There is so much that goes into building a brand. You need to decide who you are, what you’re about, and what kind of message you want to send to your audience—and then you need to figure out how to communicate all of those things in a visual way. Building the visual side of your brand can feel overwhelming when you’re starting from scratch. But one of the best ways to organize all of your ideas, nail all your design elements, and create a comprehensive visual story for your brand? A mood board. Mood boards are an indispensable tool for building your brand. But what, exactly, is a mood board? What elements do you need to include in your board? And, most importantly, how can you use a branding mood board to inspire your team (and yourself) and build an impactful brand from the ground up? These are all the points we will discuss below.

1. Creating a
Mood Board
for Your Brand
Identity
Dini Prathivi

2. What is a Mood
Board?
• A mood board is like a collage
containing a variety of images,
text, and other objects that
define your brand and
communicate your brand
identity.

3. Why do we need a Mood Board?
a mood board is a valuable tool, for:
• Inspiration. If you’re still in the process of working out your brand identity, a mood board will help bring things
into focus, like company attributes, vision, identity, and the emotions you want your brand to convey.
• Affirmation. If you’re already sure of who you are, a mood board will affirm and support your brand identity. It
will also help you translate concepts like culture and values into tangible things, like design.
• Guidance. A mood board that accurately reflects your brand can act as a guide to keep you focused on your
brand identity when creating your logo, business cards, website, or other marketing materials.
• Communication. A mood board ensures that your designer, company principals and stakeholders understands
your brand and your vision right from the start.

4. Digital Mood Board
• Performing an online image
search and compiling a digital
mood board is easier than
ever with the availability of
some pretty cool online sites

5. Where can you make a digital
mood board?
• Pinterest: Pinterest is a popular online service that allows you to pull images from
“pinboards” that have been curated by others. What’s great about Pinterest is that the
collections are already organized for you, making it easier to find and choose images
you like.
• Moodstream: Brought to you from your friends at Getty Images, Moodstream allows
you to adjust settings for image search with idea-generation and mood board assisting
tools. Detailed filters–like orientation, location, image style—allow you to narrow down
choices and cut down on time spent weeding out imagery you’re not interested in.

6. Physical Mood
Board
• If you prefer to do things old school, you can create a
physical mood board that you can actually touch. To
create one, use a foam board base and spray mount
images and materials to the surface. Source your
collections from magazines, newspapers, old books,
your own photos, or materials from a craft/art supply
store, fabric store or surplus store, like Axman.

7. Chooses
Your Image
and
Material
Find a
balance
Too much imagery can be confusing and overload the
senses, while too little won’t provide adequate
direction or information. The key to finding a balance
is to start with more items, then weed out those items
that don’t match up with your criteria.
Aim for
your
target
Who is your target demographic? Millennials or
seniors? Married couples or singles? Urban, suburban,
or rural residents? Male or female? Let’s say you’re
business offers holistic therapy and your target
demographic is women in their 40s and 50s. With
them in mind, ask yourself what kind of imagery they
might find appealing? What might capture their
interest or grab their attention? Collect those images.

8. Chooses
Your Image
and
Material
Get the
picture
Look for images and materials that convey brand emotions and
communicate brand identity, i.e., bravery, strength, leadership,
energy, serenity, playfulness or seriousness, simplicity or
sophistication, feistiness or calm. Sort through what you’ve
collected and start narrowing down your choices. Going back to
the therapy example—maybe one of the images you thought your
target market might find appealing is flowers. While the picture
might interest your audience, does it define your brand? Or could
your brand be more characteristic of a healing garden with a
water fountain instead?
Be
consistent
Stay focused on your message. Don’t include images or words just
because you like them. Every time you add something to your
mood board, ask yourself, “Does this communicate my brand?”
and “Is this something that my target market would find
appealing?”

9. What To
Include on a
Moodboard
Imagery Colors
Visual
Metaphors
Words
Art / Style Letters
Patterns and
Shapes

10. The Combine it All
Together
• Check at this example

11. Thank You – Dini Prathivi