What is a mockup? A mockup is a pre-made template that lets you add your design. Display an app on a device or add a logo to a business card.
Look at the example:
Making mockups that look professional is an essential duty for any business owner or marketer. This is due to the fact that mockups improve the visual communication of your product ideas to clients, investors, and coworkers. Additionally, they’re fantastic marketing tools.
This post will help you with the question of what is a mockup, different types with examples, and other related topics. It’s going to be a long discussion, so let’s dive right in.
Table of Contents
What Is a Mockup?
A mockup is a visual preview of how a design will look when it becomes a reality. In simple terms, it is a virtual representation of a flat design, such as a logo, user interface screen, T-shirt, or packaging design. A mockup can show a phone screen, website layout, product image, or even a person wearing the product.
Mockup Examples
Mockups are easier to understand when you see how they’re used in real situations. Below are common mockup examples that show how designs look before they go live or into production.
T-Shirt Mockup Example
A T-shirt mockup shows how a design looks when placed on a realistic T-shirt. The mockup puts it on a model, a flat-lay, or a hanging T-shirt.
Website Mockup Example
A website mockup shows how a website will look. It usually includes layout, colors, fonts, images, and spacing. There are no clickable buttons or real interactions involved.
Packaging Mockup Example
A packaging mockup shows how branding looks on physical packaging ike boxes, bottles, pouches, or jars. Packaging mockups help you judge branding in the real world.
Social Media Mockup Example
A social media mockup shows how a post or ad will look inside a real platform layout. The mockup places it inside Instagram posts, Stories, Facebook ads, and Feed previews.
If you want to learn how to create a no watermark mockup with simple steps, we’ve got a whole guide that focuses on that.
So, you have got the answer to this question: What is a mockup? Now, let’s discuss why are mockups important.
Why are Mockups Important?
Without mockups, it could be really hard to show your audience what you wish to make or sell.
Since more than 65% of people around the world learn better through visuals, it’s a smart choice to make a picture or model to show your ideas.
Mockups have many possibilities. You can use them in different parts of a company, like marketing, design, meetings, or research. Mockups can help everyone in these areas and give them good results.
Create professional mockups to show your product to the target audience.
A mockup helps:
- Let you see your final goal clearly.
- Bring your team together.
- Convinces investors to join.
- Grow your collection of marketing materials.
- Get your audience interested.
- Bring in more potential customers.
- Aids buyers in making choices.
1. For Marketing Team
Mockups are known for being a cost-effective and successful way to advertise in the department of marketing.
For a long time, marketing crews have been using mockups to show neat and polished ads. These ads help people see how a product can be useful to them and make them want to do something about it.
2. For Design Teams
Design teams find mockups helpful. Mockups are like a map that helps the team know what they need to design by showing them the final result. When a mockup is done well, it makes sure everyone in the team understands what they’re working towards, which leads to an outcome that matches the actual design.
3. For Investors
Investors have found that using mockups is helpful. When you make a special mockup, it helps potential investors understand your ideas by seeing them visually.
A neat and professional mockup can convince investors to support and invest in the product.
If you want to make your presentation to investors more impressive, think about including some mockup photos in your pitch deck.
8 Types of Mockups
Due to the different requirements in various industries, you can find various types of mockups, like product mockups, branding mockups, print mockups, and more.
Mockups can be digital design files, such as PSD mockups used by designers, or realistic product previews that show how physical products look before printing or manufacturing.
Let’s take a closer look at 8 types of mockups to figure out which one is right for your industry.
1. Product Mockups
Product mockups are digital renditions of product designs that are realistic. People usually use it at the beginning of a project to get a clear idea of what the final product will be like.
Product mockups are also used in ads. For instance, lots of online stores prefer using t-shirt mockups to put their designs on a template instead of taking pictures of each shirt in all different styles.
Mockup templates simplify the design part of creating product mockups. If you need free templates for t-shirts, hoodies, or other products, take a look at Mockey’s mockup generator.
2. Branding Mockups
Branding mockups show product images with company logos or mottos. You can make more people know and trust your brand by putting your logo on items like books, cups, bottles, and other objects.
