The Studio That Won't Use a Mood Board

Idris Calloway: This is The RightUp, and I'm Idris Calloway. My guest works at a branding studio that refuses to pitch with a mood board, even when a client asks for one by name. Priya Nandakumar leads strategy there. Priya, welcome.

Priya Nandakumar: Thanks, Idris. And yes, they do ask by name.

Idris Calloway: What's wrong with a mood board?

Priya Nandakumar: Nothing, as a private tool. The problem is showing one. A client picks the three pictures they like, and suddenly those pictures are the brief.

Idris Calloway: So what do you do instead?

Priya Nandakumar: A three-hour intake conversation. No visuals at all. We ask what the company is afraid of, who they're quietly jealous of, and what they'd never be caught saying.

Idris Calloway: Three hours is a long meeting.

Priya Nandakumar: It's long. But it replaces the deck, the mood board, and usually the first round of revisions too.

Idris Calloway: And the hard part?

Priya Nandakumar: Honestly, selling it internally. Our own designers want to show something. Walking into a room with nothing to point at feels exposed.

Idris Calloway: How do clients respond?

Priya Nandakumar: The first hour, a little impatient. By the third, they're usually the ones talking. That's when we know we've got the real brief.

Idris Calloway: Priya Nandakumar, thank you. That's The Studio That Won't Use a Mood Board, on The RightUp.