During a recent phone conversation with a new client: I was explaining the stages of our collaborative design process — questionnaire, consultation, briefing including any ideas by my client. „Photos collated in a moodboard are great“, I said, when he stopped me and asked, „what’s a moodboard?“
A collage of photos or any other illustrations that convey the look you wish to achieve for your yard, that’s what is called a moodboard. As a landscape designer I use them all the time, in two design phases. Clients have given me collages of magazine cuttings, or powerpoint slides of pinterest and instagram pics, to describe their initial ideas. These moodboards can include plants, paths, decks, furniture, planters… any desirable design element that has caught my client’s attention, it may even be the neighbour‘s garden.
At this early stage, a moodboard is an incredibly helpful tool to define the project scope, and serves as a basis for our conversation. They make a second appearance later in the design process. Once I have created a concept plan, I add my own moodboard as part of the design visualisation, along with the plan drawing and possibly a number of elevation views. Because when a client can understand the design, they have the confidence to buy into it.
