Why are mood boards important for branding sessions?

I've been using mood boards for branding sessions and personal work for many years, but some of my clients may not be familiar with them, so this blog post should help clarify the idea with examples.

What is a mood board? Mood boards are simply a collection of images intended to evoke a visual concept and style for a project. Creating a mood board has a lot of benefits that will help achieve a great result for my clients, including:

• Allows my client and I to be on the same page creatively

• Helps when working with a team, eg: hair and makeup stylists or assistants

• Helps anticipate camera settings, lighting and equipment needs

• Provide direction for location, colors, posing, props, backgrounds and lighting

• Gives me visual ideas clues to combine elements from different photos to create something unique

• Helps me tell a story about you and your business

I usually start my mood boards by asking my client if they can send me any images that visually represent what they are looking for. These examples can be from Google searches or Pinterest. I will also look for photos based on our consultation call about the direction/vibe for your images. My client Jermaine sent me several photos and some great descriptions of his branding session's style.

The next step is to take this collection of images into Canva.com or Pinterest. The benefit of a Canva.com collection is that I can print it out and have it displayed on a wall during the photo session.

Next, I will share the mood board for collaboration and feedback so we can plan the session together and include some of the visual elements we collected in the mood board.

Here are some of the photos that my client and I created during his branding session. I love the variety we got in just a couple of hours of shooting.

Mood boards are a shared visual reference that help define ideas and plan for a session. They provide a cohesive vision and help lead to more successful final images. Ready to book a branding session? Click the "book now" button and let's get started!