Why you Need Moodboard Templates

I hate retyping things. I hate doing repetitive tasks. Some of my “genius” hacks are because I’m a little bit lazy and I don’t see the necessity in doing menial tasks repeatedly.  So, from one slightly lazy person to another – here are a few reasons why you need templates.

It saves you a lot of time.

I found myself making another moodboard again. I was so excited to put this bad boy together. Ten minutes later, I was starting to get bored.

I thought I enjoyed this. Why am I suddenly wanting to get this over with?

I was bored because I wasn’t creating. I was pixel-pushing. I was placing guides, drawing rectangles, and moving circles. The epitome of creativity, right?

Why was I sitting there recreating a the framework for a moodboard when I could have just used edited a previous one. That got me thinking. What if I made myself a series of moodboards so that I had a few to choose from and could change the layouts quickly.

I started saving 10-15 minutes for every project because I didn’t have to re do the menial tasks. I could open up a file, save it to the correct location with the correct name, and then start creating.

10 minutes doesn’t sound like a ton of time but if you add it up over a week, a month, or a year – you will see the why it’s worth it to use templates.

It makes you like your business even more!

Let’s be honest – not a lot of designers or other business owners enjoy doing repetitive tasks. As creatives, we want to create. Sitting there measuring out guides and grids doesn’t always sound like a lot of fun. Custom project? Sure. Moodboard – eh, we don’t NEED to be doing it all from scratch.

You can skip the boring part and get right into creating and exploring. You can get it done faster – which means your client gets to see it sooner. Everyone ends up happy.

You can still create custom work. 

There is misconception that if you use a template, your work will not be custom. This is a lie. All business cards have the same guides and marks. Business cards typically have a name, email, phone number, website, and logo. It’s not until the set up process is over with do they start to actually be custom.

A template simply gives you a head start. You can open up your file, delete what you don’t need or add in something you do need that is not in the template, and then you can focus on the custom design.

Sure – there are also templates out there that are used just as they are. I’m not saying you need to design a completed business card or moodboard. I’m saying design the framework. Create a few versions to choose from and then go create something.