How to share a moodboard with a client

A link beats a file

The moment a moodboard is ready, there is a strong pull to export it and attach it to an email. It feels finished. It feels safe. But a file, especially a zip of exports, is where boards go to be forgotten. It lands in a downloads folder, separated from the message that explained it, and the client opens it in whatever app they happen to have. A link does the opposite. It opens instantly, on any device, without a download or a "which app do I need for this" moment. It also travels. The client can forward it to a partner or a colleague without you doing anything, and the board arrives looking the same for them as it did for the first reader. That quiet forwarding is often how the next client hears your name.

What a read-only link should allow

A share link for a client should let them do exactly three things: open the board, look at it properly, and pass it along. Opening should not require an account. The person receiving a link has never heard of your tool and does not want to sign up to see their own project. Looking should be generous: pan, zoom, click into an image to see it large, play a clip, hear a voice note. And passing it along should just work, with no login wall for the third person either. What it should not allow is editing. The client should not be able to move a frame, drop in their own image, or accidentally delete something. If they want to react, that conversation belongs in a call or a reply, not inside the thing you are asking them to approve.

Phone first

You built the board on a large screen. The client will almost certainly open it on a small one, at a time you did not choose, between two other things. Before you send anything, open the link on your own phone and go through it honestly. Can you read the headings? Do the frames land in an order that still makes sense when the board is being scrolled rather than surveyed? Does the biggest image still feel like the biggest? If a caption is unreadable on a phone, it is unreadable, full stop. This is also the argument against a PDF as the default: a PDF on a phone is a stack of tiny pages. A board that fits itself to the screen holds up in the moment the client actually gives it their attention.

The message that goes with it

The link does the showing; the message does the framing, and it should be short. Three sentences are usually enough. The first says what this is and where it sits in the project: "Here is the direction board for the rebrand, ahead of Thursday's call." The second says what you want from them: a yes, a preference between two frames, or simply a first reaction before you meet. The third says when: "Any thoughts by Wednesday would help." Resist the urge to explain every choice in the email. If the board needs a paragraph of defence before it is opened, that is a note about the board, not the message. And put the link on its own line, near the top, so it is the first thing a thumb finds on a phone rather than the last thing after a scroll.

Reshare the same link

When the client asks for a change, and they will, do not make a new board and send a new link. Adjust the relevant frame and reshare the same link. The client sees the update in place, in the context they already reacted to, without having to reconcile two versions in two email threads. This keeps the story of the project in one place. Two practical habits help. First, tell them what changed in the message rather than making them hunt for it: "the materials frame is new; nothing else moved." Second, if a client is deciding between two directions, keep both on the same board, clearly headed, rather than splitting them across links. One address, one board, one conversation. That is easier for them and much easier for you three weeks later.

When a PDF is still right

None of this means a file is never the answer. Some clients have procurement processes that want an attachment. Some boards are going to be printed, pinned to a wall on set, or read on a plane without a connection. Some clients simply prefer paper, and it is not your job to change that. In those cases, export a PDF and send it alongside the link, not instead of it. The link remains the living version; the PDF is a snapshot with a date on it. If you do send a PDF, export it at a size that reads on a phone as well as a desktop, and keep the same order the board has on screen, so the two do not disagree. A file is a good companion. It is a poor default.

Lattice's share links are built with this in mind: read-only, no account for the client, opening cleanly on a phone, and reflecting your changes when you adjust the board and send the same link again, with PDF, PNG, JPG, and SVG export for the cases that call for a file. Whatever you use, the principle holds. Send the thing itself, not a picture of it, and make it as easy to open as a web page. The board is doing a lot of work on your behalf. Let it.