This is a dual question. First it’s rather a vocabulary question. But I’m also interested in your ways of dealing with the pre-drawing phase.
In the initial phase(s) of a project we explain our view of the situation and our aim using pictures, and words, or maybe diagrams, etc…(Not always but whatever).
I would like more precision about some english vocabulary concerning this phase. Concept boards, Look and feel boards, Mood boards, Trends boards, Research boards, etc…
What kind of wording do you use ? And what kind of elements you associate with ?
(Maybe I’m not clear : it’s not that I don’t know what I have to do. It’s that I don’t know how to precisely call them in english, plus I’m interested in your approaches).
I use the term “Definition Phase” (because I like to talk about the four 'D’s: Discover, Define, Design, Develop.)
Part of Definition includes Framing (also known as Modeling.) This is your way of presenting what you learned in your Discovery Phase in a way that encourages the critical thinking needed for your Design phase.
You listed some examples of framing tools. Some other important ones include: Personas, Roadmap & Lifecycle, Competitive Analysis & Opportunity Gap, Brand Strategy, Ergonomic diagrams, Work Modeling diagrams (sequence, flow, space, artifact, culture).
Typically when presenting a round of concepts i star with a 10-20 slide “preamble” of pretty much exactly what Chris posted. I do it a little differently every time, but I show whatever I need to answer “who”, “where”, “when”, and “how” … makes presenting the “what” of the product design pretty much a slam dunk. When you control the question, you also control the answer.