Overview

Students create a collage of words, images, colours and textures that captures the essence of a text, drawing on multimodal resources. The mood board synthesises understanding of themes, characterisation, symbolism, style and narrative. It can be created physically (with magazines, newspapers, coloured paper) or digitally (using Canva, Google Slides). Academic rigour comes from the choices students make and the discussion that follows.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Discuss what a mood board is: a visual collage that captures the "feel" or essence of something.
2. Students plan their mood board by identifying the key themes, moods, symbols and ideas they want to represent.
3. Students select or create visual elements: images, colours, words, textures, fonts that represent their interpretation of the text.
4. Students assemble their mood board (physically or digitally).
5. Students write a brief rationale (3–5 sentences) explaining their choices and how the mood board captures the text's essence.
6. Gallery walk or presentation: students view each other's boards and discuss the choices made.

Tips

• The rationale is essential — without it, this risks becoming an art project without academic purpose.
• Encourage deliberate colour, font, and layout choices — everything should be meaningful.
• This pairs well with the Mega Map as a creative alternative to concept mapping.

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