Are you wondering how to create vision boards? Or are you still not quite sure what the purpose of a vision board is and if you should spend your precious time to create one for yourself?
Since we can’t really leave the house to travel anywhere at the moment, I spend a lot of time crafting, journalling and working on some vision boards (I currently have two).
Today I’d like to show you not only why I believe you should make one, but also how you can easily do this in a few steps.
We’ll look at: the purpose of vision boards, how to make a vision board, things to put on vision board and I will show you some of the best Youtube vision board examples.
- HOW TO CREATE VISION BOARDS
- MORE ABOUT TRAVEL JOURNALLING
HOW TO CREATE VISION BOARDS
WHAT IS A VISION BOARD?
Let’s start at the beginning: a vision board is a visual collage of images, text and sometimes samples of objects around a certain theme, used to capture a general idea or feeling about a particular topic in one visual collection.
Perhaps you’re wondering: what is the difference between a mood board and a vision board?
Mood Boards are often used by creatives in fields such as fashion or graphic design as a visual aid to help them put together a certain mood or theme that they would like to convey within a project.
A Vision Board goes a bit deeper than that, and is more focused on certain goals you would like to reach in life. A bit of a bucket list so to say, but then made visual and really specific for yourself, so you can start manifesting and work towards achieving those goals.
TRAVEL WITHOUT LEAVING HOME?
You don’t always need to be physically on the road to enjoy the beauty of destinations from all around the world!
From vintage travel posters to beautifully displayed souvenirs and home decor items inspired by your favourite places and from travel journals and crafts to exploring world recipes, music and dance.
With our creative articles you’ll get some fresh ideas on how to bring the world closer to the comforts of your own home.
THE PURPOSE OF MOOD BOARDS / VISION BOARDS
Oprah Winfrey (and also American businessman and entertainer Steve Harvey) is one of the earliest “practitioners” of the Vision Board. They both believe that it is the number one tool to make it clear what you want in life.Combined with the so-called “Law of Attraction” (the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person’s life), actively visualizing your dreams can become a powerful way to not only focus on what you want, but actually achieving these goals more easily.
Oprah explains that your mindset is really important when creating a vision board. Because simple cutting out a picture of a new car or saying “I want to be famous” isn’t going to get you any results. You also have to put in the work!
THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
“If you see it in your mind… you can hold it in your hand“…
The idea of the Law of Attraction is that we are the result of what have thought. Repeated thoughts about what we want will create a force of attraction which attracts our goal towards us. Because our thoughts become our words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits lead to your destiny.
Interested to learn more about the Law of Attraction? Then below is the movie you need to see!
There are also the books, that will change the way you think and dream forever.
WHAT TO PUT ON A VISION BOARD?
A vision board really can include just about anything that inspires you, so when it comes to things to put on a vision board, you can choose from printed images and photos to illustrations, fabrics and other textures, different color palettes, words… you name it!
I have found it works best for me if I plan my mood board design before I start looking for images, by writing down a list of exactly all the things I want on it.
Then I go and look for the specific images that convey that wish/goal/dream, either in magazines, or easier: in Pinterest and via Google image search.
SUPPLIES FOR A VISION BOARD?
You really don’t need much to make your dreams come true. I used a piece of cardboard, scissors, a printer and double-sided tape.
That’s all folks!
HOW TO HOST A VISION BOARD PARTY?
Ok, you might be wondering: What is a vision board party and why wasn’t I invited?
Here is the idea: Invite some friends over, get everyone to bring some magazines, a pair of scissors and a glue stick and have some posterboard/cardboard, snacks and drinks ready.
Then it’s up to everyone to start working on their own vision boards, while talking about each others goals for the year.
Sounds like a great way to get over your New Year’s Eve Party hangover, right?!
HOW TO MAKE VISION BOARDS?
STEP 1 – MAKE A LIST
Start by writing down a list of ALL ideas, feelings, words or goals you possibly want from life. Start thinking as big as you can, no limitations. Really write for a minimum of about 15-20 minutes, and don’t ever think at an item that it’s too crazy or unrealistic. If you can think of it, you can get it.
After that first brainstorm, you can divide things in 10 year / 5 year / 3 year and 1 year goals and select what you want to add to your board for this year.
For ideas of goals to add, think about the following seven areas of life: FAMILY, SPIRITUAL, MENTAL, PHYSICAL, SOCIAL, CAREER and FINANCIAL.
STEP 2 – FIND IMAGES
Now that you know exactly what you want on your board, it’s time to find visual representations of these things in magazines, on Pinterest or other sources you can think of.
Here, you really want to make sure the images is as specific as possible. If you want new shoes, don’t just add any pair of shoes, add the exact brand, colour, shoe size. Don’t add a picture of a plane to represent ‘travel’, but add a picture of a city in Australia you want to visit.
Actually, what I also do, is photoshop a little bit. Want to publish a book? Create a mock-cover and photoshop it into a book shop display. Want to be featured in a magazine? Add your photo to it, like it’s already been printed!
This is also a great way to go about it if you are wondering how to make a vision board without magazines. Simply get them digital and print them!
Cut all images into the right size you want them and don’t be surprised if you find out that you have way more images than you can actually fit on your final board. It will work itself out!
STEP 3 – ARRANGE THE IMAGES
Get a large piece of cardboard or posterboard that will serve as the background of your mood board. The key is to make it big, so that if you pass it, you can see in one glance what your vision is.
Before you get everything covered in glue or tape, arrange everything first, so you can see if you need to shift around things.
I like printing my images in the sizes 4 x 6-inch and 3 x 4-inch, so they can be arranged easily next to each other since they all have pretty much the same sizes.
