A moodboard is a collection of visual materials that evoke a certain style or concept. We create moodboard to communicate the feel of an idea, or the mood for your brand. Moodboards serve as a fundamental transition between an initial thought and a first draft, and it’s also used as a visual reference for both the team and for other people such as photographers to help you in your artist career. See your moodboard as a consistent work in progress and a discussion for your inner dialogue.
Where to start
Pinterest.com is a thankful website to work with since it delivers very accurate ideas ones the algorithm gets to know you. Start of with pictures that inspires you and feel close to your artist persona. Remember, a moodboard is all about exploration, so don’t get too attached to a particular direction. Start off wide, and narrow it down later.
Finding pictures
Search for artists who’s visual style you like, new as old. Try different specific and narrow terms that resembles your style, such as “lo-fi”, or “old school hip hop aesthetic”, etc. Try search for artworks you love or movies poster that has the right vibe. Maybe you can find inspiration from 70’s sitcoms, or a perhaps certain city or building? Save whatever you see fitting, it doesn’t have to be connected to music. There is really no right or wrong, just try to find the right mood.
When you’ve find a picture that you like, open it and scroll down to see visually similar images. Repeat this and save the photos that you like to your moodboard. Once you’ve saved a bunch of pictures, go to your moodboard and scroll down, and auto-generated suggestions based on the pictures you have saved will show up. At this stage, is better to save too much rather than too little.
If you have any designs or photos that you’d like to be a part of your brand, like logos and such, includes these in your moodboard. Simply add them by making a new pin and upload your file.
Here you can see an example of a moodboard.
If it doesn’t feel right
In this case the moodboard serves as a foundation to be able to discuss how to be more distinct in your visual communication. Try to ask questions about the pictures that feel uncomfortable. Why does it feel uncomfortable? Can I use this to define what I am not or what I am? It is important though to see the moodboard as a whole and not put too much emphasis on one image. If it still doesn’t feel right, think about how the moodboard could be adjusted and why. How could the artist persona be clarified in order to not be misunderstood? Change and add pictures to the moodboard. Reflect, remove and add pictures to it yourself and learn and develop your own artist identity.
Discussing
It’s good to go through your moodboard with someone else. Someone who can see both you and your music from another perspective and fill in with ideas that you’ve might have missed. If you’re an artist at Rexius Records, that person is our Art Director. Together we go through, add missing pieces and narrow the moodboard down to a solid ground for your brand.
Notes
Even though Pinterest is a visual tool and your focus should be on collecting pictures, it’s good to know that you have the ability to write notes too. This might come in handy if you need to clarify specific terms or styles that’s important to your moodboard.