One of things that I found most helpful when I started building a team of part time employees (all on different schedules) was creating a style guide that lives online (in a private Pinterest board to be exact, that I share with everyone that works at P&S). Since my style is pretty particular (and so is everyone else’s right?), I thought it would be easiest to see visual representations of what kind of goes on in my mind – what I find the most aesthetically pleasing and the types of things I think readers will gravitate towards most.
So, our style guide was born and it’s something that gets added to regularly by me, whenever I find something new that fits in with the P&S aesthetic. I’ve since recommended this process to several of my blogging friends as well, because it really is INSANELY helpful for getting everyone on the same page. And now, I’m getting into taking that style guide one step further, into physical monthly mood boards that we put up around the studio (I even have one at my house).
We’ve only just started this process of taking things from online into ‘real life’, so to speak, but I’m already completely loving it. It’s a good creative exercise for me, and a great reminder for myself (and everyone else) what vibes, looks, trends, etc we should be focusing on each month.
Some of the things in the current style guide include…a picture of my dad with his brother when they were young boys (to remind me to push content to be personal and story-driven whenever possible), a black and white photo from a German magazine my brother gave me when he was traveling (to remind me how important traveling some place new can be), the leftover dye sheets from a recent shibori project (to remind me to make something new everyday), and (of course) lots of cool, colorful images I’m inspired by from the online world / along with books, magazines, etc that I’ve collected over the years.
Photography and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff
I’m tossing around the idea of turning this into a monthly series that I share each month (since our guides change pretty frequently). So if you’d like to see something like this every so often, definitely let me know in the comments below. I’m also curious to hear what you’re most inspired by these days…What trends are you finding inspiring, color combos you’re loving, etc? Would love to hear from you.
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How to Create a Vision Board that Actually Works • Original CarolineLOVE this…very inspiring. i create physical pin boards and find it so much more visually impactful than pins that live in my computer (although i love those too). your boards are beautiful.
betsyI love your inspiration board. The colors are so fun and definitely very summer
Vicky
Vickyhttp://vickysscrapbook.com/
Love the idea of working on inspiration boards with friends, Anne. How fun!
BrittniInspiration / dream boards – they really work! Friends and I got together, we quickly cut out photos we liked from magazines, one had mostly interior design, another fashion; I chose seascapes. We had the color blue in common and it was fun to go fast tearing out pages, then sit and dreamily look at them later.
Anne Rita TaylorAbsolutely love your color combinations, Ines. And thanks for the feedback about continuing to create this type of content. Happy to hear that you enjoy it.
BrittniOh yes please, definitely make it a monthly series, Brittni! I love seeing where artists, bloggers and overall creatives draw their inspiration from. Your summer style guide is on point! Bold and playful and energetic, gotta love the P&S aesthetic! 😉
I make weekly moodboards (there are so many great colour combinations out there, I can’t seem to stick with just one of them for more than one week) using pages torn from magazines, colourful papers and washi tape.
Colour combinations I’m loving right now are 1. lush jungle green with bubblegum pink and mauve, 2. blush pink, lavender and electric blue, 3. blush pink, white and a dab of yellow. Currently inspired by Salvation Mountain, Beci Orpin, Henri Rousseau’s jungle paintings, Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian paintings.
Happy summer! Xo Ines
InesThanks Megan. 🙂
BrittniYour imagery is always so beautiful in your posts!
www.whynotblog.co.uk
MeganThanks Thedailyweeklyblog. 🙂 You totally should!
BrittniVery creative board and colorful as well…
I would love to make some inspirational board for myself….
www.thedailyweeklyblog.com
thedailyweeklyblogAwesome Adriana. Glad to hear that!!
BrittniI would definitely looove seen something like this every so often. I got really inspired by colourful and aesthetic pleasant pictures and photographs, and I already also use Pinterest to find things like these. I also use We Heart It to look some gougeous images that can be found there, and I can say that I am always proud of my own profile everytime I go there to take a look of what I hearted some time ago.
Adriana S.That physical board is a great idea!
That was my exact reasoning for making it a physical thing, as opposed to just having it live online, Rebecca. We can easily look up at it everyday in the studio, without having to pull it up on our phones, etc. Which means we end up referencing it a lot more frequently and it keeps us on track and focused.
BrittniI already have a Pinterest mood board but I absolutely love the idea of having a physical mood board to look at and inspire you throughout the day. And it’s seems like it would be a lot easier to always be able to quickly look up and compare what you’re working on to your mood board instead. I’m excited about making this happen! Thanks.
RebeccaHappy to hear this inspired your Jeran. And yes please to those extra hours in the day. 🙂
BrittniI love this. I have clipping on my wall by my desk that catch my eye. But, I need to take it a step further and really pull more images that want to inspire and push me forward as a creative. Thanks for this. Now I just need 5 more hours in everyday!
JeranThanks Jen. Happy week to you too!
BrittniWhat a beautiful inspiration board! Loving all the vibrant colours. Hope you’re having a wonderful week 🙂
www.vibrantbeautyblog.com
Jen