Monday, January 25, 2010

Creating mood boards for design projects

A mood board is a wonderful way to present your ideas and design direction to your client. Not only does it keep you on track and focused throughout the design process but it also helps to keep everyone on the same page as the concept evolves and is finalized. I create mood boards all the time, especially for identity and packaging projects. I have found if I skip this step, my mind will wander in a thousand different directions, resulting in wasted time (and money). And my clients do love the mood boards—it's definitely another way to reinforce your design choices.

If I am presenting to a group, I prefer mounting photos, fabrics and color swatches on a piece of large foam core. This way, it can be displayed and viewed by all as I'm presenting my concepts. But sometimes I create a mood board simply on paper, pulling images into my Indesign file and exporting the page as a pdf for my client to view.

Mood boards are definitely a visual thing but it can also be tactile. One time when I was presenting a mood board to a client, I had him close his eyes and touch the board which contained many different textures—rough stone, suede fabric, embossed paper, etc. It was important for him to understand the concept which was focused around the sense of touch. Needless to say, he loved the concept and totally understood where I was going with it.

Below are a few examples of mood boards I have created for various projects. Enjoy!

the mood board kept me on track with the organic feel of the pieces below


simple and to the point – rough layouts shown below

Vivesan mood board on foam core

the final pieces for Vivesan, plant-based cleaning products


a mood board for a project in the works – I love this color combination!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

a fresh start

The holidays are over and a new year has begun. This is a perfect time to clean and organize your studio or office. I don't know about you but my studio is overflowing with paperwork, publications, graphic samples, color chip books and the list goes on and on. I love starting the new year with a fresh start. This means going through old job folders, throwing out unnecessary papers and backing up completed projects—basically organizing and getting rid of all the unnecessary clutter to make room for those new projects.

Here are some fun things to help you organize the "necessary clutter" in your office space. Happy organizing and here's to a fresh start!


I love russell+hazel linen-covered binders. They are perfect for organizing important client information or to store samples. 

These rubber bands from russell+hazel are fun and practical.

You can never have enough folders. I was color coding my different clients until my client list started to get out of hand. From the Container Store.

If you use color swatches constantly, I recommend using a bulletin board. This one is made from linen by Pottery Barn. 
I love this rustic board with burlap from Pottery Barn. Hmm...where can I put this?

 A fun shape from the Container Store.

Every office needs something to hold magazines. This one is from Crate and Barrel.
Baskets are so practical and can hold project files or samples—from Crate and Barrel.