Protocol Overview and Instructions: 
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Have you ever had an experience where you come up with a solution that would work to address an issue, but (for whatever reason) it just does not quite feel right? Sometimes one of the most effective strategies to head off this issue from happening is to define beforehand what you would like the solution you are developing to actually "feel like". One of our favorite strategies to do this is to have students create mood boards. Within this technique, students create a collage that captures the overall "feeling" or mood that they would like the final solution to have.

Mood Board Protocol Instructions
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Educator Thoughts:

​I used this activity for my Functional Sculpture & Ceramics class. They are brainstorming starting inspirations (objects, hobbies, people, etc.) for an upcoming Postmodern Architecture project. Until now, they have gathered images of postmodern buildings, made notes about what they’re drawn towards and read about the building designs & inspirations of Frank Gehry. Before going into project proposals, they chose their inspirations and created a “Mood Board” by gathering pictures, visuals of buildings that incorporate aspects of their inspirations (shapes, forms, lines, colors, etc.), windows, doors, decorative accents, textures, etc. When I do this assignment again, I will give them a minimum # of picture requirements and show past student examples of mood boards compared to final projects. Students liked the freedom to choose their own starting inspiration and this fit well into the scope of our current project and their investigations of architecture.

"This is an activity I will definitely do again as a visual way of investigating ideas. Changing the format to digital allowed students to work with color images and allowed for easier access to images."
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Meet the Educator:

Lindsay King is a 9th-12th grade art teacher at Hopkins High School in Hopkins, Michigan. She is in her 10th year of teaching. Her current classes include: Drawing From Life, Drawing From Imagination, Functional Sculpture & Ceramics, Creative Sculpture & Ceramics, Painting, Mixed Media & Portfolio Development. Her passions lie in the emphasis of process and product, balancing experimentation and mastery of mediums (what you use to create your artwork), the use of digital technology & making lasting learning & connections through the arts. 
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     “I love the way PBL & Design Thinking encourages students to delve further into the process of creating from start to finish - especially in where they investigate multiple solutions to a question/problem.”  ​