An Image Collection is simply a collection of images.It is also sometimes called a Vision Board or a Collage.
The purpose of your Image Collection is to help develop a common goal for our work together. As we work together in developing your Image, it is important that we are working toward something that makes you feel good and that inspires you. There are a million ways for your Image to be “right”. My goal is not to make you what I think you “should” be, but to help you shape your image to what you want it to be.
“Beautiful” means different things to different people. “Masculine” and “Feminine” mean different things to different people. “Colorful”, “Sleek”, “Traditional”, “Dramatic”, “Romantic”, and “Modern” all mean different things to different people. What is important as we work together is what they mean to you.
This collection of images will help me understand you and your goals and what you want for yourself, your home, and your image.
It will also help YOU discover what you want.
Simple Definition of image
From Merriam-Webster online
a picture that is produced by a camera, artist, mirror, etc.
a mental picture : the thought of how something looks or might look
: the idea that people have about someone or something
Please note that an image is not exclusively visual. An image can also be sound, texture, the way something or someone moves, etc.
Forms your Image Collection can take
Traditional Image Board
If you like to craft, you would probably enjoy assembling a basic Image Board
1-Get a piece of cardboard or poster board
2-Collect pictures from magazines
3-Glue, paste, or tape them on the surface
Personally I prefer to work with masking tape so I can move images from one surface to another as my tastes change and grow – some images lose their appeal over time and some don’t. If I have used masking tape I can move images I continue to love onto new projects.
It works best to affix tape on the back of the image and then a roll of tape ON that piece of tape so the back surface of the paper will not be damaged by removing the tape roll if and when you move the image.
You certainly do not need to work on a flat piece of paper. I have seen beautiful image collections that were created on boxes of various sizes and shapes. But it does need to be easily transportable for us to work with it.
Notebook
You can certainly collect images and put them in a notebook. This is easily transportable and if you use a loose-leaf notebook it is easy to add and remove pages.
It type of assembly has the added advantage of transporting CDs or other media in addition to paper images.
Computer
Collecting images, sound clips, etc. in your computer works well.
Please do this on a laptop so you can bring it with you.
It is particularly helpful if you send me the file so I can have a copy to refer back to if needed.
Please assemble images all in one place. It takes time to go back and forth between programs, and when you and I go through these images together we want to be able to move from one image to another quickly. It is also helpful if we can refer back to images we’ve viewed for discussion purposes. So just make sure that however you do it is user friendly!
It does need to be a large image. So the size of images collected on your phone is not sufficient. A tablet is acceptable, but phone sized images are hard to work with.
This is one of my favorite ways to work with individual clients at this point in time.
You can set up a PRIVATE Pinterest page at Pinterest.com and assemble images to your heart’s content.
Then, when you are ready, you can make the images available for ME to see without making them public.
So what images do you collect?
Now that you know HOW to collect them, the question becomes WHAT images to collect.
Collect images you love.
Easy.
They don’t have to all be images of clothing. And if they are, they don’t have to be clothes you think you could or would wear.
It is helpful if SOME of them are pictures of clothing, but landscapes, interiors, architecture, flowers, interior design, and animals are all helpful items with which to work.
Make-up, hair, nails – all can be helpful.
These are images that inspire you, make you happy, and are beautiful or attractive in some way to you.
We will go through your images together and talk about what you love, so you don’t have to love EVERYTHING about an image for it to make it into your collection.
Please bring your collection to the first session and every session thereafter.
We may wish to refer back to it.
As you go forward…
I encourage you to maintain an ongoing Image Collection for the rest of your life.
I have been an Image Consultant for over 20 years and I still have an Image Collection I work with and add to on a regular basis as styles change and as I grow and change. I have Pinterest pages, a traditional Vision Board, and a lot of pictures taped to the inside wall of my closet.
When I am shopping and find something I like, having a collection of images in mind helps me determine whether the item is a good purchase. If the item I am considering buying “goes with” the images I have collected, it is likely I will wear and enjoy it. If it doesn’t (and that happens sometimes), I am less likely to buy it. My ongoing Image Collection serves as a litmus test for my purchases. This has frankly saved me a great deal of money over the years and also reduced the time I spent in dressing rooms struggling with myself over whether to buy something or not.
Styles change and you and your Personal Image will change and develop over the years. Maintaining an Image Collection is a way to continue to honor your tastes and personal growth.