As a teenager one of my favorite past times would be to sit on the floor surrounded by magazines with a large piece of card in front of me and a bunch of craft equipment nearby. Little did I know that making mood boards can improve your life; I just loved creating them and I wasn’t really sure why. I would sit for hours (sometimes entire days) cutting, sticking, and carefully curating my mood boards.
Sometimes I would make them just for fun, or because I needed a creative outlet, but other times I would use them for school in order to plan my art projects. Back then, Pinterest boards were just a twinkle in many people’s eyes so mood boards were mostly just physical pieces back then. However, now with the popularity of Pinterest and many mood board apps and software available with the flick of a finger, creating a mood board can be as simple or as in depth as you desire.
Having always thought that mood boards or vision boards were something that only creative youngsters made for their personal or school projects, I was delighted to find that mood boards are actually vital tools within many industries. Mood boards are a way for businesses to get on the same page as their clients and they are used by interior designers, fashion designers, event planners, and more. Here are seven ways a humble mood board can help you now.
1. Making A Mood Board Gets Your Creative Juices Flowing
Creativity is a fickle creature; one day it's your best friend and the next it has deserted you. Busting out of a creative rut is difficult, but definitely not impossible. Mood boards are an amazing way to get your creative juices flowing and they can help you with any project. I once used a mood board to help me with character development for a novel I am writing but they can also be used to help you with college projects or to discover and showcase the general ideas and themes you have whirring around your head, so that you can at least make a step forward in starting or picking up your project.
2. They Can Help You To Plan
Mood boards are a fabulous medium to help you plan. You might be planning a vacation, a wedding, your weekly meals, or creating a plan of things you want to experience in your life. Whatever you need help with you can rely on a mood board to be your guide. Pinterest is particularly useful when it comes to planning because you can take your phone or tablet with you on the go and add to your mood board whenever inspiration strikes.
3. They Help You To Communicate Ideas
Sometimes you have a vision in your head and it's difficult to explain it in words. Well, with mood boards you don't have to; you can cut, paste, collage, and create to your heart's content to ensure your ideas are brought to life. Mood boards are wonderful for helping to show rather than tell your friends, family, or even colleagues your ideas in a creative and attractive way.
4. They’re Fun To Make
If you're stuck indoors on a rainy weekend, making a mood board is a really fun activity plus you'll feel like you've done something really productive with your time instead of just moping around and watching Netflix. If you're not sure what kind of mood board to create you could always make a vision board which helps you to make your dreams become a reality. The Huffington Post reported that visualization is one of the most powerful mind exercises you can do, so you'll get a head start on bringing your dreams to life.
5. They Can Help You Organize Every Area Of Your Life
There's a mood board for everything: Your career goals, your hopes and dreams, big life events such as weddings, birthday parties, and your home interior design. Creating a mood board around a specific area in your life will help you to hone in on that area and really concentrate on what you want from it or what you want it to be. For instance, you might have an incredible idea for a small business like a coffee shop but you have no idea what you want it to look like. You can start collating together colors, styles, images of furniture, or photos of other establishments you admire to begin to get a feel for what you want your dream coffee shop to look like.
6. They Can Give You Time Away From Technology
If you opt for the non-digital moodboard, you'll be spending some much needed time away from technology. According to the Huffington Post, research has shown that more than half of us may have "nomophobia," or the fear of being phone-less, which IMO is pretty frightening. So turn off your TV, put your phone away, and indulge in some technology-free downtime.
7. Completed Mood Boards Can Be Used As Artwork
Finding affordable art to decorate your apartment with is quite tricky so why not make some yourself? What could be better than looking at a piece of art — your completed mood board — that reminds you of an awesome project you achieved or which inspires you to fulfil your dreams and ambitions?
Bring back the art of mood-boarding because as you can see, mood boards are definitely not just for teenagers.
Image: roombysofie/Instagram; Pexels (3)
