You might be starting to realize that your business isn’t doing the best job of showing the world what you do, why you do it, and why your potential clients should buy from you. A brand shoot seems overwhelming, because the businesses you admire are in a place that you may not be able to imagine. But you should be there, right along with them, being able to use photos that don’t just look amazing and are consistent, but that make people want to buy. We start all our brand shoots by planning a mood board – and use these simple steps to create an amazing brand shoot mood board that will be the foundation of a successful future doing what you love most: insert your service/product here.

This process can actually be a lot of fun! Whether you’re gearing up for a full day brand shoot or just looking to nail down your own visual vibe, a brand shoot mood board is your ticket to success. Let’s get creative and ensure your photoshoot process (or whatever you’re putting this together for) is smooth, exciting, and, most importantly, confident in its outcome!

IMPORTANT NOTE: When putting together a mood board and thinking through your brand story, it’s important to remember that your customer should be the hero! They should be able to see themselves in what you’re putting out there. It’s going to be the fastest way to success. To excel at that, we recommend reading/listening to Donald Miller’s “Building a StoryBrand”. His seven principles are sure to help along the way!

1. Start with Your Brand Story

Your brand story is the heart and soul of your photoshoot. It’s what sets you apart and makes your brand unique. Begin by brainstorming the key elements that define your brand. Is it playful and fun? Sophisticated and elegant? Bold and edgy? Who are you? Think about what sets you apart from others in the same industry as you. Do you love craft beer? Are you an avid hiker? Is your favourite colour green, but your logo is black and white? All of it comes into play!

Once you’ve nailed down these characteristics, translate them into visual elements. Collect images, colors, textures, and even fonts that embody your brand’s essence. Pinterest and Canva are your best friends here – create a dedicated board or screenshot and compile it all in a fun compilation! We often see mood boards being simplified as you’re nailing it all down, so do not be overwhelmed when you start with an overload of images. And the best part is, when you book with us you’re not alone and we’ll help you every step of the way!

Some Hobbies/Aspects You Can Include in Your Brand Shoot:

• Your favourite drink (coffee/tea/wine)
• The plants that you’ve grown yourself
• Your pets – dogs, cats, hey, maybe even a snake!
• Accessories that you often use (water bottle, personal journal, a bag)
• Travel souvenirs
• Something to indicate your love of a current trend (celebrity, etc.)

2. Curate a Color Palette

Color is the most powerful tool in branding, and your brand shoot mood board should reflect who you are as a person and a business. Select a color palette that resonates with your brand’s personality and message. This palette will guide everything from your outfit choices to your backdrop and props. You may already have brand colours that would be a great start. For example, our brand colours are navy blue, pink and gray, and we often incorporate especially the blue and gray in our outfit choices for photos, but also on shoot days!

It’s important to think about how these colors will look in different lighting conditions throughout the day, but also the varying locations that you may be using for your shoot. Now that we mention locations, this is another big part of your brand shoot mood board planning process. Using Pinterest, we recommend searching for the exact vibe of your desired brand shoot, and when you see an image that perfectly reflects that and you click on it, Pinterest will actually populate other related pins with similar vibes below the pin. That trick has helped us nail down many of our own brand shoot clients’ mood board.

Some Examples:

THIS BLOG POST dives into colour theory. While it is aimed towards teaching you what to wear, the same principles can be used in your mood board creation process!

3. Plan Your Shoot Themes

Themes bring your mood board to life by giving it direction and purpose. Consider breaking your shoot into different segments or themes that showcase various aspects of your brand. For example, you could have a lifestyle theme, a product-focused theme, and a behind-the-scenes theme. Create a different page for each theme and label them accordingly. If you have had your logo professionally done (we recommend Alicia from I Am Designs) you may also have been given brand guidelines including fonts to use. Utilizing this for your mood board will not only look beautiful, but will also make it look more cohesive overall.

For each theme, gather images that inspire the look and feel you want to achieve. This not only helps your photographer understand your vision but also ensures that every shot aligns with your brand story.

An Easy Way to Identify Your Brand Story

1. Create a list of items used daily and tasks performed daily
   • eg. coffee, tea, car keys
2. Add your favourite parts of your brand/job to that list
   • eg. answering client emails
3. Find words to explain your favourite emotions and/or values
   • eg. joy, peace
4. Supplement the list with your some of the current trends that you love
   • eg. trad wife, specific recipes
5. Incorporate the things that get you really excited
   • eg. making a big sale, checking your mailbox
6. Find an alternate option to each item on your list and add them on the bottom
7. Rank all your ideas in order of importance to you – some of your alternates might just be really fun and end up near the top

Put it All Together

Now comes the fun part! Once you have those three items hashed out and have listed in from most to least relevant to you, it’s time to connect the dots. Some ways that you might do this is by finding locations that perfectly line up with your brand colours, or even connecting certain values with trends, for example. Use a highlighter to indicate items that work well together in the same colour. We love doing this part on paper, but you could also totally do this in a Google Doc. Do what works best for you, that’s the most likely way to get it done.

Take all that inspiration and head on over to Pinterest, using the connected items as search terms. From here, you can screenshot and take all those photos to make a super comprehensive Canva moodboard, or you could just create a Pinterest board, title it “My Mood Board” and pin your favourites to that board. Again, whatever works best for you!

We’re Here to Help!

We get it, creating a brand shoot mood board might seem like a lot. We want you not to worry – we’ve got your back! When you book a brand shoot with us, we’ll guide you through the entire process. From crafting your brand story to finalizing your color palette and themes, we ensure you’re confident and excited about your photoshoot. In fact, it’s our goal that before you’ve seen any final images you have the knowledge that these photos are, in fact, what you’ve been looking for all this time.

So go ahead, start pinning and/or pasting, and let your creativity flow. With a well-thought-out brand shoot mood board, you’ll be amazed at how seamlessly your vision comes to life, leaving you thrilled with the results before we’ve even started photographing your brand shoot.

Ready to create something amazing together? Reach out today: CONTACT!