Stephanie G. Mathis I’ve found that I can’t seem to get my creative juices flowing when I have a deadline. In these situations, no amount of brainstorming or willpower can help.
Eventually, I began to address this earlier in my processes by using mood boards. My initial thoughts have become more organized, and I can see the final result of a job much faster and more thoroughly than I could before. What am I on about?
The use of mood boards is a great tool to help you set the direction and style for any creative endeavor. They can also be used to give your project a unique visual identity. In the following sections, I’ll show you how mood boards can help you get your creative juices going and improve your songwriting process.
What’s a mood board?
The mood board, or inspiration board, is a collection of inspiring ideas curated from the web, magazines, blogs, and art books. The purpose of mood boards is to develop ideas right from the start. This combination helps you organize your thoughts while also sparking creativity.
When I have visual representations of my inspirations in front of me, I can begin to write ideas more methodically, and songs start to flow on their own. My mood board is a great way to collect all my thoughts, emotions, and stories in one place. It’s also easy to access when I need it.
Let’s now discuss how a mood board can be useful throughout your entire process.
This book provides a step-by-step writing process.
You may have spent countless hours trying to come up with a concept or theme for a song, only to have your client reject it outright.
Using a mood board can avoid the back-and-forth and uncertainty that comes with the submission process. It gives you the opportunity to share your initial thoughts or themes and get the client’s feedback.
As a writer, I’m guilty of striving to achieve perfection because I want every song I write to be a masterpiece. When I’m trying to come up with as many ideas as I can, the race to perfection is a waste of time and energy. I can create a mood board to generate ideas without having to worry about perfection or execution.
I can relax and let my creativity run wild because I understand that this is just a draft, a conversation starter, and a way to share ideas before I implement them.
You can build a relationship with your clients.
Second, I am a songwriter, and I try to convey the emotions of the artist through the words I write.
This cannot be done if you don’t know much about the artist. With a mood board, you can be ahead of the game. You can accommodate details by showing your client a list of visual references.
A mood board allows the client or artist to be involved at all stages of songwriting. It also reduces the likelihood of a disagreement later and encourages teamwork between the two parties. The client will feel heard and understand why a songwriter chose a certain theme or storyline.
You can visualize your ideas.
You’ve likely experienced situations in which either your client or your collaborator cannot seem to express exactly what they are looking for.
You will probably have trouble visualizing the thoughts and emotions of others in such situations. And you cannot just try to draw them in your mind (it’s likely to be confusing).
By spending some time collecting references and creating a mood board, you can identify everyone’s ideas and bring them all on the same page without drawing them yourself.
Use colors to express emotions whenever possible. They are powerful and evocative.
You can explore your creativity with this app.
The beauty of a mood board is that you can be as creative as possible when writing your song. You will not become a great writer if you limit yourself to one idea because of a deadline or other requirements.
You can easily create mood boards to showcase your creativity and gather as many ideas and concepts as you like. It’s also a great way to connect with people you wouldn’t have met otherwise.
It is a useful reference tool.
A mood board is a wonderful reference tool that I can use whenever I am looking for inspiration for a new project. It’s a constantly changing platform that consists of things I like to look at and think about.
It’s also fun to examine and collect visual ideas. When you’re staring blankly at a pad and have no idea what to do, nothing will jog your brain like some fun ideas.
You can use a mood board to remind yourself that it is okay to enjoy what you do and to continue moving forward even when things get tough.
Each songwriter I’ve met works differently. It may or may not be that creating a mood board is the right solution for you. If you are having trouble developing, executing, and sharing ideas with collaborators and clients, I would strongly recommend giving it a go. It’s also a fun way to inject some creativity into your project.
