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A Guide to Mood Boards: How + Why

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In an episode of The Bold Type, one of the main characters created a mood board to land her dream job. Although it wasn’t completely realistic, I was ecstatic to see one of my hobbies displayed on a T.V. show. This then inspired me to write about one of my favorite things to do when I am seeking inspiration and motivation: make mood boards.

The Bold Type, which air Tuesdays on Freeform, is one of my new fave TV shows!

I have been making mood boards since I was in the 5th grade. I would collect J-14, Bop, and TigerBeat magazines and cut out photos of cute guys, outfits that I deemed as “stylish” at the time (the more glitter the better!), and relatable quotes from articles. Then I would make collages out of them with different themes such as “A Night with Friends” or a “Day in the Park”. Those lighthearted collages then transformed into trend boards and vision boards. They represented who I was, what was important to me, and who I hoped to someday become. Crafting these boards was therapeutic to me. My middle school art class exit project was a gigantic mood board, compiled with handwritten notes, concert tickets, inspirational quotes, and photos clipped from as many editorial pieces I could get my hands on. My bedroom walls resembled my mood boards and throughout high school, they remained completely covered, barely showing a splash of the wall’s paint. Even my school binders had collages on the covers, featuring empowering, motivational tidbits to get me through school.

My ever-growing collage on my bedroom wall

So, why do I make these boards?

For one, they keep me busy. I am someone who loves to always be doing something. I live for stress (and then I complain about it later TBH), live for deadlines, and live for accomplishing things. I get satisfaction from covering every inch of the white poster paper, wall, door, whatever the base is and love having the finished product in front of me!

Second, mood boards are a perfect way to express yourself and your creativity. Its like taking the jumbled up mess of thoughts in your head and turning it into something pretty and tangible. They also usually hold some form of meaning and purpose. You can start creating a mood board with one idea in mind and find yourself with a billion different ideas as it’s being put together. Majority of my mood boards are vision boards and represent myself someday working in the editorial world. I cover it with quotes from editors, pictures of outfits I could envision myself wearing in the field, and little touches of my own personality.

How do I make one?

Top: My sister’s board
Bottom: My board

I recently got my little sister hooked on making mood boards. When she saw me making one, she immediately asked me about the rules to making the perfect board. But, there are no rules!

All you need are magazines (I literally have boxes filled with magazines I was subscribed to! I’m pretty sure I own at least 100 copies of Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Vogue, and Glamour combined. No joke.), some glue, scissors, and paper. Pens, stickers, washi tape, photographs, concert tickets, glitter etc. are optional BUT desirable if you want to truly personalize your mood board!

How you put it all together, is entirely up to you! Make it crazy or make it neat. Make it simple and minimalist or lively and vibrant. Create what makes you feel inspired, recharged, and motivated!

xoxo,

Eliz

P.S. If you make one, share it with me! I’d love to see your lovely work!

Comments

  1. That was a great post. It showed me how meaningful mood and vision boards can be to ones life!

  3. I LOVE making moodboards! I keep them in front of my desk. I used to re-do my moodboard at college every few months when I would find my interests and, well, MOOD, changing as I started to grow into myself. It’s funny though because I’ve had the same moodboard with the same exact photos and pieces tacked to it in front of my desk at my house from senior year of high school. I never had the heart to re-do it when I moved out and I still keep it the same way. It’s kind of like a portal back to 2013 for me. And I feel you on owning so many copies of old magazines. I literally don’t even know how many I have at this point. I keep them all hidden in my room so people can see how much I truly hoard magazines. I definitely have copies from 2007/2008 somewhere in my closet…OOPS.

    I hope this post inspires other people to make their own! It’s such a fun way to spend time and really express yourself. Thanks for sharing, Eliz!