How to make a moodboard
- Drop in reference photos. They land on the board with a white print border, like pinned prints.
- Arrange freely. Drag anything anywhere, resize it, and rotate it. Centers snap to the board's horizontal and vertical midlines, so a hero image is easy to center.
- Add notes for words that describe the direction ("warm, coastal, unhurried"), and color swatches for your palette.
- Pull a palette from a photo. Select an image and click Extract palette to add its five dominant colors as swatches.
- Pick a board shape (4:3, 1:1, 16:9, or 3:4) and background, then export a 2400 px wide PNG or JPG.
Every move can be undone with ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z and redone with ⌘⇧Z.
What a useful moodboard contains
A moodboard is a decision tool, not a scrapbook. Boards that actually guide a project tend to have:
- 5–12 images. Fewer gives too little to go on; more blurs the direction.
- One clear anchor. The single image closest to the target feeling, placed biggest or in the center.
- A palette of 3–6 colors, pulled from the images rather than chosen separately, so the colors match what people see.
- Three to five words that name the mood. They settle arguments later ("does this feel unhurried?").
- Texture and material close-ups, not just finished scenes: wood grain, fabric, paper, light on a wall.
Board shapes
| Shape | Export size | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 4:3 | 2400 × 1800 | Presentations, client decks, desktop viewing |
| 16:9 | 2400 × 1350 | Slides and screen backgrounds |
| 1:1 | 2400 × 2400 | Instagram, Pinterest, chat |
| 3:4 | 2400 × 3200 | Phone viewing, printing on letter or A4 paper |