Moodboard #1: Francesca
Description: This mood board merges the elements of nature with the theme of focus. It presents images that encourage concentration and reflection. The person in a kayak, silhouetted against the vast calm of the lake, reflects a singular focus on the moment, free from external distractions. The stones stacked with precision on the riverbank symbolize the deliberate practice of balance and concentration. The person seated on the dock, gazing at the horizon, embodies a meditative focus, inviting the viewer to look inward and find peace in solitude.
Pros: This mood board taps into the natural environments where focus is often found and nurtured, promoting an organic connection with the task at hand. It visually communicates the value of focus in various forms. The use of soft, natural light and muted colors in the images creates a calming atmosphere, conducive to maintaining concentration without overstimulation. Cons: The diversity of images, while rich in narrative, might pose a challenge when translating into a cohesive app design meant to encourage focus. The presence of human elements might unintentionally draw the user’s attention to the specifics of the activity rather than the overarching theme of focus. Additionally, the various contexts presented (mountains, lakes, the act of framing with hands) may not universally resonate with all users’ experiences of focus.
Moodboard #2: Frédéric
Description: The vision behind this mood board was to include elements of a beach: the waves crashing, the colors of the sky slowly changing, with no signs of humans or technology – a zone free of distraction and notifications trying to grab our attention. Rather, a place of mindfulness that, like our app, allows for discovering how often our mind wanders and is distracted in a calm, self-compassionate environment. Another pro: the visual of sand, like on a beach, being in eternal movement, like the sand trickling down in an hourglass. Cons: some of these elements are hard to replicate through just colors. Using sketches (like lower left picture or center picture) looks too much like a mental health startup or an Instagram post and is harder to execute well for abstract ideas like “sand” to start with, thus we may require actual pictures (which may lead to a cluttered interface). That may make the beach/sand/water idea hard to execute.
Moodboard #3: Malina
Description: I wanted to lean into a very different vibe that could potentially fit our product’s topic about focus in high school students. For me, when I think about focus, I think heavily about the “dark academia” aesthetic or even the Harry Potter series, with imagery of rainy skies, old books, calm forests, and candlelit desks. I specifically thought of three adjectives that fit this mood: scholarly, dedicated, and academic. Some pros of this moodboard include: (1) these images clearly fit a scholarly vibe, (2) the mood might inspire focus and concentration, and (3) the images make one feel like they’re in a new, more focused setting. With that being said, there are several cons for this moodboard, the most important being that not everyone enjoys this aesthetic for focusing and studying! In fact, it is probably less popular than other “study aesthetics”. Another con is that it feels very seasonal; this mood might feel nice for fall or winter but less so for spring and summer. While this moodboard would be a good fit for a certain subset of students, such as myself in high school, it is not the most viable for a prototype aimed at all high school students.
Moodboard #4: Nazanin
Description: The vision behind this moodboard was something that was bright, hopeful, and positive, while not jarring and potentially serving as a distraction. With a goal of inspiring focus and progress, there are several elements that make it a fit for the prototype. For instance, water signifies depth and flow – a state which we hope to induce in our users. The camera demonstrates a focused lens, while crystals suggest that the work or knowledge will crystallize in the mind. Steps also are meant to foster imagery of gradual progress. However, a con is that such teals are difficult to distinguish and have low contrast, potentially creating a barrier for certain visual imparities. Another con is that it may feel too beachy and more focused on travel and relaxation rather than studying and working.
Moodboard #5: Tristan
Description: This mood board is meant to create a trustworthy, mindful, and encouraging feel. Intended for the background, the dark greens convey reliability and groundedness, contrasting the light blues which impart hopeful and thoughtful feelings. This board is suitable for our prototype since we are trying to motivate high schoolers to stay focused without causing them undue stress. One downside is that the color scheme is somewhat overused in the app market.
Final Moodboard (+ Justification)
Justification: Our final moodboard is centered around four words: focused, flowing, mindful, and encouraging. As a group, we decided to draw most heavily from Nazanin’s, Francesca’s, and Frederic’s original moodboards by presenting the beach motif throughout. High schoolers are a broad target audience, but we decided that the beach is universally known to represent mindfulness and flow. We also found new images for our moodboard to fit our four words. We specifically found images that contributed to a muted, calm color scheme, as we enjoyed the attention towards calm colors in Tristan’s moodboard, and darker colors in Malina’s. Ultimately, we settled on this final moodboard, which demonstrates focus well.
Style Tile
