THE IMPORTANCE OF MOODBOARDS IN INTERIOR DESIGN & STYLING
Designing and styling for the CGI industry is really exciting because the possibilities are endless. You can change the colour of a wall using just a few clicks and swap out furniture without the back ache! It’s such a great tool for designers, property developers, product manufacturers and basically anyone who needs to visualise a space before committing to the work and purchasing all that goes into it. As a marketing tool it’s priceless because you can essentially show potential buyers how a space can look AND evoke an emotion as to how they would feel in the space.
Also referred to as vision boards, inspiration boards and concept boards, moodboards can be used in any sector, including fashion, interior design, beauty, food, really any area where you need to communicate a message through images. They can be used to highlight recent trends and colours, to help determine branding, or in my field of interior styling I use them to present images to deck out a whole scheme for a room.
A moodboard I created to style a monochromatic green bedroom using products only from made.com
Generally the boards involve of compilation of anything between 10 and 20 images (so as not to be too chaotic) which build your idea. They can be digital or put together by hand if you need to show actual samples of fabric and wallpaper. Things that can be proposed on the moodboard are colour palettes, finishes, furniture, accessories, lighting, and look and feel; whether that be for a high end penthouse apartment, a cool Scandi vibe or a warm and cosy dark interior.
I create moodboards for clients who want to visualise what a space will look like once its built and decorated. So my boards are all about the interior design, styling and propping. For the nature of the business I’m in, the boards need to be professional, clean and easily understood. I create different moodboards in different ways depending on the needs of the client, but I generally use InDesign, Photoshop, Powerpoint and Keynote depending on the complexity.
The brief was to create an aspirational kitchen to showcase the client's new range of coloured taps. This one was for the gunmetal tap. I used Powerpoint for this moodboard as it's clean and straightforward. You can see how the final CGI includes all of the elements that are featured on the board.
Whether or not the arrangement of the board is highly designed or complex, the function always has to be the same - to create a complete and cohesive moodboard to help the client to visualise how the room will look once the room is built and decorated, and that is why using moodboards, and using them well is so important.
With my boards I aim to show the client everything that will be in the room; the floor, the colour of the walls, the furniture, the accessories like rugs, art, vases and cushions, the lighting... so they can see how each element works in harmony in a complete scheme.
I find inspiration from the architecture of the building, its location and I build a story around the target market to ensure the scheme suits the surroundings, the people who live there and the brief.
It helps me to get into the mind set of the end user, for example the couple who will be living in a new apartment. Where they would buy their furniture, what they eat and what they read. I make a list or brainstorm of important words that come to mind depending on the brief like luxury, sleek, modern, metallic, and I refer back to these to keep me on track with the idea. These words can then be used to help describe the concept to the client and will help determine the design statement that will appear on the moodboard.
Because this space was slightly more complex by incorporating three areas into one space, it called for a slightly more detailed moodboard. This one was created in InDesign. I wanted to include a concept page as well as dedicated pages for each area.
Once I have designed the scheme to include all of the furniture, how it will be positioned in the room, and how it will be propped and styled, I then brief in the illustrator to sketch the space using the CAD plans of the unbuilt property with a full direction of how the room needs to be ‘decorated’.
The sketch is then placed onto the moodboard which is sent to the client for approval. The complete scheme for the room along with the sketch is then the perfect starting point for the artists to use to create the space in CGI... and that’s where the magic happens!
The illustrator creates the sketch based on my brief and full direction for the propping, styling, furniture placement and camera angle.
Creating moodboards is abolutely my favourite part of the job, coming up with that initial concept by doing a tonne of research is really exciting, and it's a great feeling when the client loves the idea and the final shot.
Check out my Digital Interior Design Service, where I create bespoke moodboards for you and your brief, bringing your interior dreams to life.
