How to collaborate on a moodboard in real time

A moodboard is rarely a solo document. A designer pulls the first references, an art director reacts, a client points at the three they like, and someone else drops in two more. When that whole loop happens over screenshots in a group chat, it’s slow and things get lost. A real-time collaborative moodboard collapses that loop: everyone works on one board, sees the same thing, and moves images around together.

This guide walks through exactly how to do that in DarkRef, a free, cross-platform reference board with native apps on iPhone, iPad, Windows, and macOS plus a web app. You’ll create a board, invite people by email, hand out owner / editor / view-only roles, and collaborate live with visible cursors. One thing to know up front: joining and viewing a shared board is free for everyone, while hosting and editing live boards is part of DarkRef Pro. We cover who pays for what below.

Before you start

Real-time collaboration in DarkRef has two sides, and it helps to know which one you’re on:

• Hosting a live board (creating it, editing in real time, inviting people, assigning roles) is a DarkRef Pro feature. Pro is a single flat plan at $1.99/month or $19.99/year.
• Joining a live board you’ve been invited to (opening it, viewing it, following along) is free, on any device.

In practice that means one person on the team, usually whoever owns the project, needs DarkRef Pro. Everyone they invite, clients included, can participate without paying, and DarkRef itself is free to download on the App Store (iPhone, iPad, and Mac) and Windows, or open as a web app. If you want the full backstory on how live boards work, we announced them in the DarkRef live boards & collaboration update.

Step 1: Create your board

Open DarkRef on any device and start a new board for the project. Before you invite anyone, give it a head start so collaborators land on something, not a blank canvas:

• Give the board a clear name (for example Q3 Campaign: Visual Direction) so it’s obvious what it’s for.
• Drop in your opening references: images, GIFs, and pasted links. Paste a URL and DarkRef builds a preview card automatically.
• Add a few sticky notes to frame the brief, one for the palette, one for mood, one for “avoid this.”
• Rough-arrange things into zones. Snap-to-grid keeps the first pass tidy so the board reads clearly the moment someone else opens it.

All of that, images, GIFs, notes, pasted links, and organization, is part of the free DarkRef toolkit, so you can build the board out before spending a second thinking about collaboration.

Step 2: Invite collaborators by email

With the board ready, turn it into a live board and invite people. DarkRef invites by email address, which keeps things simple: there’s no separate workspace to set up and no admin console to manage.

• Enter each collaborator’s email. They’ll get an invitation to open the board.
• Invite anyone, teammates, freelancers, or a client, regardless of which platform they’re on. They can open the board on the DarkRef web app or a native app.
• Because joining is free, you never have to buy a seat for a reviewer who just needs to look and comment on direction.

Step 3: Assign owner, editor, and view-only roles

Not everyone on a moodboard should be able to rearrange it. When you invite people, you assign a role that controls what they can do:

Step 4: Work together with live cursors

Once people are in, a collaborative moodboard becomes genuinely live. Everyone sees the same canvas update in real time, and everyone’s cursor is visible, so you can tell who is doing what:

• When an editor drags an image into a new cluster, everyone watches it move. No refresh, no re-sending a screenshot.
• Live cursors show presence, you can literally point at a reference (“this one, top-left”) and everyone follows your cursor there.
• Reviews turn into conversations on the board itself, rather than a thread of “the third image in the second row.”
• Because DarkRef is native on iPhone, iPad, Windows, and macOS, someone can join from a phone on the train while a teammate edits from a desktop.

Who pays for what: free vs DarkRef Pro

Here’s the split, so you can plan a session without surprises:

DarkRef Pro is one flat plan, $1.99/month or $19.99/year, that covers hosting live boards and cloud sync. There is no per-seat charge for the people you invite, which is what makes DarkRef friendly for freelancers and small studios who present to clients.

Honest note: what a live moodboard doesn’t replace

Real-time collaboration is powerful, but it’s worth being clear about what DarkRef is and isn’t. DarkRef is a reference and moodboard canvas, focused on collecting, arranging, and reacting to visual references together. It is not a full project-management suite with tasks, timelines, and approvals, and it isn’t a design-editing tool like Figma where you build the final artwork. If your collaboration needs threaded task tracking or a formal sign-off workflow, pair DarkRef with a dedicated PM tool and use the board for what it’s best at: aligning on visual direction, fast.

Tips for a smooth collaborative session

• Seed the board first. Walk into a review with references already placed; a blank canvas kills momentum.
• Give clients view-only. They can follow live and weigh in without nudging your layout out of place.
• Use sticky notes as anchors. Label zones (“Direction A”, “Direction B”) so feedback attaches to a place.
• Let people join on their own device. Native apps mean an iPad user and a Windows user share one board with no friction.
• Keep the working session small. A couple of editors and any number of view-only observers is the sweet spot.

Still comparing tools? See our roundup of the best collaborative moodboard apps.

FAQ

What is a real-time collaborative moodboard?

It’s a shared moodboard that multiple people edit at the same time, on the same canvas, with changes appearing instantly for everyone. In DarkRef you also see each collaborator’s live cursor, so you can tell who is moving which reference and point at images together during a review.

Do the people I invite need to pay?

No. Viewing and joining a shared live board is free for everyone you invite, on any device. Only the person hosting the live board needs DarkRef Pro ($1.99/month or $19.99/year). There is no per-seat charge for collaborators, which makes it easy to bring in clients and freelancers.

How do I invite someone to my moodboard?

Turn your board into a live board and invite collaborators by email address. They receive an invitation to open the board and can join from the DarkRef web app or a native app on iPhone, iPad, Windows, or macOS. When you invite them, you assign an owner, editor, or view-only role.

What is the difference between editor and view-only roles?

An editor can add, move, and arrange references on the board in real time. A view-only collaborator can open and follow the board live but cannot change it, which is ideal for clients and stakeholders who need visibility without the risk of accidentally moving your layout.

Can we collaborate across different devices and platforms?

Yes. DarkRef has native apps for iPhone, iPad, Windows, and macOS plus a web app, and everyone works on the same live board regardless of platform. One person can be on an iPad, another on Windows, and a client on the web, all viewing and editing the same canvas.

Is DarkRef free to use?

Yes. DarkRef is free to download and use, and building boards with images, GIFs, links, notes, and organization is completely free. Hosting real-time live boards and cloud sync across devices are part of DarkRef Pro at $1.99/month or $19.99/year.