Mockup is actually a mock-up. In the online world, a mockup is most often a model of a device that is used for demonstration, testing, design evaluation, and promotion. Wikipedia sees it similarly.
In this article, however, I’ll focus primarily on how mockups can be used for promotion and how you can potentially create them easily.
What does a Mockup look like?
For example, this is what a mockup of the Honza broker site we recently created looks like.Why are mockups created?
I’m not a designer, and certainly not a good one. However, this list is my guess:
- This thing looks a lot better in a mockup (about like being served a nice meal in a restaurant).
- Mockup impresses, looks professional and gives the impression that he put in a lot of work (making you look a little more like a pro too).
- Mockup helps the imagination (not only does the image say we made a site, you can just see that we made a responsive site that looks nice on all devices – which even a person who otherwise has no idea what the word “responsive” means can understand)
There are certainly a lot of reasons, these are the three main ones in my opinion.
Is the mockup hard to create?
Not.
- Make printscreens/get photos
- Scale them to the right size (in Canva, for example)
- In the mockup tool you choose a template, upload a photo and you’re done
Of course, if a template doesn’t exist for the thing you want to create, you’ll have a little harder time. In that case, it’s best to reach out to experienced designers.
What pages to create a mockup on?
I personally have been using SmartMockups.com for a long time.
Smart Mockups offers a free account, or a premium account for around 350 CZK per month. I personally have the premium one, but I believe you can conjure up a lot with the free version as well.
Of course, there are countless sites like SmartMockups. So if maybe the free version isn’t enough for you and you don’t want to pay the premium, just google and maybe you’ll find another site that gives you exactly what you’re looking for for free.
What can mockups be used for?
Product previews and presentations are probably the most common and obvious options. However, the power of mockups is certainly not limited to these areas…
Be creative.
For example, when I was “building” a following on English Twitter, I would often do a mockup of a Tweet from a more well-known account, which often retweeted the Tweet and brought us both new followers:
Of course, you can come up with infinite things like this….
Let me know what experience you have with mockups! And good luck in your mockup endeavors!
