Line Boardby RetailNorthstar

Visual line planning glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms behind visual line planning — each cross-linked to a guide.

Line Board

A line board is a visual workspace where an apparel team lays out a season’s range as a grid of styles — with images, colorways, price tiers, and categories — to see and shape the whole line at a glance before it is committed to a buy.

Visual Line Plan

A visual line plan is a line plan expressed as an image-first board rather than a numeric table — the styles, colorways, and price architecture of a season laid out visually so the range can be shaped by eye and by the numbers together.

Line Review (Range Review)

A line review (or range review) is the cross-functional meeting where design, merchandising, and planning walk the season’s line board together to add, cut, and adjust styles before the range is locked for buying.

Colorway Board

A colorway board is a visual layout of a style’s color options across the season or a delivery — used to balance the color story, avoid over- or under-coloring a body, and plan color depth before it flows into the buy and size curve.

Storyboard (Mood Board)

A storyboard (or mood board) is the design-led visual that sets a season’s direction — themes, palette, fabrics, and inspiration — and becomes the starting point that a line board turns into a concrete, planned range.

Assortment Board

An assortment board is a visual layout of which styles, colors, and options will be offered across channels, stores, or clusters — the visual expression of an assortment plan, showing what goes where before depth and buy quantities are set.