The iterative process of interpreting, making, and discussing mood boards helps the client define and transmit this vision to as many people as possible, so that the client, the company employees and the stakeholders are all aligned and share the same perspective. A client may want to create a new vision to change how their company is perceived, or to develop a new product or service. The resulting mood board is used to get the stakeholders on the same wavelength. The client must somehow relate to the mood board. If a client likes a specific image, the designer tries to find other images that relate thematically and/or stylistically to that image. At the same time, the client has a chance to express what they like, what is pretty for them, what kind of designs they like. The client should feel comfortable with the values and design that are being aimed at. Through these images, the designer communicates how they look at the client’s product, company, brand, or market. These images should inspire and impress the client. The designer helps their client shape their vision by asking them questions such as: “what do you product to have?” When the designer has some answers to these questions, the designer looks for images that reflect that vision. A mood board reflects a mindset or vision that designer and client define together. A mood board is a simple to approach medium that is used to convey elaborate messages (e.g., a new vision for a company) to a wide audience. When I present a mood board everybody wants to give their interpretations.” (P13) “Unlike written text or mathematics, we are in an area where nobody can say, ‘this is exactly right.’ What is important is that we have an agreement on the holistic view, that everybody has somewhat the same ideas in their head when they are talking about the topic, but then everybody can have different opinions.” (P12) The second role that mood boards play is to assist in the transmission of a mindset or vision to different stakeholders and getting them on the same wavelength. New interpretations are made in the process of discussing the mood boards: “Having a constructive discussion and receiving feedback is extremely important. The designer avoids spending too much time explaining or defending the mood board, as they are mostly interested in how the client perceives it.

Mood boards create the conditions for different people to have a productive discussion together. There is no right or wrong interpretation to be made.

Professional fashion mood board