In graphic design, a powerful image can be the difference between a design that leaves an impact with an audience, and one that’s ignored. Regardless if you’re designing a flier, a website, or a logo, it’s vital that the images used accurately represent the brand and the tone you want to convey to the audience.
One example of using images to pin down said tone is through a photo collage mood board. Mood boards can help a brand figure out the emotions they want to encapsulate, while creating a visual expression of a goal or message.
In an effort to put this concept into action, I created three separate moodboards for one establishment. The goal was to create three different boards based on a specific mood relating to that one establishment. For this task, I chose the Kalahari Resorts & Convention in Round Rock, Texas as that is the location for the 2022 Texas School Public Relations Association Annual State Conference that I will be attending this week. Though I’ve never been to this resort before, I was able to learn a lot about what they offer from their website. The Texas location of this resort is dubbed America’s Largest Indoor Waterpark so I knew that Family Fun should be the first mood. Because I’m going to the resort for a conference, Staff Development should also be included as one of the moods. Lastly, this entire establishment is African/Safari themed, which is why I made Themed Getaway the last mood. The following are the three mood boards I created:
In the first board, I wanted to be sure to include families laughing and smiling big in the indoor water park. In the second, I incorporated employees enjoying conversation and looking interested in sessions and on the last one I took advantage of a safari theme.
While each mood sounds like it has nothing in common with the other two, they each share a cool-toned color palette, which helps the mood boards switch cohesively from one to the other.
The Effectiveness of a Brochure
Another way images can impact an audience is through brochures. While they’re not the most exciting design to create in the world of graphic arts, they can be some of the most informative because of the amount of space available on a simple trifold.
For the brochure, I wanted to incorporate different shades of blue to not only match the mood boards, but to highlight the “water” part of the indoor water park. As a way to help a customer picture the size of the resort, as well as highlight all the activities one can participate in, I incorporated as many photos as possible, both front and back. Lastly, I thought the idea of breaking the trifold grid would not only look visually appealing, but would be another way to make the brochure look seamless and well-thought out.
Illustration & Packaging
In a time where every product, business and establishment has competition, labels and packaging are vital to the success of the company. One of the best ways to hook a consumer is catching their eye with creative branding. Though a brand may make different versions of the same product, it’s still important to stay consistent, minimal and concise.
As a way to continue my work with the power of images, I redesigned the labels for a Celestial Seasonings, a brand of herbal tea that lives in my kitchen cabinets year-round.
Though extremely colorful when passing through the tea aisle in the grocery store, their current packaging is too busy so my first step was rough sketching minimalistic ideas I had for the rebranding and how it would look on the label.
After completing my rough sketches, I chose to redesign the packaging for the flavors peppermint, lemon and wild berry.
I used a watercolor with the flavor’s respective color on top of each label to mimic that of watercolor tea art. I used only one font to minimize the business of the label and created a graphic of the flavor which I put on the bottom left hand corner of each design. The font is unique enough to stand out, but still legible and easy to read.
The colors I chose not only match its flavor, but also match a similar color scheme. In addition to the product labels, I also designed the actual tea packets with a description of the flavor, which can be found on the Celestial Seasonings website.
As a final element to this project, I used the website PlaceIt to create mockups of what the tea boxes would look like in real life.
Wrapping up
Every part of a design should be carefully thought out before it’s brought to life. Preparing beforehand by researching, sketching, and designing mood boards can help strengthen goals and outcomes.
I am personally not an artist when it comes to pen and paper, but simply jotting down my ideas through illustration helped me develop and plan out what it was I wanted to do, which is every designer’s goal.