Have you worked with a designer before? Did you use a mood board?
Mood boards are boards which people fill with different kinds of visuals. These visuals range from photos to various textures, fonts and colors. Mood boarding helps visualize ideas and concepts.
When a product or business is at the stage of an abstract idea, it is sometimes difficult for a designer and a client to communicate their ideas and emotions together effectively. When a designer uses art jargon a lot of clients will be completely clueless as to what they mean. But show them a mood board that incorporates those concepts and they immediately understand and then can express what they love or hate about the ideas.
Mood boards effectively share ideas with others because visual material always works better than spoken word in narrowing and honing in on visual and abstract concepts.
I personally love pinterest for this express reason. I have had more than one business owner audibly chuckle at me when I mentioned pinterest. But, obviously, they haven’t yet figured out how powerful a visual search engine is.
Honestly mood boarding saves both myself and my clients time and energy. I have tried to work with clients without starting off with a mood board and we miss the mark. It is something I now always include and consistently refine throughout the design process.