Creating a moodboard is a powerful way to visualize and refine your creative projects. It serves as a tangible representation of your ideas, helping to align your vision with your goals. Here’s a comprehensive guide to crafting the ultimate moodboard:

Define your project’s purpose

Before diving into the creative process, it’s crucial to establish the objective of your moodboard. Are you developing a brand identity, planning an interior design, or organizing a photoshoot? Understanding the purpose will guide your selection of elements and ensure coherence in your board.

Curate diverse inspiration sources

Gather materials from various platforms to enrich your moodboard:

• Design Elements: Incorporate graphics, layouts, illustrations, and patterns that resonate with your project’s theme.

• Photography: Select images that capture the desired style, mood, or subject matter relevant to your vision.

• Color Palettes: Identify harmonious color combinations that evoke the intended emotions and aesthetics.

• Typography: Choose fonts and type treatments that complement your design and convey the right tone.

• Textures and Patterns: Add tactile elements to provide depth and context to your board.

Organize and categorize your selections

Structure your moodboard by grouping similar items:

• Sections: Divide your board into stacks or areas dedicated to specific elements like colors, typography, or imagery.

• Tags: Use keywords to label and sort items, making navigating and refining your board easier.

• Color Themes: Arrange items based on color schemes to maintain visual harmony.

Refine and edit your board

The moodboards you make should be curated thoughtfully:

• Eliminate Redundancies: Remove any elements that don’t align with your project’s vision or are repetitive.

• Focus on Quality: Prioritize high-quality images and materials that genuinely inspire and represent your goals.

• Seek Feedback: Share your mood board with peers or mentors to gain insights and suggestions for improvement.

By following this checklist, you’ll be well-equipped to create a mood board that inspires and serves as a practical guide throughout your creative endeavors.

For many creatives, the journey into their craft is a gradual unfolding of curiosity and discovery. For Emma, the founder of Otto Editions, the path to pattern-making evolved from a deep appreciation for color, form, and repetition—elements that naturally led them to study textiles. But their love for patterns eventually took shape through an unexpected medium: paper. “There’s something wonderfully tactile about working with paper—its structure, weight, as well as its versatility and endless variety. I have always been drawn to working with paper, an effortlessly easy and egalitarian medium to work with,” they explained.

This affinity for paper was the catalyst for Otto Editions, a venture born out of a desire to create joyful and purposeful designs. The vision? To bridge the gap between mass production and handcrafted design, offering high-quality, sustainable paper goods that celebrate contemporary craft. “Since studying textiles, my perspective has expanded beyond simply designing patterns. Now, it’s about creating meaningful experiences through design—whether it is wrapping paper that turns a gift into an event or a fabric that becomes a cherished part of someone’s home.”

Finding inspiration in the unexpected

Otto Editions’ designs are fueled by an eclectic mix of influences, from mid-century design books and architectural details to vintage textiles and everyday observations. The interplay of light and shadow, the rhythm of repetition—these subtle elements shape the designer’s creative vision.

Drawn to artists who play with space and structure, like Alexander Calder and Anni Albers, with a particular appreciation for Henri Matisse,” they note, “As a child, I adored The Snail—its simplicity and abstraction still resonate with me today. That sense of bold yet simple sophistication is something I strive for in my work.”

The creative process: from paper to print

Each design begins with a spark—perhaps a color combination, a fleeting observation, or an interesting form. “I usually start with loose sketches, keywords, or a theme before moving into paper cuttings,” Emma explains. “Working with physical materials first gives the patterns a more organic rhythm before I refine them digitally.” While typically working at their studio in silence, the creative space is full of visual references: collected photographs, plants, and samples that subtly guide the composition. “Once I transition into the digital stage, I refine and play with structure and repetition before applying color. The process is a balance of instinct and precision.”

On archiving & collecting

A passion for collecting is prominent in Otto Editions’ ethos. In fact, the name itself is a nod to the archival nature of the work. Throughout their work, there are recurring themes of structure versus fluidity in the rhythm of repetition. They will also find themselves revisiting specific themes, like color palettes, to refine and evolve them. “I have an ever-growing library of books, paper ephemera, swatches, and samples that I constantly revisit.”

Archiving paper cuttings is an integral part of their practice, though not without its challenges. “By nature, I don’t want to stick my cuttings down, as they take on a life of their own when allowed to move and dance in my hands. Finding the best way to organize and store them has been a process in itself.”

