Creating a Mood Board
After analysing the market and current fashion trends, you should have identified your target market and completed your research.
Now, you can begin the creative process, which starts with a theme. As a designer, you should have no problem creating an idea after completing your fashion forecasting. 
In the creative process, this is referred to as the conceptualisation phase. Once you have decided upon a theme for your design, you will create your mood board, which is also called an inspiration board.
What is a Mood Board?
Your design theme can convey an emotion, message, period in history, or anything that inspires you creatively as a designer. 
Keep in mind that your theme will represent your entire collection, so take plenty of time when making your selection.
Once you have decided upon your theme, you will transfer it onto a board, which will convey your feelings, emotions, and the style of your theme. 
Now you can begin to collect visual references, which you will use as inspiration for your mood board. 
Your mood board will represent a summary of your theme collection and is a critical design tool that will help to keep you focused and consistent as your line develops.
What to Include on Your Mood Board
If you have a theme in mind for your design already, the chances are good you were inspired by magazines, colour swatches, fabrics, or various other visual references. 
This is exactly what you want to include on your mood board. In these beginning stages, you will mount these inspiration pieces to a hard board, which you will then give a title, much like a book or film.
When creating your mood board, ensure that you are doing plenty of research, which means you should attend galleries, watch films, music videos, and visit the latest fashion shows. 
Take pictures of objects and anything related to your theme that relates to how the product makes you feel and how it will look. 
Although you should gather everything that inspires you, make sure your mood board is not cluttered or messy.
Approach
Before designing your mood board, you need to decide the avenue you want to take and how you want to present your design ideas. There are two approaches to creating and delivering your theme ideas. 
Both methods will effectively carry out your theme, and they both have their advantages and disadvantages. 
Physical Approach
The first method involves delivering your message on a physical mood board, which as you can imagine, is a tangible board that you can touch and feel. Depending on your theme, a physical mood board usually has to be quite large to fit all your images. 
The good thing about this is you can physically see and touch every visual reference, which limits the use of your imagination.
Digital Approach
The next method is digital, which means you will create your mood board using a digital program. With this method, your mood board is portable and is much easier to work with. 
If you choose this approach, there are several programs designed to help you create your board. A few examples include Gomoodboard, Pinterest, and Olioboard.
Creating Your Board
Once you have chosen your approach, it is time to assemble your theme and bring your collection to life. Regardless of the avenue you have selected, the process will be relatively similar.
Physical Approach
If you have elected to create a physical mood board, you will pin your elements to a large bulletin or foam core board. 
When creating your mood board, it is important to keep the assembly in mind. For example, if you choose to assemble your elements in a grid style, you are conveying a conservative theme. 
However, a collage style will put out a more relaxed message.
Digital Approach
If you are making a digital mood board, the first step will involve scanning images into your computer and uploading them into the computer program you are using.