An interior design moodboard is the first step in bringing your vision to life and selling your concept to a client. A good moodboard then acts as the pillar for a project and helps to keep you and your clients on the same page throughout the design process—saving you from costly mistakes and last-minute revisions!
But making the perfect moodbaord is not as simple as throwing together a selection of images and hoping for the best. Moodboarding is a skill refined over time but there are a few shortcuts to success. Starting with the five key components of a powerful moodboard—theme, colour, imagery, layout, and text.
Ready to impress your clients with powerful moodboards? Follow our step-by-step moodboarding guide nd explore the best moodboarding tools for interior designers.
Step 1. Curate your concept
Before creating your moodboard, you must first be secure in your concept. How does this room look and feel—what is the end product? Your moodboard should offer your client a glimpse into their future home.
Once you are clear on your aesthetic and the mood you are trying to evoke, you can begin compiling images, furniture, patterns, materials and colours that align with your vision. For example, a maximalist living room moodboard will require a bold mix of colours, textures, patterns, and never-seen-before furniture pieces. On the other hand, minimalist-style boards would stick to monochromes or neutral colour swatches, negative space, and simple lines and shapes.
Step 2. Select your colours
Colour speaks volumes. The colour palette of your moodboard can completely dictate the mood. As an interior designer, it is wise to have a good knowledge of colour theory and apply this to all your work. Aside from that, a good place to start is always with the opinion of the client. In your initial consultation did they mention a preference for a certain colour palette? Or explicitly say they disliked a certain shade? Make sure to bear this in mind when building your concept and curating your moodboard.
Step 3. Consider your layout
The way furniture is arranged in a room changes everything—the same applies to moodboarding. How you position each element of your moodboard and the visual hierarchy you create will play a huge role in how your moodboard is received by your client.
The images that are most important in translating your vision should take up more space on the page, things that play a small role in the final concept should act more as embellishments.
You can explore different types of layouts ranging from grid-like set-ups to a more free-form approach and see what best tells the story of your concept. Also try using visual cues (lines, arrows, etc.) to guide the eye from one element to the next in the way you want your moodboard to be perceived.
Step 4. Provide context
Many interior designers overlook the impact of text in their moodboards. Text adds context to your moodboard and helps your client to understand how this somewhat abstract collection of images, colours and textures will come to life as a room in their home. That being said, you should always keep your text short and sweet. The text should never overpower the visuals—ensure your text contributes to the aesthetic rather than distracting by picking pick a typeface and font colour that matches your theme.
Experiment with the placement of your text. For example, you can overlay text on images, or keep it separate—both connote a different vibe so see what suits this particular concept.
Best moodboard tools for interior designers
Visualist
Visualist is a full-service project management tool for creatives. With Visualist, interior designers can manage their projects and collaborate with clients as well as enjoying first-rate moodboarding features.
Image library, background removal, auto layout capabilities—Visualist has everything you need to make moodboards that wow your clients.
Milanote
Part moodboard, part mindmap—get organised beautifully with Milanote. Milanote's drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to convey ideas through text and images.
You can also save web resources with Milanote's web clipper to further illustrate your vision.
SampleBoard
Create professional-looking moodboards with ease using SampleBoard.
SampleBoard also automatically generates product shopping lists from moodboards, saving you both time and energy!
