Tips and tricks - how to create a mood board like a pro

Creating a mood board can be a great, easy and fun way to visualise a concept, room or area of your home (or project) as well as to get those creative juices flowing. 

Professional Interior Designers create mood boards out of real samples which they gather from the suppliers (tiles, floors, walls, furniture etc) to conceptualise a space. This an excellent way to understand the look and feel of the materials and palette.

But a board like this can be tricky to create if you don't have the materials available to you. So a good way to quickly and easily create a simple mood board is by using images found online. Here at Zenkki we use Photoshop, like for the mood board below for our Zen Home Office Set. But the free online site Canva is equally as good for moving images around, scaling and for basic image editing. Or if you are feeling really creative you could print the images, cut them out and pin or tape them to a wall, this way you can also add real plants and any materials you have lying around. 

Composition

The board should tell a story of your project, it should be able to let your eyes guide you around it without having to explain it. Try to keep items in order of how they would appear in the space, for example in the board below the chair is at the bottom as it is closest to the floor whereas the lamp is at the top right. Don't place similar images too near each other, or at all, and its always good to leave plenty of empty space around the sides to let it breathe.

Hierarchy

What are your hero images, pieces or features? They should be bigger than the rest and in a prominent position. Create a hierarchy of important and dominant images, for example materials should relate proportionally to how much you intend to use them in the space. Play with size and format, if an image has a lot of detail make sure it is clear and the ones you wish to stand out should be bigger than the others.

 

Colours

This is a very personal approach, but as a general rule, try to keep the base palette muted, with splashes of colour here and there, and check your tones. For example, if you are using wood with a pinkish tone, make sure you are complimenting it with other materials of the same or complimentary hue. To find complimentary colours, have a look at a colour wheel where colours facing opposite one another are complimentary. This part is very easy to get wrong without physically seeing the materials next to one another, so it's advised you do if you can by asking for samples before committing! - Here at Zenkki we are happy to advise you with our in-house interior designer if you are unsure about matching any of our pieces. 

If your space was a meal...

You could only use images of materials, but in addition to that photos of spaces which inspire you are a nice way to see what works and what doesn't. Pinterest is great for this (Interior Designers use it to the point of obsession!). If you are printing and pinning then try to use real pieces of plants, materials, objects which inspire you etc... Don't just stick to images of interiors! As an example food and drink images, with all their vibrancy and colours can also be a great source of inspiration. Have a think about it, if your space was a meal or a drink what would it be? 

And that's it! Just don't forget to have fun, and express yourself!

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