Whether you work in digital or traditional media, if you're trying to get a big design idea across, a good mood board can be invaluable. With a mood board you can instantly convey a whole assortment of concepts and feelings that are central to your pitch but difficult to get across verbally.
So what's the best way to put a digital mood board together? We've got lots of expert tips on how to create a mood board (opens in new tab), but in this post we've focussed specifically on the tools you need to help do just that. Let's get started.
01. Milanote
If you're looking for an easy-to-use tool to organise all your ideas, Milanote (opens in new tab) is certainly an option worth considering. The software runs in any modern web browser and offers as much space and as many levels of hierarchy as you might need to let your creative projects fully develop. It can be set up as a private place for you to collect your thoughts or as shared workspace for collaboration – the choice is yours. You can sign up for free, plus get access to Milanote's library of inspiration and templates to help get you started.
02. Pinterest
Pinterest (opens in new tab) offers a surprisingly diverse collection of images to draw mood board references from. The big plus of using it is that a whole load of human users have done a lot of the curating for you, which is the time-consuming bit. And the collections are often themed better than any traditional image library – you can even follow Creative Bloq (opens in new tab).
For more on Pinterest, see our post on how to make money on Pinterest (opens in new tab).
03. MURAL
MURAL (opens in new tab) describes offers easy and user-friendly way for creative teams to think, imagine and discuss their design ideas. It'll cost you $12/month, but there's a free trial available if you don't want to commit just yet.
04. The Matboard
Image sharing site The Matboard (opens in new tab) is specifically targeting creatives as an alternative to the more mainstream Pinterest. Check out our in-depth review (opens in new tab) of what it has to offer.
05. Evernote
Ever considered using the Evernote (opens in new tab) notetaking app to create mood boards? Us neither, but it can be done. This blog post over on SitePoint (opens in new tab) explains exactly how.
06. Sampleboard
Upload your images to Sampleboard (opens in new tab), the digital mood board creation tool, and organise them into project files, then use the web editor to easily pull together design trends and colour schemes. The mood boards you create can be shared on various social media sites and easily imported into documents and presentations. A range of mood board themes are available to get you started.
Related articles:
- How to get started with mood boards (opens in new tab)
- The 55 best infographics (opens in new tab)
- Get started with Pinterest for illustrators (opens in new tab)
