Proposta de guia para criação acadêmica de painéis semânticos: Mood Board ZIP

Abstract

The project development process is characterised by a set of activities that involve working methods and tools. The mood board is a qualitative design tool, focusing on aesthetic and symbolic references, used in the aesthetic definition of products and related to the design process, in both academic and professional environments. Its application, however, still lacks an organised set of procedures that make it possible to control its preparation, avoiding deviations, rework and the use of out-of-scope references. The aim of this research was therefore to develop a guide for creating mood boards for the academic environment. The nature of this research is basic and applied, with descriptive and exploratory objectives and a qualitative and quantitative approach. The technical procedure used involved bibliographical and experimental research and was divided into three steps: (1) identification of practices for creating mood boards; (2) guide development; and (3) guide’s execution, evaluation and analysis. In the first step, six models, nine techniques, 27 practices and 19 indications associated with the creation process were identified. In the second step, these items were analysed and organised, initially into a preliminary structure and then into a model of activities that served as the basis for developing the guide. The guidelines were to be compact, practical to use and low-cost to reproduce. The guide developed, called Mood Board ZIP, presents the steps, activities and support tools for creating mood boards, and is complemented by online material, consisting of 79 slides divided into five groups, which detail the suggested activities and tools. In the third step, the guide was subject to practical application and evaluation in an academic environment, so that it could be tested in an actual place of use. The procedures were applied to 42 students from two undergraduate programmes (Design and Fashion). When analysing the completed forms, the quantitative results showed an average of 74.5% fully approving the guide, with a further 23.9% partially approving. The qualitative results point in the same direction, with 74.4% of comments indicating the tool's approval. In this sense, it was concluded that the Mood Board ZIP guide provides direction, alignment and clarification for the steps and activities of creating mood boards aimed at the aesthetic product definition process, as well as contributing to their dissemination in academic circles.