This is something I’ve been hearing about the past couple years but I never understood it completely, It is basically a mood board taken to the next level?  How do people use this and why do I need to implement this on your everyday design process? I want to explain what a Stylescape is and why you need to start using this “technique” which you are creating a logo, branding, website, basically everything that involves design.

A stylescape "is a design tool that expresses and steers the visual language for a project. Stylescapes include fonts, colors and images that are artfully and intentionally arranged. Direction for a stylescape comes from a initial meetings with clients. During those meetings, you learn about the clients."

So, what you are creating here is not just a normal mood board, it’s the visual guide to the company, the compass of what the visual design is and where you will go on the design process, it might be web design or logo or anything else.

Now you might be asking, “Why do I need to implement this if I already have a mood board that works for me?”, and there is no correct answer for that, you as a designer should keep doing what makes your process fast and efficient, but using this way of “validation” and guidance, the client will know what direction you are going, what your inspiration will be and how he/she will be receiving, kind of, when you deliver the end product.

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Things to keep in mind:

• Always focus on what’s important for the client first, then let the other parts of the Stylescape fall into places, if the client want’s their Agency to be the best Website Design in town, focus on what the end result would look, the Look and feel, the font, and then reverse engineer the process.
• If you can, print your Stylescape and show it to the client, this is just a best practice if you are near the client and have face-to-face conversations, the client will love it

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Some stylescape examples.

Images sourced from https://thefutur.com/blog/what-are-stylescapes

Images sourced from https://www.brightscout.com/collection-of-the-best-brand-stylescapes-ever-created