eyelearn.org

Moodboards

Moodboards are popular in many areas, from interior to fashion, and of course, graphic and web design. They are used to express visually what might be difficult to describe in words. Collecting any kind of visual (photographs/graphics) which encapsulates an aspect of the planned design and combining them in a collage can establish a direction and guide the next steps.

BeFunky provide an all-in-one online creative platform as a paid-for service and offer the use of their tools with some limitations for free. We can use their Collage Maker to create our moodboard and save the final image as jpg/png/pdf.
(Just make sure not to close the webpage as you might lose your inputs.)

concepts to explore

texture ✱ space ✱ people ✱ mission/goal/message ✱ sense of time/urgency ✱ emotion ✱ re/action ✱ mood ✱ light ✱ focus

What will your website look/feel like?

While only good content will make a good website - design plays a vital role in the user experience on your website. Before you start by simply looking around at your options - take some time to consider the kind of atmosphere and feeing your final site should express. Explore your ideas for visuals by creating a moodboard.

to-do list

1. find a visual direction
   With your brief now almost ready/confirmed, work on moodboards to experiment with different approaches to colour and space.
2. collect moodboards for review
   Select one of your moodboards and ask others to share their views. It will be interesting for you to understand whether your collage of visuals does indeed express your planned meaning.
3. post & share
   With your post published, leave a comment on this post: "m~m~moody…" and share the link. Make sure to phrase your link text correctly with nicely prompting words.
4. give & receive feedback
   Check on other people's posts and leave them some feedback notes on their moodboards. Good design never just happens, and never in isolation - so support each other by leaving your thoughts and comments as input to the ongoing work ツ

Time to get serious :)

At this point, you should be clear about your brief and have begun to consider your site's goal and target group. If not, you can use this method to finalise your decision.

Before starting on content production, it's best to brainstorm and explore all possible angles. Mind maps are great tools to capture early ideas and to make note of the various angles and details. At this point, there are no bad ideas ~ only ideas!

Get opinions from others at any stage of your project, as much as you can. This can be us, your teachers, or your fellow students in the classroom. Ask for feedback and let it guide your work.

topics to explore

choice of topic ✱ sociological angle ✱ target group ✱ mission/goal/message ✱ types of content ✱ media types ✱ tone of voice ✱ digital context ✱ design direction ✱ assumed web use (device/app)

handy tool

The best mind and site maps are often sketched on paper - and if you prefer that, please don't let this sway you! If you'd like a digital tool, LucidChart will be worth checking out. If you use your academic email to sign up, more features will be unlocked. Whimsical is also worth a look - it offers 4 free boards which you re-use as many times as you like.

• Lucidchart
• Whimsical