Difference Between Style Guide and Mood Board

Style Guide vs Mood Board

Communication and collaboration are two core aspects of interior design. The curation of a good design calls for an effective communication of thoughts and ideas between the parties involved. This, in turn, helps you put together a seamless project guided by thought leadership.

Do you want to convey your mind’s creativity and bring out your design ideas impeccably? This is where terms like a style guide, inspiration board, color scheme, concept guide, and mood board come into play.

Style Guide and Mood Board are two key methods of presentation that enable you to navigate through a design journey in the best possible way. While these are quite different from each other, they are very closely linked. If this piques your interest, we have more ideas for you to explore.

Also, Read: Difference Between Mood Board and Concept Board

A Mood Board is a cohesive representation of the ideas involved in any interior design. It includes images, materials, textures, color palettes, and design styles that reflect how the design is going to look once it is brought to its final shape.

A mood board has a clear purpose in view. The purpose of a mood board is to convey a clear idea before actually getting into the gist of the design. This helps you assess the potential risks while figuring out what works and what doesn’t for the client. 

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A Style Guide reflects the process that helps you stitch together the various elements in the design. It can be interpreted as the ideation steps taken towards curating the desired design. 

The intent of a style guide is to put forward your thought process. This should ideally align with the vision and preferences of the client. A style guide promotes effective communication before a certain design expression is finalised.

Suggested Read: 10 Best Mood Board Apps and Software

Image Credit: behance.net

Mood boards provide a sum of the elements to be inculcated in a design. They help you articulate the ideas that will guide the design into execution.

With mood boards, you have the freedom of breaking down the creative constraints and formulating a cohesive design palette. They help you define the aesthetics of a design. 

Style Guides help in setting the creative tone for a project. Besides, you also get to work out multiple options for the client to delve into so that they can pick what resonates with their choices.

Moreover, a style guide should depict the journey of a design from the beginning to the end. It should illustrate every aspect in detail. Your style guide can act as an effective guide to the design process.

Below are the key elements that make up a mood board:

• The concept behind the design
• Images for reference
• Proposed color schemes
• The design strategies to be incorporated
• Elements that convey its feel

Also, Read: 15 Best Tips To Create A Kitchen Mood Board Design

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Below are the key elements that make up a style guide:

• The design standards
• Furnishings to be incorporated 
• Branding elements
• The tone of the design
• Functional aspects and their details

Quick Read: How To Create A Living Room Mood Board Design?

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The articulation of a Style Guide involves a series of steps. Here are some aspects that may come in handy while creating your perfect style guide:

• Get in touch with the client and try to understand their design perspectives.
• Formulate concepts and themes that resonate with their ideology.
• Fuse in the brand’s story, mission, and perspectives.
• Decide on the preferred fonts, color schemes, and writing style.
• Put together the various elements along with design standards.

These steps are the key to creating an impeccable style guide. They can help you figure out how to create an initiative where both the designer and the client can harmoniously channel their creative perspectives.  

Mood Boards and Style Guides are both effective ways of communicating your design ideology. They depict the designing process as per the envisioned outcomes. Moreover, mood boards and style guides are a great way of preparing a concrete design idea before stepping into the actual work.   

These elements help convey the vibe, finalize the basics, establish relevant references, and set the workflow of any design.

Also, Read: How To Create Amazing Mood Boards For Interior Design?

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While mood boards and style guides may appear nearly the same at a glance, they are quite different from each other in reality. Mood boards create a frame of what the design intends to put forward. Style Guides establish a way to achieve that particular design ideology.  

To put it in a simpler way, mood boards depict the proposed outcomes of a design process. On the other hand, style guides help you reach this goal by delving into its myriad procedural layers. 

Also, Read: How To Create A Bedroom Mood Board Design?

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Both mood boards and style guides are important ways of communicating and presenting design ideas. However, picking one that works for you depends on what you want to convey and your client’s requirements. 

Once you have your mood board sorted, the concept remains frozen. Now, you can follow a style guide to help you actually execute the design as per the decided ideology. If you are only beginning to get your hands on mood boards and style guides, try the Foyr mood board and get started on your design journey right away.