I really enjoy collecting visual references. Interesting typography, unexpected color combinations, fashion imagery, editorial layouts, illustrations, interfaces with unusual interactions, the list can get quite long.
And like most people who collect too many references, I’ve occasionally wondered what to do with all of them. It’s easy to think of a mood board as a collection of things that look good together. But the more I experiment with visual thinking, the more interested I become in what happens between the images.
Why do certain references feel connected?
What makes one image belong beside another?
And how does arranging them help turn a vague feeling into something more concrete?
From collecting to composing.
For an Ideation & Prototyping assignment at NYU, I explored a concept called Build Your Board, inspired by the familiar experience of creating digital mood boards. The idea was to reconsider that experience as a more physical, playful interaction.
Instead of treating references as images that simply live on a screen, I began thinking about what it might mean to select, arrange, and manipulate them in a more tangible way. That shift made me think about mood boarding less as a final presentation and more as a design process.
When you’re arranging references, you’re making decisions. This belongs here. That doesn’t quite fit. These two images communicate a similar mood, but for completely different reasons.
It’s a form of comparison and synthesis.
Visual thinking can reveal what words haven’t explained yet.
Sometimes I know what I want an experience to feel like before I can describe it clearly. I might be drawn to something that feels nostalgic, energetic, restrained, or slightly unusual. A mood board gives those instincts a place to become visible.
But it’s also important to ask whether the references are helping clarify the design direction or simply reflecting personal taste. An aesthetic preference isn’t automatically a user’s need.
For me, the interesting part is understanding how visual exploration connects back to the purpose of the design. What kind of experience am I trying to create?
What do these references communicate?
Which elements would actually support the people using the product?
A board should start conversations.
One thing I appreciate about visual references is how easily they invite reactions. Someone might struggle to explain what they mean by “more approachable” or “less corporate.”
But show them a few contrasting visual directions and they may be able to identify what feels closer to what they’re imagining. The references become tools for discussion. They make preferences easier to examine and assumptions easier to question. That’s where I think mood boards become genuinely useful in a design process. Not as proof that a direction is correct, but as a way to explore possibilities before committing to one.
Beyond the Pinterest board.
Working on Build Your Board encouraged me to think about familiar digital interactions from a different perspective. What happens when an action moves from a screen into physical space?
Does it become more collaborative? More expressive? More cumbersome? Those are questions worth exploring through prototypes rather than assuming an answer.
And I think that’s part of what makes ideation enjoyable. A simple interaction we’ve used hundreds of times can become interesting again when we change the context around it.
A thought I’m keeping: A good mood board doesn’t just show what inspires you. It helps explain what you’re trying to make and why.