Mockups for branding can help businesses that are thinking about launching a unique marketing campaign.
Before deciding how to spend the funding on various branded items, the owners can be presented with branding design ideas to assist them in choosing which objects to brand.
The main products of a company do not need to be directly related to branded items.
A small neighborhood restaurant, for example, might sell pens with its logo on them in addition to serving food.
Even though the restaurant isn’t related to writing, they can make people remember their brand by putting their logo on pens.
Using branding mockups helps you see how different designs would work for your company and decide which ones are the best fit.
3. Print Mockups
Print mockups are a realistic rendering of what a print design might look like once it’s turned into a physical print. It helps you see how it will appear after it’s been printed.
Making print mockups lets you see how your design will look on objects like postcards, flyers, and poster mockups.
Apart from checking how everything looks on the page, a print mockup can also make sure that the text is easy to read before it gets printed.
Creating a print mockup can reduce stress, cut costs, and contribute to environmental conservation by trying out and examining design concepts.
Moreover, using print mockups is a great way to make attractive pictures of your ebooks, lead magnets, and different printable marketing elements. Instead of just showing a plain screenshot of the cover page, try making a stunning mockup that can help get more people to download and become potential leads.
4. Packaging Mockups
Packaging mockups are like an image that shows your logo and design on different types of packaging, such as bottles, cosmetics, perfumes, and more.
The way you wrap your product is not just about putting it in a bag or box when it comes to marketing.
When you put something in a package, it silently tells your customers how good the item inside is.
Creating a sample packaging design can greatly improve the quality of the packaging.
What font size, background color, and font color to use will become clear when you make packaging mockups.
Designing a mockup can assist you in making packaging that matches your company’s principles and ensures your customers have a memorable unboxing experience.
5. Device Mockups
Device mockups are a picture representation of a device that allows you to customize the screen—be it a computer, tablet, phone, or smartwatch—with your own design.
Mockey AI’s device mockup generator allows you to share eye-catching designs of your websites or apps instead of just a basic snapshot.
Tech companies can also benefit greatly from this kind of mockup, which helps them decide how their website or app will look.
Device mockups can help small tech startups save money for a few months on development and help them concentrate on projects like marketing and research.
6. Social Media Mockups
Before publishing your content to the website, you can input and view it using social media mockups, which are a representation of several social media platforms.
It is essential that you create posts, videos, and images that are proportionate for mobile devices since around 55% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices.
Using a social media mockup helps brands and businesses make sure their posts look good on all kinds of devices by checking their size and layout.
Furthermore, a social media mockup can be a useful graphic to include in marketing plans, blog posts, or to publish on social media.
7. Apparel Mockups
An apparel mockup is a model of a clothing item, such as a T-shirt or hoodie. It can be digital or physical. Designers and brands use it to see their designs before making the real product. Think of it as a ready template. You place your design on a blank garment and get a clear preview of how it will look.
In Mockey AI, you can customize more than 5,000 popular apparel mockups.
8. Accessories Mockups
When we talk about accessories mockups, they include items like caps, phone covers, gaming pads, and many more. All you need to do is choose a ready-made template, upload a design on it, and present it in a realistic way.
Your product looks professional and appealing before it’s actually produced with these mockups, which enable you to display accessories in various styles, such as angled shots, close-ups, or other creative perspectives.
Wireframe vs Mockup vs Prototype — Quick Comparison
In UX/UI and product design, words like wireframe, mockup, and prototype get mixed up all the time. A wireframe focuses on structure, a mockup shows the visual design, and a prototype demonstrates how the product works.
Wireframe (The Blueprint)
A wireframe is a rough layout that shows where elements will sit on a page or screen. It focuses on structure and flow, not visuals or styling.
Most wireframes are in grayscale, using boxes and placeholder text. Wireframes are mainly used to get early feedback on layout, navigation, and how information is organized.
Mockup (The Visual Preview)
A mockup design is a high-fidelity but static version of a design. It shows how the final product will look, not how it will work. You see the colors, fonts, icons, images, and branding laid out properly, but nothing is clickable.
The main purpose is visual agreement. It helps everyone align on the look before any real development starts.
