2ND EDITION | ISSUE #155

My head jerks up, and my eyes open to the open MacBook on my lap. My heavy eyelids find the time in the right corner. 9:47 PM.

I take that a sign and close up the website framework i’ve been chipping away at.

And I'm not having fun.

Like, at all.

Zero inspiration. Just this growing feeling of... blankness? Blah-ness? That thing where you're doing "the work" but it feels like climbing a mountain with no top in sight.

And then it hit me.

I don't have a reference.

Which is wild because with my fine arts degree, I’ve been taught to always work from a reference—whether that's the model in front of you, the still life the professor set up, an image from the library, etc.

Yet here I am, trying to rebuild my website from scratch with no reference at all.

That's not what I teach & that's definitely not what I do for my clients.

But for myself. Without even thinking about it.

I skipped the mood board step.

Didn't take it seriously.

Thought I could just... wing it?

(If you're a real OG, you might remember the wall mood board I had in my old office—the video on my homepage of me pinning things on it. Am I about to remake that video four years later? Maybe?!?)

Am I about to stop typing this newsletter draft and go find the nearest corkboard at whatever store is still open?

I might just.

Because here's the thing: mood boards aren't just decorative, or for woo woo visualization (not that I'm not into that). They're how you move from "I don’t know how to describe what I want" to "oh, that's the vibe."

In last week's newsletter, we talked about how hard it is to conceptualize for yourself.

But visualization? That's honestly not as hard.

You don't have to be creative or a designer to know what you like.

You might not be able to describe something intangible, but you can absolutely identify it. You can look at something and say—yes, that fits the aesthetic.

You form a collection of inspiration, and suddenly it becomes easier to see how and where you can pull ideas for your brand.

But first you have to know where to look.

When Does Evolution Mean "Refine" vs. "Rebrand"?

The next morning, I opened up my laptop, created a new board on Pinterest & named it CJ Website Rebuild.

Then I got to work, walking myself through the same process I teach and use with my 1:1 clients. The process I almost skipped because - I'm a designer, I know what I'm doing after all. Right?

WRONG

Once I had a moodboard as a reference, the ideas started flowing.

I started having fun.

I'm not rebranding. I'm refining.

And even as a designer, I still need some help taking the idea in my head and implementing it. That's where moodboards come in. As a reference.

One thing I want to address because I see this a lot: if your aesthetic is shifting, that doesn't necessarily mean you need to blow everything up and start over.

In this video, I'll show you exactly what's on my website design moodboard - how that translates to the next evolution of my brand identity, and the actual design on my website - so you can step inside the brain of a designer and get a better idea of the strategic value of having a moodboard.

​Watch the full Loom walkthrough here →​

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You don't have to be creative or a designer to know what you like. You might not be able to describe something intangible, but you can absolutely identify it. You can look at something and say—yeah, that's kind of the vibe. I like this aspect of it.

When I work with clients in The Studio Session, Brand Brushstrokes or The Signature Site, the process always includes some kind of mood board. Whether that's to create a color scheme, position an offer, or prep for a website redesign—creating a mood board helps you get from ideation → visualization → conception.

Which can be a massive mental hurdle to cross.

The Strategy behind a moodboard is 50% intuition and 50% knowing where to start.

Start here: I think Pinterest is a great place to begin creating a mood board because you can gather a large volume of ideas in a short amount of time (not to mention for free).

In the next section, we'll cover the framework for finding just what to add to your moodboard that can translate to your brand identity by the end of this newsletter.

What to Actually Put on Your Mood Board (And Where to Look) One thing I notice whenever I give feedback inside the Brand Color Kit (my DWY brand color offer): people have maybe 9-12 images on their mood board. On average. When I'm co-creating a mood board with a client? I ideally have 60-80 images on Pinterest to start. Then I add more once I have some ideas from them to piggy back off of. And you're probably wondering: 60-80 images of what? Mix it up. Your mood board should include a variety of elements: Landscapes or locations that resonate with your brand vibe, story, personal life, astrology chart, etc. (this always feels like a comfy place to start) For example: One of the questions I always ask my 1:1 clients is about places, if specific places are important to their brand's story, if there are any places that have the feeling they want their brand to evoke. If any of those places come to mind for you, go ahead and add them to your board. You dont have to know how those images are going to make sense in your brand yet. You can also add any kind of Images that capture the feeling you want your brand to evoke (Pinterest and stock imagery like Unsplash are great for this) Textures, patterns, or materials that represent your aesthetic—think fabric, flooring, wallpaper, things like that Objects or symbols with personal significance Typography or design elements you're drawn to Include personal elements. The most authentic brands incorporate the founder's personal aesthetic and story. ​ For example: One of my favorite things a client ever included in their mood board was a stained glass window she loved. We used that window as the inspiration behind the treatment of her brand's illustrations and some of the colors. ​ Don't be afraid to scroll through your camera roll. Use the colors from your favorite coffee mug in your brand. ​ Create a "never-ending" mood board. Keep adding inspiration as you find it—let your brand evolve naturally. In a sense, it's the world you're actively creating and manifesting for yourself through the lens of your personal brand. The vibe you're building for yourself. ​P.S. I walk you through this process and how to find inspiration in a 30m loom video inside The Brand Color Kit if you need more help. ​

How to Translate Your Mood Board Into Actual Design Decisions Review your Pinterest board and save your favorites - the images that really stand out to you- to your computer. Then, pull those favorites into one view where you can see them all at once. This could be: A physical corkboard/moodboard A background for your computer desktop A Canva page etc. (In my example I am using Adobe XD, if you are techy you could use it or Figma). The point is to create a master view you can use as a reference. ​ Look for the common threads. What keep showing up? What's the overall mood? If you're drawn to new colors, new textures, new vibes—trust that. But also trust that that doesn't mean that everything in your existing brand has to go. You don't have to start from scratch if you don't want to. You're building on what already exists. Now you have something that is a concrete representation of what you want your brand to look like. And whether that means you are DIYing the elements right now - or ready to hire someone for help, you have a visual reference that communicates what you are looking to emulate in your brand. For the DIY Camp: ​→ If you want to dive deeper into composition, font pairing, and how to actually apply these design principles, I cover all of that in my 2D Design Masterclass—those skills are helpful not just for social graphics but for web design too.​ And maybe that next piece is up to a designer. Maybe you can't look at a mood board and translate it into a set of brand guidelines—that's okay, that's quite literally my job. To examine those different pieces and parts, identify the common threads, and translate them into a cohesive brand identity and its practical application. → If you're prepping for a website redesign or rebrand and want help translating your ideas into actual brand guidelines, that's exactly what we do in Brand Brushstrokes (my DFY Brand Illustration & Identity Design offer) and The Signature Site (my DFY Website Design Offer) ​Or if you just want to talk through where you're stuck book a studio sesh →​