Should you use a template for your website?
We designers sure love mood boards.
Whether a business is new or next stage, using images to complement the words (the many words) in a business plan or brand strategy is an integral tool in a designer's tool box. We use them to inform color, texture, typography, layout… And we sometimes use them in reverse to influence the very words that may have inspired them. They help us paint a richer picture of a business and the person or people behind it. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
What do you notice about this mood board, or stylescape? Is it airy or dense? Saturated or subtle? Soft or edgy? Would it surprise you to know some of the values of the business for which I created it include sincerity, legacy and respect?
What does this mean for a website?
Can't we just buy a template and plug in our text and pictures? What's the real business value of a website designed as an extension of a business's values?
Yes, templates can be useful. And easy! They work for many. The downside, however, can be the assumptions a template makes about the site's visitor. The template doesn't know how a potential customer wants to feel, or how we want them to connect to what our business is all about.
Have you ever made a mood board for your business?
If you haven't, you may find the process gives more than it takes.
Pinterest can be a fun way to get started. You can create a “secret” board and save ideas there. You can also use Instagram to do something similar by saving posts to a collection. Here's an easy version of the method I use:
Think about the words you use to describe your business purpose and values, and save a bunch of pictures that look/feel like these words.
Look for patterns among all the ideas saved (like color, an emotion…)
Are there images saved just because you love them but that don't fit? Looking below the surface, is there something less obvious that does indeed share a similarity with the others?
Challenge yourself to find at least 9, or to edit down to 9 pictures.
From those 9, come up with 3 words that describe your business as informed by these images.
Use a simple app like Diptic to save your board.
Think you'll do it? Send me yours and I'll send you mine.
