Make a Moodboard
Despite being a professional photographer, here’s an embarrassing confession: I don’t know how to use Photoshop. Like, at all. I edit photos in Lightroom—which is fantastic for adjusting exposure and highlights and temperature, etc—but doesn’t offer the ability to create graphics or other fancy design-y things.
Lightroom has been wonderful for my photography needs, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t occasionally look at gorgeous graphics on the Internet with a wistful sigh.
I wish I could make stuff like that.
You can imagine my delight the day I discovered Canva—or, as I personally refer to it: Free Photoshop for Dummies.
You can do a lot in Canva: make graphics, posters, banners, invitations. You can design everything from bookmarks to gift certificates to website logos. I’m not an expert in their features, but the more time I spend in there, the more impressed I become at what they offer (for free!).
Last week I stumbled across a bunch of mood board templates in Canva and practically gasped in delight.
My pre-teen self—you know, the one who used to carefully cut out images and words from Bop Magazine and arrange them artfully across her wooden closet doors—would have loved this kind of technology. I doubt my mother would have referred to my shrine to Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Leonardo DiCaprio as “a mood board”—but I beg to differ.
I was 12. Dreaming about JTT and Leo was most definitely A Mood, thankyouverymuch.
It’s summertime, and here’s another confession: I am terrible at playing.
I am actively trying to get better at this, but playing doesn’t come naturally to me. My inner voice says, Why play when you can WORK?! Who needs to do cannon balls in a swimming pool when you can MEET DEADLINES?! Who needs to chase after the ice cream truck on Friday afternoons when you can RESPOND TO EMAILS?!
Some people love to vacation in the summer, pick berries, relax in a hammock. Me? My natural tendency finds greater satisfaction in checking items off to-do lists and de-cluttering the entire house.
(I wish I was kidding.)
(Seriously, why am I like this?)
Julia Cameron writes in The Artist’s Way, “Serious art is born from serious play.”
I’ve got the ‘serious art’ down pat, but serious play? What does that even mean?
I’m not sure exactly, but I think maybe it means we should take our play seriously. That is, to consider it necessary. Essential. Part of the creative work itself, not simply the reward after we’ve crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s.
That’s how I tend to view play: as something I can only enjoy after I finish working. I was raised with a “work hard, play hard” mentality—in that order, and only in that order. First, you work hard. Then, you can play hard. Only once you’ve earned it.
But the way Julia Cameron writes, the order is flip-flopped.
“Serious art is born from serious play.”
In that sequence, it reads as—play hard, then work hard.
(Insert head exploding emoji here.)
Everything in me wants to fight against that order. It feels unnatural to me, the idea of playing as a precursor to working. But what if Julia’s onto something here? What if the time we spend playing can fill us up before we work? What if the inspiration we find there—dabbling in fun and frivolous things for the sheer sake of delight—propels us forward with more energy, more stamina, more endurance?
It’s worth a shot, no?
The day I discovered the mood board feature on Canva, I stopped everything I was doing and made one. It was simple, not anything fancy or impressive. But the act of making a mood board to reflect the kind of mom I want to be this summer made me smile. It gave me a little pep in my step. It gave my brain a workout. It felt exciting to learn a new thing, even something as simple as dragging and dropping images into a pre-made template.
I don’t know if you struggle to play like I do. Maybe you’re great at play and struggle to work, in which case, hi, we should be friends and swap tips. Either way—making a mood board is a fun creative exercise, and I think it’s worth trying this summer. You can make one for anything: a creative project you’re working on, an event you plan to host, a room you want to decorate, a capsule wardrobe.
Or, you know, feel free to make a shrine to Leonardo DiCaprio if you wish. Whatever you deem beautiful (wink, wink).
This month, try making a mood board, just for fun.
For those of you who thrive on deadlines and love homework assignments (*raises hand*)—we’re going to have a special share thread on July 20th specifically for mood boards in the Exhale Facebook group. We can’t wait to see yours!
*Note: Canva has a free image library, but you can also use your own images, or pull stock photos from sites like Unsplash.
Inspiration to get you started
Moodboard by Lottie Caiella for Ashlee’s book proposal
Moodboard by Lottie Caiella for client
Moodboard by Ruth Gyllenhammer for her home
