How to Create a Mood (Vision) Board for 2021
By: Sydney Henry ‘24
I’m pretty sure we’re all glad that 2020 is nearing its end because this year has been ROUGH!!! I know it’s hard to be optimistic about what positive vibes 2021 might bring for us. So how can you bring that optimism back? Try creating a mood board for 2021 to guide yourself through the changes coming in the new year.
Before we jump into the creative process, let’s define what exactly a mood board is.
MOOD BOARD - A mood board (or inspiration board) is a physical or digital collage of ideas that are commonly used in fields like interior design, fashion, and graphic design.
*Credit for the definition goes to Canva*
But in this case we’re going to use it to map out how we want 2021 to go for us personally.
STEP 1 - BRAINSTORM
This one is simple. Grab a piece of paper and start writing. Come up with several different points you want your mood board to focus or touch on and bring Google into the equation if necessary. If you’re stuck here are some questions to guide your thinking:
Is there something that you really want to get/earn in 2021? For example, A car, an apartment, a new designer bag….
Are there any academic or education goals that you want to accomplish? For example, getting into a dream college or professional program, getting a degree, graduating from college…
What quotes or phrases could set the tone for your life in the new year? For example, “keep going,” “step out of your comfort zone.”
There are endless questions and answers to those questions that can come up when brainstorming.
STEP 2 - GATHER ALL YOUR MATERIALS
There are many different ways that you can go about creating your mood board.
Way #1: Traditional
The traditional way includes the use of poster boards (aka oak tag or Bristol board), magazine cutouts, photo prints, and handwritten words here and there.
Personally for the mood boards I have created in the past, I was able to find most of the necessary materials at my local dollar store. The photo prints were what took me the longest time to get because I had to order them online and wait for them to be delivered.
Q: What photos or images should we print?
A: That is totally up to you. Refer back to your brainstorming paper and look up images that could represent some of the things on that list.
Q: What websites can we use to order photo prints for our mood board?
A: There are several different websites that offer photo print services and a simple google search will bring up the top companies to use. For my previous and current mood boards I’ve used Snapfish. I found that they have pretty good prices if you order a good number of prints. The shipping is a bit pricey, but it’s worth it in the end.
Way #2: Tech-Savvy
Instead of going outside and grabbing all the materials to put the mood board together, you can opt to just create it right on your computer.
There are many different ways to go about doing this. You can settle for using Microsoft Publisher or Keynote to create a simple collage of text and images to represent your mood board. Another option is to use a site like Canva which lays out different templates for you to use to organize your ideas and create your dream mood board.
STEP 3 - CREATE
This one is pretty simple. JUST PUT IT ALL TOGETHER!!!!
The way you do this is totally up to you. Put more images than text. Put more text than images. Make it all your own because it’s all focused on you.
It’s time to leave 2020 in the past and bring in 2021 and all the positive vibes to come. It’s time to take charge and as always #FightOn!
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