Creative
Build a moodboard
The visual direction, with a short document saying what the rules are.
Fill it in
What it is for and how it should feel.
Anything you already like or hate.
Your prompt
Build a moodboard and a short direction document. [the brief] References: [your references] Say WHY each reference is there. A grid of nice images is a mood; a direction is "this one for the restraint, this one for the palette, this one for the way type sits on the image", and only the second survives being handed to a designer. Include an anti-reference: the thing this must not look like. That single image saves more argument than the rest of the board combined. Pull out the actual decisions: palette, type feeling, imagery treatment, and the amount of white space. Those are what someone executes from. Keep it to one page plus the board. A twelve-page direction document is read by nobody and contradicted by page nine.
Use Build a moodboardOpens with everything above already filled in.
Why this works
A grid of nice images is a mood. A direction says why each reference is there, which is what survives being handed to a designer. It also includes an anti-reference, the thing this must not look like, which saves more argument than the rest of the board.