Design communication: fashion design students' perspectives on digital vs physical mood boards

Abstract

A mood board provides a blueprint of the design process in a particular situational design problem. With the developments in the technology the process of making and presenting a mood board has now migrated to the various digital platforms. Traditionally designers in creative world used to make physical mood boards and this has changed as some now prefer the digital mood boards. The effectiveness of mood boards cannot be overemphasised especially in the fashion design world as they provide the visual impression which is a key source of inspiration to the designer. In this study ten final year students enrolled into a fashion design degree program were interviewed to assess their perception of digital and physical mood boards. The students were given a task to respond to a situational design problem and tasked to create their mood board physically and digitally and then evaluate the process they followed in coming up with their fashion mood boards. It was revealed that many students preferred the physical method as it is more engaging to the designer and informative though it is time consuming unlike as compared to the digital mood board. It was also revealed that due to the decrease in print media as technology is advancing sources of material that can be used in developing a physical mood boards have become less especially for the students who relied heavily on printed magazines. The study concluded that students need to be taught the process of making physical mood boards first before they do the digital mood boards and also there is need to improve individual graphic design skills so that they can improve quality of their digital mood boards.