A digital companion for a visual thinker

Beyond physical archives, Otto Editions relies on Dropmark as a digital extension of their creative process to track themes, create mood boards, and organize without feeling cluttered.

Dropmark is my visual mind map—where I collect references, color inspiration, design ideas, and even textures or compositions that catch my eye.

For Emma, Dropmark is a way to refine rather than accumulate. Before Dropmark, their desktop was overwhelmed with a sea of screenshots, which is very relatable. Now, they feel more confident in structuring their inspiration in such a way that helps streamline the creative process.

Overcoming design challenges through abstract thinking

One of Otto Editions’ most recent projects—a holiday collection—offered a unique design challenge. “I wanted to capture the essence of Christmas without it feeling overly commercial,” they recall. Instead of relying on traditional motifs, Emma focused on evoking the feeling of the season.

The result? RicRac—a dynamic pattern inspired by the ribbon often used to hang ornaments and wrap gifts—and Harlequin, a subtle nod to Christmas baubles and twinkling lights. “Both patterns carry the energy and joy of the season but are versatile enough to be used all year round.”

Inspiration in the everyday

The search for inspiration is constant, sometimes appearing in the most unexpected places. When asked about the most interesting thing they’ve Dropmarked recently, the answer is delightfully simple: a photograph of colorful shipping containers. “It’s a brilliant reminder that inspiration can be found anywhere—in the mundane, in the everyday. Sometimes, all it takes is a shift in perspective.”

Otto Editions continues redefining the role of patterns in our lives, transforming everyday objects into artful, intentional, and deeply personal. With an ever-growing archive and an eye for the beauty in the unexpected, the future of Otto Editions is sure to be filled with color, form, and endless creative exploration. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Emma!

Check out their creations on their website or instagram for more!

Ever seen a brand and thought, I wish I could make something like that? Us too! That’s why we’re peeling back the layers of our favorite brands to uncover what makes them stand out—and using Dropmark to turn them into creative inspiration fuel.

By breaking down brands into their key elements, we can see how the cake is made and return to these collections of inspiration for future projects. It also doubles as a creative exercise if you’re feeling stuck. Working on inspiration this way takes the pressure off yourself. It allows you to explore what makes designs resonate with you instead of forcing gold from your pen when the ink feels dry. If this idea sounds familiar, it comes from practice in design school when you collect layouts or websites and similarly break them down into separate components. For our next brand this series, we decided to work on the New York Botanical Garden by Wolff Olins.

Established in 1891, the New York Botanical Garden is a leading center for botanical research, conservation, and education. This 250 acre oasis hosts seasonal exhibits and features lush gardens, historic glasshouses, and diverse plant collections. It is not only a beautiful place for New Yorkers and tourists to visit, but is also a globally significant institution. With all of these things in mind, Wolff Olins worked with NYBG to create a brand refresh that not only highlights the vibrancy of plant life, but also the people involved. We were very excited to break this project down as you can truly see aspects of the garden in every piece of the project, from the expansive color palette to the grid system that references the historic conservatories on the property. We were particularly excited to see the shape of leaves mimicked in the custom typography and the abstract colorful patterns that showcase the beauty of the garden grounds as seen from an aerial view.

The breakdown:

1. Color Palette: A flexible and unexpected combination of colors are inspired by the natural features of the NYBG, giving viewers a glimpse at the rich flora and fauna.

2. Typography: Custom type by Ryan Bugden incorporates forms often found in nature as well as New York City itself. GT Superis used as a secondary typeface to further the concept of retrospective but forward thinking. The final typeface, Martian Mono, evokes botanical reference cards.

3. Imagery: Intimate close-up photography mixed with expansive landscapes evoke the idea of nature from nature’s perspective. Alongside abstract color blocking that references the garden’s landscape from an aerial view, elements are layered to create dynamic visuals.

4. Grid system: The grid for the project mimics panes of glass from the iconic conservatories on the grounds.

With all these things in mind, and only just scratching the surface, we collected inspiration based on the identity for NYBG. We organized the collection by placing each component into stacks and writing a breakdown of the brand in a note. If this type of project inspires you, we encourage you to make your own! Simple takeaways are to analyze colors, fonts, and imagery from brands you love and experiment with these elements in your work.

We hope you enjoyed our dissection of the brand and its innovative look at historical references mixed with warmth and a forward momentum mindset. Take a look at our collection to explore further, or get started on your own! Let us know if you’ve got a suggestion for who we should reverse engineer next!

