The Traditional Way

When I first learned to vision board, I would sit on the floor surrounded by magazines, scissors in hand, glue nearby. I would leaf through magazines until the desired image or words were found. Then, I’d cut out the words or pictures best suited for my project and glue them onto poster board or foam board. It can be fun and relaxing locating just the right thing.

If you’re short on time, the search can be laboriously tedious, and even exasperating. Especially when you can’t seem to find exactly what you want. I am learning to snag hard copy images as I find them and file them away for future use. However, modern technology is always evolving. I have found some additional ways to augment my magazine searches.

 

Using Search Engines to Gather Images

Nowadays, I create my vision boards electronically. I primarily use Google images to locate items of interest. You will need to observe copyright when using electronic imagery depending on how you plan to use your vision board. Posting pics of your board with unlicensed materials could cause you copyright infringement issues.

Depending on the search terms you use, there is a huge variety of both imagery, wording and even video content available. Patience is still required. Since there is so much to choose from, you have to wade through pages of imagery to locate just what you need. As you gather, you can embed your electronic images into presentation software like Keynote or PowerPoint as you develop your board.

 

Using Image Services

Depending on how you plan to use your final vision board, there are a plethora of royalty free image services offering thousands of images at various quality levels, like the following. A small fee may be required for use.

Here is a quick definition of royalty free. https://www.shutterstock.com/support/article/What-s-free-and-what-s-royalty-free.

For more details on photo usage check out PublicDomainSherpa.com. This site probably has way more info than you need, but, info is power!

 

Using Hand drawn or Painted Images

As I have rediscovered my love for drawing and painting, I have found that using custom art in your vision board is exhilarating! You can create a hand drawn image and scan that image to make it electronic.  For help in this area check out http://www.instructables.com/id/A-great-technique-for-scanning-your-inked-drawings/

No matter what method you chose for image gathering, the key is getting to the end result…a vision board that helps document where you are going and how to get there!

What is your favorite way to create a vision board and why? Please share in the comments below.