfortable with just sending them over a presentation, find what works for you. Find a process that works for you. At the moment, this works really well for me and I've had really good feedback with providing two mood boards. I think I'm obviously more of a colorful person so I would probably go for mood board one. But I do like the really mature feeling to the second mood board. So, I kind of want to make the brand now just to see what it would look like. So, that was the process of me creating my two mood boards in Adobe Illustrator as well as creating the Pinterest board too. Please let me know if you have a completely different process or if this has given you some sort of clarification into doing things right within your design business. Like I said, there is no right or wrong to how you present a mood board. It is entirely down to you and what you like doing and what works for you and your clients. If you did like this video, make sure to give it a big thumbs up and subscribe to my channel if you want to see some more content just like this.