Moodboarding- Exploratory Stage of Design Process
An important part of the development stage of a design project is to do visual research. This can often be accomplished through creating a moodboard that highlights the kinds of elements that you feel would work well for the design challenge you are trying to solve. This is an important, exploratory step that helps in constraining and defining the style that will be applied in the next steps of production.
One thing that I wanted to highlight about this stage in the design process is that it can be a collaborative experience. Though I did not develop the moodboard attached below with the help of a teammate, I used a tool called Milanote that allows for teams to edit boards collaboratively.
There is a rhetorical situation underlying the task of moodboarding, because it is vital to underscore and communicate why you are including certain images in the collection. While the work is mostly visual, written communication is necessary for clarifying which elements of the image are to be prioritized and why similar decisions may be appropriate for the project. For example, one image caption in my moodboard explains that using sketchy illustration and typography could achieve the brand personality trait of empowerment that the client wishes to convey, because the imperfections celebrate the element of human error. Many of the captions also emphasize how visuals communicate boldness and dynamism which are impressions the client wants their brand identity to evoke.
This moodboard mostly explores typography and graphics. It references and adapts the points made in the design brief, but progresses the project by revealing practical examples for implementing the strategy outlined by the brief. For example, this board focuses on serif typefaces, which serve as an instrument for addressing the “typewriter” metaphor and the “classic” and “vintage” look mentioned in the brief’s “style direction” section.
Click here to refer to my post that introduces this project’s design brief.
I think that it would be a lot of fun to collaborate with a team member in this process. Because working as a designer as a part of an agency team involves frequent correspondence with others, I would like to practice this writing task by composing a mock email addressed to a teammate that invites them to participate in the moodboard’s development. After all, there are more design elements worth exploring for a brand’s identity beyond typography and graphics, as I have focused on in this case. A second set of hands on the moodboard would surely refine the concept even further.