The moodboard in UX-Design: Ignite passion in your users

Theo Gosselin

The moodboard in UX Design

You know that feeling, the one that rolls over you like summer rain, making you quiver with emotion. It happens when you are blinded by something powerful,
maybe something from your past. It's completely out of your control. 

It can happen anywhere:

A baby in the arms of its young mother may remind you of your first child;
Listening to a song can bring back the memory of the first time you heard it when you were young and in love; possibly, a documentary will evoke in you the dark vision of the future of the Earth.

UX design

This is a web representation of these images and feelings.
As a designer, you have the power to reach users beyond usability and accessibility. Let's talk about emotion. One way to generate emotion is to create (and use) a mood board for your designs. Let's dig!

What is a Moodboard?

Here's a definition you might find in a UX dictionary:
“A set of elements intended to communicate the style, voice, direction and language of a particular design, brand or project.” 

 
Theo Gosselin

Standard Elements of a Moodboard

But there is more than that, moodboards can be used to communicate the most important principle of design: emotion. How will your users feel when they use your product?

Use moodboards to ignite passion

Use your moodboards to target a emotional response.

  • A good moodboard will look at the stylistic cues that define a product experience. A great moodboard defines an emotional experience – everything else is simply there to support this experience.
  • Figure out how you want your users to feel, and plan accordingly. You can combine images, colors, language, and stylistic cues in such a way that you elicit the precise emotional response you want.
  • Beyond emotion, Kevin Suttle talks about “mathematical formulas for beauty,” and how they promote usability by influencing the degree to which users want to interact with something.

Apply these principles when creating your moodboards.

Theo Gosselin
A selection from a moodboard

The image above illustrates how to get the desired emotional response.
At the time the moodboard is created, UX research has identified the need to speak to the user on a personal level, to draw them into the politics being discussed on the site.

You can notice the personal side of the author's bio, with the photo, the sans-serif font – a much less formal typeface than the traditional serif fonts used in other political blogs. The call to action proposed at the end invites the reader to “join the cause” in order to create a link.

How do you know if you're doing it right?
You have targeted an emotional response. You have associated images, font style, paragraph style, colors, now what?
How do you know if you've met your goals appropriately?
You can (or rather you should) show your moodboard to stakeholders to gather feedback. But how will these feedbacks allow you to know your ability to bring out the right emotion? It might be difficult for stakeholders to visualize the finished product only from the moodboard.

 

Theo Gosselin

A mockup of a blog post for a moodboard

 

To ensure that your moodboard conveys the right emotional response. It may be interesting for a graphic designer to designate a page using the elements you added to your moodboard.
This way, you will have an example on which to draw to study the emotional response of stakeholders, your colleagues and potential users.
Then you just need to make changes to compensate for the response deviations.
And There you go ! You can now have confidence in your moodboard which will allow you to develop the desired emotion.

 

Conclusion: Design for Emotion

 

Next time you're working on a moodboard, ask yourself: Am I designating for emotions? The difference between a good design and a breathtaking design is often a question of emotion.
Likewise, the difference between a good UX designer, and a very very good UX designer is not only defined in its ability to simplify and optimize the user experience but also in the ability to evoke deep emotion in the user.
Apply this advice wherever you can. It will pay off!

Translation of the article Mood Boards In UX Design: Ignite Passion In Your Users
 
Edna Malka, UX-Evangelist -  UXLab Foundation @UX-Republic