What is a Vision Board?

In this guide I would love to highlight why vision boards are so important, how to get started, and what to include on a board.

In a nutshell, a vision board is a collection of ideas and concepts that represent a certain aesthetic. I hear you ask, what’s the difference between a vision board and a mood board? A mood board usually depicts how you want something to look (the visual aesthetics) rather than how you want it to feel (the mood and vibe). I consider a vision board as the starting point of the creative process.

There are no hard and fast rules about how your vision board should look and in some respects it is important that you find a style that is your own. It should though show the main components of your ‘vision’ such as fabric swatches (identify good fabric pairings) and textures, colour schemes (experiment with various looks before lifting a paint brush), wall finishes, tiles and flooring samples, or even styling details should be included wherever possible.

Other reasons why you should consider creating a vision board include:

1. If you work with a team, a vision board helps get everyone on the same page from the get go. So helping to set the tone and style from the start can drastically reduce misconceptions and wasted time, money and effort.

2. If you work with a client, the board helps to illustrate to a client what you’re thinking and what you are envisioning the intended outcome.

3. Vision boards help you stay organised and reel you (or your collaborators) back to your vision when you get distracted or off-track. They help keep the style and aesthetic consistent and on track.

Creating A Vision Board - HOW TO GET STARTED

Finding a starting point is often the most difficult first step when pulling a design together. At first sitting in front of a blank canvas can feel a little overwhelming, but go with it. Inspiration for a vision board can come from virtually anywhere. Here is how I go about creating a vision for a new design:

1. Work out how you want your space to FEEL — Analyse and understand your current space. You might have a completely empty room that needs everything from paint, furnishings to accessories and lighting; or you might have a completely finished room that needs a refresh. Before you do anything, I recommend spending a good amount of time in the room, just sit in it and absorb the space - yes, just sit and feel the space. Imagine how you would like to use the room, what kind of vibe you want to create, what is missing or just doesn’t work in the space (how to make it functional), and consider the optimum flow of the space.

2. Work out how you want your space to LOOK — I always start by collecting important visual and emotional elements that I want to see in my final design. My go to place for inspiration is Pinterest. Start a dedicated board and pin any images with patterns, colours, overall looks, styles, lighting, and layouts, and maybe some design details that you love. Now spend a little time analysing them for patterns. Is there a common theme reflected in your finds?, maybe a certain colour palette? or some textures used over and over? My hunch is there will be a theme through many of your inspiration images. Pay attention to the emotions that certain images, textures or details evoke. Now that you understand those elements that appeal to you, continue to look for even more images along that theme. You’ll see how your inspiration board starts to take shape...

3. The next step is SIMPLE — To determine a colour scheme, refer back to your inspiration images and identify colours that you are drawn to (or work with items you already have). After spending some time on Pinterest, settle on some inspiration images and a colour scheme you love and that works in your space. Now apply the same principle to textures and materials. With a design vision in mind you can start hunting for images and assembling a virtual design board!

THE STYLE OF YOUR VISION BOARD

Vision boards come in all different formats, shapes, and styles. Some people create them digitally while others create physical collages. I want my boards to elicit a specific feel from the second it’s glanced at. Pay attention to how you are laying the images out — what size each image is in relation to the others, which images you choose to group together, and how the eye moves across the vision board and interacts with the overall composition. I typically create versions of my board in any of the below styles and formats:

1. Grid-style board — I use a grid that visually separates the ideas and selections for each aspect of the space. In this style I tend to create a section for the colour scheme, textures I’d like to use, choices for wall treatments, flooring options, fabric swatches, textures, furnishings, lighting, accessories.

2. Collage-style board — Another option is to take all your imagery and create a collage-style design board. Simply drop in your selected images and adjust the layout until everything fits to bring your design to life. This style of design board is really great for seeing how everything works together and providing an at-a-glance snapshot of the collective design of the space.

3. Free-form canvas — Another way to style your vision board is to adopt a free-form canvas approach. The loose design format of a vision board allows you to explore different styles and layouts without any limitations and to run free with your imagination.

The use of a vision board is very beneficial in that it lets you become really creative and lay out ideas in an abstract way. Just have fun with it, get your creative juices flowing and let your design vision become reality.

VISION / MOOD BOARD SOFTWARE 

To create a virtual vision board, I recommend working in whatever software you are comfortable with. There are a number of software options for creating vision boards such as:

• Pinterest is my go to place… Creating a board for each project is a great way to organise your ideas online

• Canva’s drag and drop editor allows you to create amazing mood boards

• Moodboard lets you start with a blank board or choose one of the starter mood boards

• Moodzer is a new kid on the block (currently a beta app)

• Milanote is another easy-to-use tool to organise your ideas and projects into visual boards

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You Might Also Be Interested In:

>> How To Find Your Style

>> Mixing Interior Styles

>> COHESIVE INTERIORS

>> Overview of Interior Design Styles

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Drift & Co