When starting a new design project, laying out a clear creative direction is key. Moodboards are an essential part of this process—pulling together images, colors, typography, and other references to visualize the path forward. But the process of gathering inspiration is often clunky. Copying and pasting visuals into folders or design tools strips away valuable context and eats up time better spent creating. At Dropmark, we believe designers should spend less time managing assets and more time building a cohesive vision, which includes staying connected to where your ideas came from.

No downloads, no problems. Build killer (and smart) mood boards straight from the web. One of our favorite ways to collect inspiration is by using the Dropmark web extension. Grab an image, take a screenshot, or save the entire page itself as a reference for later. In most instances, Dropmark will display the site right in your collection, further reducing the friction of jumping in between tasks and minimizing distractions.

You can also rest assured that your mood boards will be beautiful. Dropmark’s minimal UI lets your vision shine. With a variety of views available, you can choose a display to match the mood.

Having a reference of data-rich material means that you can go back to those particularly inspiring pieces and discover new directions from proven resources by going back straight to the source.

And finally, when it’s time to share, collaboration options with Dropmark are super simple to use. Choose collaborators to join and add to your collection and change who has access to view the collection all in one place.

Now go out there and make something beautiful 🥲

Not too long ago, we came across Visual.Supply, a Dropmark collection turned microsite. Its contents are a vast collection of visual inspiration, everything from web design to alluring workspace setups. After perusing their findings, we reached out to Visual.Supply’s creator and lifelong learner, Karl Fernandes, to discover more about their role as a product designer and how they find inspiration on and offline.

What inspires you?

Oh, plenty of things! As a designer, there’s no dearth of inspiration.

I admire well-designed magazine covers, film posters and illustrated childrens’ books. I watched Shogun last year and was blown away by the cinematography and title design (for which it won an Emmy). I love everything Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve create. Although I enjoy CRPGs, I’ve been playing Dredge these days, and it’s clear to me that a lot of love and care went into making a video game like that.

I live very close to the beach in a tiny village in Goa, so almost every weekend, I take walks with my wife or build sandcastles with our three daughters. There’s just something about the gentle sea breeze on my face and the sand in my toes that resets my brain and prepares me for the coming week!

I also had the privilege of visiting Copenhagen in mid-2023 and immediately fell in love! It’s such a beautiful city that inspired me for weeks. Copenhagen also reignited my interest in Scandinavian industrial and interior design.

You’ve identified as a specialized generalist that is “…still just getting started.” Can you tell me about your approach to design?

I’ve realized that the more I’ve grown as a designer, the more there is to learn—in design and in life. So, I strive to be a generalist as much as I can while aiming for mastery of a few skills that help make me and my work unique.

The “still just getting started” line comes from a beginner’s mind perspective. I try to set aside all preconceived notions and biases when I begin each new project. I’m also an evangelist for thinking and synthesizing from first principles. Together, these two philosophies help ensure I not only design the thing right but also that I’m designing the right thing.

As far as the actual process goes, there’s no secret sauce. My go-to framework for product design within tech is the Zendesk Triple Diamond.

What’s one thing you wish people understood more about product design?

I design products primarily within the enterprise space, so much of my product design practice involves understanding the domain, problem space, and customer needs.

…the more I’ve grown as a designer, the more there is to learn—in design and in life.

Product design isn’t about Figma, Sketch, or your tool of choice. It isn’t about creating prototypes or polished mockups of apps or websites—those are all means to an end. Product design is problem-solving: figuring out what needs to be built or improved, making assumptions for solutions grounded in data, validating those assumptions, and thus de-risking the final solution as much as possible so that the business is best set up for success.

How does Dropmark fit into your workflow?

I firmly believe the best way to improve your craft is to begin curating and studying well-designed things. Dropmark serves as a repository of everything that inspires me as a designer. It’s been an essential part of my workflow since 2016.

I use Dropmark during the design discovery phase to reference mental models, UX interaction patterns, and best practices while I ideate. I also use it for inspiration during the visual design phase and maintain Visual.Supply for this purpose.

How did Visual.Supply start for you?

It started as a side project when I began my design journey, collecting cool stuff from Dribbble, Behance, design galleries, blogs, and CSS awards sites. At some point, I wanted to share these finds with the design community and realized that Dropmark supported custom domains. So, I hooked up that domain with my Dropmark account—I think that’s really awesome!

