A story board also known as “Inspiration board”, “mood board”, “trend board”, “concept board” or “cahiers des tendances” is a summary of your collection’s inspiration and theme. It’s a design tool that will help you remain focused and consistent as your line develops. It’s also a great communication aid when explaining your vision to others (retailers, media etc.). Magazine tears, fabric swatches, old photos, buttons, ribbons; basically any visual reference you desire are mounted onto a hard board. Be sure to give your story board a title, like a book or film”   ~fashionincubator.com
 

The purpose of the board is to give you a direction, create a theme, and establish your target customer and artistic elements necessary to give you ideas for designing and driving your line.

Inspiration for a line can come from anywhere- online forecasting, designer sites, and your own research or other sources of inspiration such as trend reports, street fashion observations, magazines, movies, musicians, travel etc.

So it is important to keep a notebook to collect your inspiration whenever and wherever it may hit you.

Storyboards are used throughout the design process but particularly in the early phases and are often used in merchandising reviews and line adoption sessions since they capture the creative essence of each theme group. They can also be a powerful sales tool during line presentations to important customers since they can make your line easier to buy and help them understand how their category relates to the realm of fashion, giving them more confidence about why they bought what they did.

As my class toils away creating storyboards for their upcoming design lines I felt compelled to post some moodboard inspiration. I will be working with them over the next two weeks to get everything completed. Inspired by their hard work here are a few of my own.

Images:

Storyboard 1: (clockwise) Fall Sign ~Dust jacket attic, Jcrew ~ Apartment 34, Food ~le petit happy, DIY-Autumn leaf bouqet ~Design Sponge, Shoes-Tory Burch Show ~From me to you.

Storyboard 2: (clockwise) Outfit ~tibi blog, Elizabeth Terhune Artwork ~le petit happy, Pride & Prejudice ~Sweet thing, Bedroom and Globe ~ le petit happy.

Storyboard 3: (clockwise) Pie ~Dustjacket attic, Outift ~ Dust jacket attic, Fox & dog Cards ~Sycamore street press , Baked Apricots ~ Dust jacket attic, Wood pile & Grass ~ the fresh exchange, Pumpkin whoopie ~ note to self, Rowen & Wren blanket & pillow images ~Design Sponge.

Here is a link to four pinterest moodboards via the fresh exchange