Dreams are a hallmark for creatives. Dreaming inspires and motivates, paving the way for creative endeavours of any discipline, be it in visual arts, photography, music, craft or the written space. Yet having a dream and making it happen are two very different things. The key to achieving your creative dreams could lie within a vision board.
A vision board is, quite simply, a collection of images and written words that remind you of what you want. It’s a visualisation of your goals that will help you achieve them.
Vision boards can be created digitally or by hand. The contents can be a variety of textures and finishes, and the style doesn’t have to match — it’s about finding the elements that best reflect your goals, dreams and intentions.
There are many benefits to creating a vision board. It can help you define your goal, ensuring that when you begin the creative process, you have a clear direction.
Vision boards also keep us focused. By placing your board in the place where you create, you’re reminded of the goal you have set out to achieve, which in turn triggers the brain to focus on the task at hand. This puts our minds in a proactive state as we work towards our goal instead of whimsically floating from one idea to the next.
Finally, vision boards are fantastic tools to use when it comes to manifestation. Manifestation is the idea that we can attract a dream into life by focusing on it — yet thought alone is often not enough. We need to take action, too, and vision boards are great visual cues to prompt us to do just that.
How to create a vision board
Set a goal: Setting a creative goal is the most important part of your vision board process. This could be a goal for your life or it could be for a new creative work you are beginning. Whichever it is, it’s important to be specific. This will help you better manifest your vision and action it into life.
For example, a non-specific goal might be to become a famous artist. A specific goal might be to have a solo exhibition at your local gallery.
Once you’ve set your goal, take a notepad and pen and go somewhere quiet to journal on this for a little while. How does this goal make you feel? Are you comfortable with this as a vision? And is this something you truly believe you can make happen?
Exploring your goal in this fashion will help solidify it in your mind and also confirm if it is the right goal for you at this time or if it’s one better saved for a later date.
Choose your medium: A vision board can be digital or it can be 3D. You could create your vision board in a digital program like Adobe Acrobat or
Canva (Canva has free templates available) or you could use a corkboard or whiteboard, a piece of canvas or a sheet of cardboard as your base material. There really are no rules; select the option that feels right for you.
Curate and create: Now it’s time for the fun part — the curation and creation process! This is where you’ll select images and words that best represent your goal.
Read over your journal entry and consider what images float into your mind as you do so. If you wrote about an exhibition at your local gallery, for example, perhaps you might think of a theme you wish to follow or a fellow artist who has exhibited there before. Maybe you’ll imagine what inspired you to want this dream in the first place. After all, motivation is often the most powerful driving force when it comes to creation.
Next, it’s time to find ways to bring those images and ideas to life. Clip photos from old magazines or print out images you find online from copyright-free websites such as Unsplash or Pixabay. Use swatches of old material or old ticket stubs, or search for inspirational quotes that reflect the theme of your goal — there really is no limit to your choice.
Finally, it’s time to create. Adhere your items to your board or digitally compile them to finish the process.
Check in with your vision board daily. When you prepare to create, take a moment to look at it, to touch it, and to meditate on it. This is your dream. It’s time to make it a reality.
