Get yourself in the creative mindset with mood boards examples that’ll ignite your imagination and give you a place to start making. Give your personal and professional projects a splash of inspiration with a creative assortment of mood board examples from Adobe and say goodbye to procrastination and artist’s block.

Put your projects on the right track today, with mood board examples and templates from Adobe Express.

What is a mood board?

Think of a mood board as a visual guide – a collage of inspiration that captures the desired mood, tone, or style of a project. It typically includes images, colour schemes, quotes, textures, and other elements that help communicate a creative direction or concept. Piecing together a mood board before you start a creative process can give you the clarity you need to see a project through to completion in a way that matches your vision.

Using a mood board is a great way to develop an idea, set goals, and stay on track—and they’re also a lot of fun to create.

Free creative mood board examples.

Brand mood board examples.

Mood boards are a powerful way to bring ideas to life—whether you’re designing for yourself, your team, or presenting to clients and stakeholders. They help you visualize concepts, stay focused, and set the tone before any design work begins.

Explore mood board examples for product launches, graphic design, film, personal goals, and student projects—all designed to inspire and guide your creative process.

Product mood board examples.

Plan the perfect design for your new product, get creative with your launch party, or put together the branding for your product catalogues with these mood board examples. A product mood board might include:

• colour palettes
• manufacturing materials
• textures
• product photography
• packaging ideas
• launch visuals
• mood-setting imagery to align your team and impress clients.

Graphic design mood board examples.

Get graphic design mood boards fit for purpose, —whether you’re after a loose, vibe-based board to inspire overall aesthetics or one that focuses in on the finer details. These graphic design mood board examples and templates are an ideal reference tool. A graphic design mood board might include:

• typography choices
• layout inspiration
• iconography
• grid systems
• brand colour swatches.

Film mood board examples.

Film mood boards make a perfect companion to your screenplay and storyboard –helping bring your cinematic vision to life. Overcome creative blocks and stay aligned on tone, setting, and style by including:

• character references
• costumes
• hair and makeup styles
• props
• set design
• lighting inspiration
• scene settings
• architectural elements
• camera angles & framing references.

Personal mood board examples.

Personal mood boards are a powerful way to visualize your goals, set intentions, and design the vibe you want for your life. Whether you're planning your year, exploring your identity, or simply curating inspiration, these personal mood board examples can help. Why not try including:

• affirmations
• inspirational quotes
• fitness goals
• fashion looks
• inspirational people
• dream travel spots
• hobbies you want to try.

Mood board examples for students.

Students can get a lot of value from mood boards—they’re a productive way to kick off a project, clarify your ideas, and stay creatively focused. These student mood board examples are perfect for visualizing a dissertation theme, developing a group project, or refining a creative concept. You can include:

• key quotes
• important deadlines
• key statistics
• research themes
• book titles
• aesthetic references
• historical images
• design styles.

How can Adobe Express help you make a mood board of your own?

1. Use the free mood board maker to build a custom board.

With the Adobe Express Mood Board Maker, you can create stunning mood boards in minutes – it’s the easiest way to get inspired. Try the Adobe Mood Board Maker today, and get your imagination running.

2. Find inspiration from the editable mood board templates.

If the idea of making a mood board and working on a project is a bit too intimidating, or you just want to get a bit of direction, you can get the inspiration you need with editable mood board examples and templates from Adobe Express.

3. Use the collage generator to curate your photos.

Curate your photos and other bits of visual inspiration into a collage using the Adobe Express photo collage create tool. It’s an easy way to put everything together in one, creative place.

4. Add your own logo and branding for business mood boards.

Bring your brand to life with the Adobe Express logo design tool and add your unique branding to your business mood board. Pitch, present and provide on-brand mood boards to stakeholders, team members and clients.

Turn your digital mood board into a professional presentation with AI.

Turn elements from your mood board into a polished presentation—easily add your visuals to slides or use Adobe Express AI Presentation Maker to quickly generate inspiring slide decks based on your mood board.. With a simple prompt, you can create stunning, on-brand presentations using generative AI.

No design skills needed – you can create fully editable presentation templates in minutes. Try it today.

Try Adobe Express for free now

Good to know.

What five elements must you include on a mood board?

Your mood board should be made to suite you, but they typically contain the following five key elements:

• typography
• key phrases or words
• materials
• images
• colour palettes.

What should not appear on a mood board?

Try to avoid elements that detract from the vision or overall vibe of your mood board. Think of irrelevant images or styles that detract from each other, clash, or run contrary to your intent. Overly complex words or imagery could be a net-negative, too – you’re after a mood, not a detailed instruction.

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes, our free plan offers many core features including thousands of templates, photo editing and effects, animation, and 5 GB of storage. See our pricing page for details and to compare plans.