A client in Boise said my logo looked like clip art and it made me start using mood boards for every project.

Now I spend an hour on Dribbble collecting color palettes and type pairings before I even open Illustrator, which keeps my work from feeling generic.

3 comments

3 Comments

william9171mo ago

Read a blog post once that called mood boards "visual insurance" against that exact clip art feeling. That hour on Dribbble isn't wasted, it's you building a style guide before the first shape gets drawn. It forces you to make intentional choices instead of just going with the first font that pops up. Stops your portfolio from looking like everyone else's.

the_shane1mo ago

Yeah, it's basically a cheat code for having a style.

shane_ross16d ago

So @the_shane, what's your first step for building one?