STEP 4 – MAKE IT FINAL
Ok, time to get out the paper glue or, if you’re messy like me, rather get double-sided sticky tape, or just normal tape that you fold over to make double-sided.
Don’t worry about making things permanent, you can always remove or add things in the future!
STEP 5 – WORK WITH THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
You’ve done it! Your vision board is done!
Well actually, the work starts now. You need to place the board in a spot you will see it daily, so that can be your (home) office or simply on the wall in your bedroom or living room.
Because if you don’t regularly see the board and are reminded of your goals, you will forget about them and won’t take action on them.
Yes, action! You cannot just simply stick your dreams up your wall and forget about them, but you need to keep reminding yourself you have them, need to keep taking action on getting closer to getting what you want and need to keep visualizing yourself as if you have already achieved these goals.
WHICH BOOK TO READ?
The Travel Tester loves to review books that teach you something about yourself or the world around us.
From travel guides and stories to books about business and self-development and from cultural stories to cook books from kitchens around the world… if it looks interesting to us, we’ll test it!
No matter where you’re going, with our reviews you’ll know exactly what to read next!
VISION BOARD EXAMPLES
Have a look of the videos by my favourite YouTubers sharing their vision boards examples and how they made them:
MY PERSONAL VISION BOARDS
I ended up making two different boards, one that is about my life and a bit about work, the other entirely about work and then in specific about my second website The London Tester.
While I wouldn’t normally recommend to make multiple boards, as your vision should be clear as a whole, but in this case I really wanted to focus in on what I wanted to achieve with my niche website specifically, and this seemed like a great way to do it!
Some of the items on my vision boards:
- Professional photo shoot in London;
- Visiting Edinburgh for the first time;
- Building a team;
- Reaching 1000 followers on my YouTube channel;
- Working on campaigns with Eurostar, EF Language Schools, National Trust, English Heritage and Visit Britain;
- Publishing and selling my first Ebook about London;
- Creating my first piece of luggage;
- Complete a first aid course;
- Do a 30-day yoga class;
- Get all my Project Life scrapbooks up-to-date
- Buying a standing desk for the home office
- Grow my own vegetables;
- Boat ride with friends on the canals of Amsterdam;
- I have my own space-themed office;
- Finally visiting The Kimberly’s in Australia;
- See puffins in the wild;
- Visit Japan again and attend a tea ceremony;
- Camp under the stars;
- Camper trip in West-USA;
- and much, much, much, much more!
MORE CREATIVE MOOD BOARD IDEAS
Love the idea of creating a mood board and looking for more mood board topics to work with?
How about the following:
- Wedding Mood Board
- Visualize everything from the dress to the cake and all the decorations.
- Web Design Mood Board
- Think about the colours, fonts, photos, texts, and all the features that your ideal site has.
- Brand Mood Board
- Similar to the website mood board, on the brand vision board you think about the look and feel of your company, but also add your ideal audience, tone of voice you’d like to have and everything else that will make you stand out from the crowd!
- Fashion Mood Board
- Easy! What is your ideal wardrobe? What items are still missing? What look woud you like to have? Any celebrity styles you want to make your own? Add them!
- Photo shoot Mood Board
- Planning to have a photos hoot so you can have amazing photos of yourself for family or your business website? Look for examples from others that can inspire you! Think about locations, editing style, poses, etc.
- Interior Mood Board
- If you’re looking to renovate your house, or just want to focus on a specific room or corner to upgrade, add your vision to a mood board! From a living room mood board, to a garden mood board, start manifesting your dreams!
- Travel Vision Board
- Last, but in my case, definitely not least, make a travel mood board that captures all your upcoming travel plans. Remember to make the experiences you would like to have as specific as possible, so don’t add a general photo of Japan, but add that tea ceremony you would like to attend, or the cherry blossoms you would like to smell when you’re there.
Hope you got some inspiration from these creative mood boards suggestions and I have explained well enough what is vision boarding. Any questions, let me know!! Go Team Vision Board!
GET YOUR SUPPLIES
Create your vision board with these craft items:
- colouring pencils
- felt tip pens (love these from Stabilo and Paper Mate)
- pens (love this Fisher space pen, the PILOT Rolling Ball Gel Pens and the Stabilo sensor pens)
- highlighters
- sharpie markers and pens
- scissors
- hole puncher
- cutting mat
- ruler
- glue stick / glue roller
- mod podge
- stamps (wooden travel stamps or silicone travel stamps)
- washi tape
- stickers (for example: travel sticker set, planner stickers, world landmark stickers, passport stamp stickers, US state stickers, travel around the world stickers, US national park stickers, outdoor stickers)
- origami paper
- scrapbook paper
- polaroids (fujifilm instax mini camera, film and printer here)
- digital printables (travel stationary and country flags)
MORE ABOUT TRAVEL JOURNALLING
- How to Make a Travel Journal? Tips and Supplies
- How to Write a Travel Journal? Best Writing Tips
- 65+ Travel Journal Prompts to inspire you
- 10+ Travel Bullet Journal Ideas you’ll love
- Best Bullet Journal Tips
- These Travel Journal Covers will amaze you
- Explorers’ Sketchbooks Review
- A Short History of Travel Writing
- 15 Signs you are born for Travel Writing
- Our Okinawa (Japan) Project Life Album
- Must-Have Travel Scrapbooking Supplies
DISCOVER UNIQUE TRAVEL GEAR & GIFTS
In The Travel Tester shop, you will find our favourite travel products and original gift ideas.
Whether you’re looking for the best travel gear, gadgets, electronics, packing solutions, clothing, shoes, travel books, health- or beauty products… we’ve made a personal selection for you!
We’ve also included our favourite tech items used to create this blog, as well as material that can help you in your self-development, such as interesting books and courses.