Creating an inspiration board on Pinterest is a crucial step while building your brand. It helps you uncover your true vision and provides a strong, clear visual representation of what you want for your brand.
Your inspiration board should include pins from the following important categories: Color Palette, Typography, Textures, Patterns, Architecture. Each image plays an important role in communicating your creative inspiration for your brand. When searching for pins, choose wisely and select consistent imagery. We recommend narrowing down your final board to 20-25 images total, approximately 4-5 images in each category. Do not separate your board into sections. All pin thumbnails should be visible from one board so you can step back and see all the thumbnails as one clear screen of inspo.
Here is the significance of each category and how to find the right pins to match your search.
Color Story
A comprehensive color palette supports the brand message. This is a selection or 3-5 colors that will be used throughout all branding material (website, social, interior design, signage, marketing materials, etc.) Your brand colors evoke a powerful emotional response and play a large role in how your brand is perceived across multiple mediums.
Once you have determined some colors that you like, it’s good to start including the name or the color into your search. For example, neutral color palette, bright color combinations, cool blue color board.
Keywords to search: color palette, color board, color inspiration, color schemes, color combinations
Here are some helpful boards that we’ve already created:
- Color Palettes: https://www.pinterest.com/honorcreative/color-palettes/
- White: https://www.pinterest.com/honorcreative/white/
- Green: https://www.pinterest.com/honorcreative/green/
You might also try playing around on the color adobe app. https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel
Typography
Typography is the way the text is presented and is by far, one of the most important elements of your brand. It brings personality to your overall brand and helps represent who you are and what you stand for. There are many different kinds of typefaces, all exuding different moods or feelings.
You’ll most likely notice a trend in the fonts you’re gravitating to. Remember… consistency is key. Be sure to pin similar, like-minded fonts and type inspiration. It’s important to narrow down your examples so that they reflect the same typography style. It is not a good idea to add 4-5 type inspiration pins that are all completely different. The goal here is to create a clear and concise vision for your designer to reference.
For example: If you are pinning mostly uppercase but notice a few all lowercase pins in your board, take time to really think about which one you prefer. In this case, we’d say to go with the uppercase since you’ve pinned more of those. Then delete the lowercase to prevent any inspiration confusion.
Keywords to search: typography, font pairings, type, logo, logo design, serif, sans serif, script
Sans serif fonts are typically considered modern, clean and minimal where serif fonts are classic, sophisticated and often considered old-fashioned. Here are two examples.
Here are some helpful boards that we’ve already created:
- Honor Logos: https://www.pinterest.com/honorcreative/honor-logos/
- Font Inspiration – https://www.pinterest.com/honorcreative/font-inspiration/
- Logos and Marks: https://www.pinterest.com/honorcreative/logos-%2B-marks/
Letters: https://www.pinterest.com/honorcreative/letters/
Texture
Texture refers to the surface quality in a work of art. Whether it’s a paint, fabric, plaster or marble, texture brings tactile quality. Brand texture helps tell the story of your brand by associating design with look and feel. It creates visual interest, contrast and balance in a composition, whether it’s a tactile texture or visual texture.
Keywords to search: texture, smooth, silk, rough, fur, wood, plant leaves, concrete, clay, pottery, rocks, textiles, fabric, grass, leather, glass, matter, dull etc.
Pattern
Patterns are interesting repeated elements that compliment your brand and represent your brand’s personality. They help create brand recognition and memorable brand experiences through marketing materials and packaging. Look for graphic elements that are relevant to your brand and vision. Are you drawn to clean, modern geo shapes? What about hand-drawn illustration?
Keywords to search: pattern, patterns, pattern art, pattern wallpaper, print pattern, packaging pattern
Architecture
Architecture and interior design imagery add mood and character to your vision board. Architecture plays a major role in shape and style inspiration, while communicating your overall vibe. Even if you are not an interior designer, the way you style a room says a lot about your brand.
Keywords to search: architecture, dwelling, home design, lifestyle, interior design, exterior design, room design
The goal is to share your overall creative inspiration by narrowing down the pins that reflect the tone, style and color of your ideal brand. Once you take a step back and look at the board thumbnails together, you should get an immediate feeling of what you want your brand to manifest. Here are two completely different boards inspired by feminine and masculine brands. Take note of the way these boards are displayed and use them as a frame of reference when creating your own.
Feminine Inspiration Board
Masculine Inspiration Board
Now, it’s time to get busy. Happy pinning!
– The Honor Team
