In the age of Instagram and Pinterest, vision boards are incredibly popular.

They’re a way for dreamers to create something physical and see their desires manifest in real life (or that’s the idea, anyway).

Vision boards for branding follow the same concept: laying out inspiration for which messages and feelings you want your brand to evoke. But rather than cutting and pasting magazine clippings to a piece of foam board, we find images, colors, and fonts from all over the Internet to bring you an estimate of what your brand will look like. 

What is a vision board?

The vision board is an important first step if you want your brand to look and feel, well, on-brand. You must think hard about your goal for your visual brand, because planning ahead will set you up for success. Here are a few questions to help you get started.

• How do I want my brand to make people feel? Am I welcoming or exclusive? Warm or cold?

• What symbols or graphic elements could I include?

• What colors, fonts, or feelings do not align with my brand?

After you’ve done your own brainstorming, you’ll need to convey your ideas to us. (See our post on how to communicate effectively with your agency.) Once we have a thorough understanding of your ideas, we’ll get to work creating a vision board. The vision board provides direction and clarity before we start creating official concepts. If you approve the vision board, we will proceed. If you believe we’re not on the right track, we will make sure your brand incorporates those edits.

What does a vision board look like?

Want to see a HDco vision board yourself? You got it.

Here’s a vision board we created for our mid-MO neighbors, Les Bourgeois Vineyards. LBV is the official winery of Mizzou Athletics, and we were lucky enough to create their new sub-brand. 

We came up with ideas for every element of their visual brand, including colors, fonts, patterns, and image styles. Click to enlarge the photo so you can see why it’s important we go in-depth with your vision board.

What should I do when I receive my vision board?

The vision board is meant to inspire the concept. It’s a place to see what works and what doesn’t, and often you will see a change from the vision board to the concept to the final product. This means that when you look at a vision board from your agency, you often don’t need to give specific, detailed feedback. Rather, we are looking for overarching feedback and to make sure we are going in the right direction. Once everyone is on the same page, we can start creating your brand board and get you one step closer to marketing success.

Your visual brand is how your business makes its first impression to your customers. To make it a strong one, you should start at the drawing board. And sometimes, we mean this literally.

You’ve got a vision. Turn it into a brand.

Hoot Design Co. is a marketing, branding, and design agency located in Columbia, MO. We specialize in creating a custom and comprehensive marketing strategy centered around your business's unique strengths and educating you with the tools you need from day one. From logo design to brand identity, website design and execution, and social media marketing strategies in-person and through online courses, we're focused on your business success every step of the way.