How clients can understand the role and value of a moodboard
I had an intern started working with me recently. As an interior design graduate, I have tasked them to do moodboards to present to clients. It has made think about the value of a moodboard. The best way to present pieces to clients and the role moodboards plays in the visual communication art of interior design.
What is the role of a moodboard?
A moodboard is supposed to communicate a mood. People understand moods based on how they’re feeling. You might ask you friend – ‘what are you in mood for?’ – when deciding where to eat.
Looking at the definition of ‘mood’ by the Oxford Dictionary, it says ‘a temporary state of mind of feeling’.
This last point relates to interior design and the role of a moodboard. Which is to express to the client the feeling various colours, textures, pieces and so on create in a space.
The client then has to decide if they like the mood these pieces communicate. For example, my Glen Iris client wanted a kitchen that was ‘bright and happy’. A key way to achieve this mood was through colour.
I presented my client with the following moodboard for their kitchen.
Do you think this moodboard communicates a bright and happy space through colour?
This is the actual kitchen recently completed.
It’s interesting that the role of the moodboard is to communicate mood or feeling. Especially when we, both interior designers and clients can be so focused on fittings, fixtures, furniture, and furnishings.
However, all the elements of interior design come together to communicate a mood or feeling. How we want users of the space to feel. This is a conscious and subconscious aspect of the work of interior designers, the art of interior design and the outcome of a space.
So bottom line the moodboard’s role is to communicate mood or feeling through showing interior design elements.
What is the value of a moodboard
The value of a moodboard is communication and feedback. It is an interior design document, one of the tools an interior designer can use to communicate how they intend to deliver the client’s vision.
A moodboard’s value also lies in communicating how the interior designer has interpreted the brief.
A brief is the roadmap of the interior design. Undertaking a brief is the very first step in the interior design process.
It’s a comprehensive question and answer process that benefits both the interior designer and the client.
For the client the brief affords them the opportunity to tell the interior designer, verbally and through images, what they want.
What their goals are both functionally and aesthetically? But also, what the soft goals are, the why? Why a client is undertaking an interior design project is both practical.
For example, to update the aesthetic of a kitchen or a renovate a kitchen to improve the functional problems.
But a client may also undertake an interior design project for more subjective, emotional reasons. Such as to feel better. To achieve a dream a house.
From the brief an interior designer will move to the design stage of the project. At the end of this stage key design documents are presented including a mood board.
A specifications list is presented as well as design rationale. These documents together are valuable in many ways.
Firstly, to show the client how the brief has been interpreted by the interior designer. In this instance the value of moodboard is to show individual pieces, how they work together, and how they communicate the goals in the brief.
Secondly, the value of moodboard is to gain feedback. This is the first time the client will be seeing how their vision might be realised.
Importance of client feedback on a moodboard
So, feedback is important on the overall look and feel or mood of the moodboard but also the individual pieces.
Feedback on the individual pieces requires a break down of what the client doesn’t like about that specific piece.
Such as the shape, texture, line, colour and so on. A break down like this helps the interior design find a suitable alternative.
The alternative is then added to the moodboard to see if the client prefers this version. Whether the mood has changed and is more aligned with the client’s goals.
In this instance the value of a moodboard is to help the client see how their vision can come to life through various interior design elements.
Creating a meaningful moodboard
Sometimes interior designers present 3D renders as well. These are another visual communication tool used for the same reason as a mood board.
To communicate mood and assist the client to start to visualise how their space will come together. How their dream will become reality.
We are used to seeing moodboards with pieces layered. For example a coffee table on top of a rug. I’m not sure of the point of doing moodboards this way bearing in mind their role and value.
I prefer to show pieces individually, that way nothing is hidden, and clients can see all the pieces in their own right.
Clients might be expecting a layered moodboard but I sometimes I don’t do this and explain why. I need feedback on the individual pieces which can be hard if the client can’t see these pieces fully.
Each interior designer will create a moodboard in line with their own style. But given the role and value of the moodboard, the client should be front and centre in the mind of the interior designer when they’re creating the moodboard, So that the client can understand the overall look and feel as well as individual pieces.
Understanding the role and value of a moodboard can help the interior designer and client move through the interior design process efficiently. With minimal revisions to enable the next stage of the design process, which is design implementation, to be executed successfully.