A few thoughts on mood as it pertains to web design.
As I mentioned in my first post about redesigning this site, mood boards feature prominently in my design process.
A mood board is an old-school graphic design tool. In essence, one gathers up any and all things that give the designer a sense of the overall feeling of the piece. The mood board might contain pages from various magazines, snap shots of buildings or of type treatments (yes, designers take snap shots of signs), swatches from wall paper sample books, etc.
In the old days, the designer would paste these samples onto a presentation board. Sometimes they’d be shared with the client to double check that everyone is on the same page. More often than not though, they simply serve as inspiration and help the designer shape his vision of the final piece.
I’ve tossed the physical pasting-on-board part of the process in favor of a great big Photoshop document. I find that going through this exercise helps me stay on target, and really gets the creative juices boiling.
After considering the goals I set in the previous article, I came up with the following list of descriptors for the new site’s mood:
- calm
- comfortable
- slightly edgy
- high end street boutique
- a bit tongue-in-cheek
In short, I’m looking to create a bit of tension between a minimalist calm and a more energetic organic/punk aesthetic.
The following image is my mood board for theblogstudio.com’s redesign. When reviewing it, take note of things like colour and pacing. The thumbnail below links to a larger 250kb
version (will open in a new window).