Today, I have hundreds of items I’ve saved over the years, organized via Collections for just about every aspect of product design—websites, landing pages, web and native apps, e-commerce patterns, and so on. I also save the little things like clever email copy, well-done information architecture, or illustrations done in a unique style. I even have a collection of interesting typefaces!

When I’m engaged in a specific aspect of design and need references, I just go into my Dropmark collection and get inspired. Every few months or so, I revisit these collections and keep them updated. I’ve chosen to make most of this stuff public on Visual.Supply so I can point people to it if necessary.

On the personal front, I use Dropmark in myriad ways. My family is moving to a bigger apartment, and I’ve been using Dropmark to save all kinds of interior design inspiration. I’ve also been planning a new home office for the new apartment, so there’s a collection of desk setups from YouTube, Instagram and Reddit that I’ve been curating. I also have a ginormous “Wishlist” with all sorts of products that I one day hope to own. I’ve chosen to keep these collections private for now.

Lastly, just for fun: What’s the most fun/weird/interesting thing you’ve Dropmarked recently?

I have a few. As an introvert, I’ve found this illustration very useful while preparing for 1:1s with my manager. I also constantly reference which type of data visualization to use while designing dashboards. Finally, I have this very comfy-looking floor sofa bed that I intend to buy for my home office.

Thanks again, Karl! Be sure to check out Visual.Supply for some well-curated designspiration. You can also check out their website for more about them and their design ethos! We had such a delightfully inspiring conversation that we’ve already started our own interior design wishlist. ☺️

Ever seen a brand and thought, I wish I could make something like that? Us too! That’s why we’re peeling back the layers of our favorite brands to uncover what makes them stand out—and using Dropmark to turn them into creative inspiration fuel.

By breaking down brands into their key elements, we can see how the cake is made and return to these collections of inspiration for future projects. It also doubles as a creative exercise if you’re feeling stuck. Working on inspiration this way takes the pressure off yourself. It allows you to explore what makes designs resonate with you instead of forcing gold from your pen when the ink feels dry. If this idea sounds familiar, it comes from practice in design school when you collect layouts or websites and similarly break them down into separate components. For our first foray into this series, we decided to work on Matheson Food Company by Wedge.

Matheson Food Company is a pantry staple supplier, born into existence by Matty Matheson. Matty is a chef, restaurateur, and Emmy-nominated executive producer of The Bear. The gregarious chef has always been a favorite of ours; his personality is as prominent as his flavors, and we were excited to see that the packaging for Matheson Food Company matched. Some things that stuck out to us were the bright primary colors and the nostalgic packaging that permeates his brand. Matheson Food Company makes a good start to our series as it utilizes some popular design trends, like heavy use of typography with a minimal aesthetic. We liked how this packaging utilizes bold type but feels like a standout compared to other modern brands.

The breakdown:

1. Color Palette: The bright primary colors are eye-catching, particularly the big glowing red that they use as a primary color on the website. Although the brand color palette is relatively simple, that’s precisely what makes it stand out in a sea of competitors with more complex palettes.

2. Typography: The fonts used are a medium-contrast sans serif. This type of font is a call back to the packaging of corned beef that Matty loved and grew up on. The choice of type for Matheson Food Company reinforces the brand identity as a nostalgic, heritage-type brand. Still, it is also inextricably linked to the man behind the products.

3. Imagery: The imagery used for the packaging calls back to the first commercially available food packaging of the 30s. Additionally, the use of photography on the website is full of bright, saturated colors with candid subjects. The themes feel very approachable, as if you have taken photos at a family get together with a disposable camera.

4. Packaging & Layouts: Part of the reason for choosing a retro direction with the brand, according to Wedge, was to align with Matty’s past and position it as a brand with longevity. Through these choices, the design studio hopes to create a brand that outlives the nostalgia trend cycle.

With all these things in mind, we collected inspiration based on the brand, Matheson Food Company. We organized the collection by placing each component into stacks and writing a breakdown of the brand in a note. If this type of project inspires you, we encourage you to make your own! Simple takeaways are to analyze colors, fonts, and imagery from brands you love and experiment with these elements in your work.

We hope you enjoyed our dissection of the brand Matheson Food Company and its bright primary colors mixed with good vibes and nostalgia. Take a look at our collection to explore further, or get started on your own! Let us know if you’ve got a suggestion for who we should reverse engineer next!