One of my first blog posts, Straw Moodboards, was a defense of moodboards as useful collaboration tools — I think they’re a great way to better handle on your clients’ subjective tastes upfront. I’d just started using them at the time, and since then, I’ve had some very positive experiences in getting clients immediately on board with color choices.

Over the lass few months though, I’ve had less direct success with these documents. Yet I didn’t abandon them entirely — I ended up changing my approach and my expectations to get a solid grasp of my client’s tastes, while at the same time relying less on them in my process.

No silver bullets here

First, it’s important to note that no part of a design process represents a sure-fire way to solve all client problems. Every design document is fail-able and possibly useless under certain circumstances. The trick is to keep your approach flexible, and always be willing to adapt and adjust the way you present and respond to your process documents.

I don’t like it

One nice benefit of using color moodboards is that any feedback is good feedback — you’re opening up a dialogue about design and all information is helpful. If you pass off a set of eight palettes and you get mostly negative feedback that’s great — now you know what your client doesn’t like. It’s nearly as helpful as getting them on board with what ideas they do like.

When you get a negative response, it’s important to investigate that feedback. Questions like “so you don’t like deep monochrmatic blues,” something that re-iterates their feedback into a declaration, will help you connect with your client, and confirm what looks they’re trying to avoid and why. The moodboards themselves are silly, but they’re just ice breakers to get things moving and a solid art discussion going.

I like it too much

One pitfall of using process docs like color moodboards is that a client can get a bit too focused on a particular color scheme. This can be an issue when your actualized design needs to deviate a bit from the discovery docs — or when it just doesn’t look the same as it did in the context of the moodboard.

Again, it’s all in how you talk about things. I’ve found that intentionally downplaying the moodboard phase as just a test (“it’s just to get a rough idea of your tastes”) helps keep clients talkative and less inclined to take them too seriously.

In the end, it’s all about being flexible with your process, and realizing that all pre-design discovery is about creating good discussions and learning from your clients.