Prototype (The Interactive Version)
A prototype takes a mockup a step further and makes it interactive. Buttons respond, screens move, and basic actions work, even though it is not built with real code yet.
Prototypes are mostly used for usability testing, checking user flow, validating interactions, and spotting problems early before development starts.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Aspect | Wireframe | Mockup | Prototype |
| Fidelity | Low — basic layout | Medium/High — realistic look | High — interactive |
| Detail | Structure only | Visual design | Look + behavior |
| Interactivity | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Best Use | Early planning | Visual agreement | Test UX before building |
| Time to make | Fast | Moderate | Slower |
Who Uses Mockups and Why?
Mockups are used by a wide range of people and for a variety of reasons.
1. Designers
Designers use mockups to show final visual decisions like colors, type, spacing, and image placement, without coding.
2. Product Managers & Stakeholders
Product managers and stakeholders use mockups to review and approve visual direction, align on product scope, and decide whether something’s worth building.
3. Developers
Developers use them as a visual spec for CSS/layout, assets, and edge cases.
4. Marketers & Social Media Managers
Marketers and social media managers use them to test ad creatives, preview social posts, and produce campaign visuals quickly.
5. Product Photographers/e-commerce sellers
Product photographers and e-commerce sellers use them to create product presentations like hoodie mockups, socks mockups, and similar products when real photos take too much time or cost too much.
6. Clients & Non-design Stakeholders
Clients use mockups to review designs or to sell an idea internally before it goes any further. Stakeholders can simply point at the screen and say “change this,” instead of guessing.
Effective Strategies to Improve Your Mockup Designs
Product mockups can save a lot of money while you work on the real product. But if you get them wrong, the mistakes can snowball and send your project in the wrong direction.
Follow these tips to stay on track:
- Know your product inside out.
- Be clear about its main message.
- Tell a story through your design.
- Understand your audience and their needs.
- Start with simple templates.
- Keep user value at the center.
- Use real screenshots or photos.
- Make it look realistic.
- Keep your files neat and easy to follow.
- Match backgrounds and colors with your brand.
- Test the mockup and get feedback.
- Be open to making changes.
- Let your mockup guide what comes first.
What are Free Mockup Tools?
Having the right free tools is crucial for making good mockups.
It is true that the best mockup tools provide a wide selection of high-quality images, as well as a vast set of templates; however, not all of them are completely free of charge.
There are mockup generators that are 100% free and come with a lot of features to use. Let’s get into more detail about this.
1. Mockey AI
What makes Mockey the best and most free mockup generator on the internet?
When you want to make a really detailed mockup of your logo or design without too much hard work, the best generator to use is Mockey.
A large selection of templates, more than 15K, lets you instantly incorporate the design into a scene using Mockey’s software.
Mockey is the perfect Smartmockups and Placeit alternative generator if you are looking for high-quality templates.
Mockey is a product mockup generator; don’t consider it a website mockup tool.
In the past, experts like photographers, developers, or designers used to make mockups by hand. But that’s no longer the case!
Why Mockey is the Best Free Mockup Tool?
Here are the main benefits:
- 15K+ customizable mockup templates
- Over 50 product categories
- 3D mockups and video mockups
- A free plan comes with no watermark
- Affordable premium plans at $7/month
- AI design tools
2. Mockuper
If you want a free mockup generator, Mockuper is a great choice. It offers more than 800 templates, making it a large collection of mockups for free.
Unlike other mockup generators, Mockuper lets you customize things like screen reflections, background color (on some templates), and add extra layers like text overlays.
Mockuper is super simple to use, letting you make designs in seconds. If you’re on a budget and need good mockup images, give it a try.
3. Mockup.Photos
Another great mockup generator is Mockup.Photos. It offers a large collection of 1500+ templates. Most of the images come from stock sources like Unsplash and Pexels.
Most of the templates on the site feature devices like iPhones, smartwatches, desktop screens, and tablets, but there are also some for billboards, posters, and a free book mockup.
Mockup.Photos is a great tool to try out because it’s completely free.
4. MockupBro
Next, try MockupBro—a free, easy-to-use mockup generator. Just pick a template, change the background color if you want (on some templates), add your design, and download it. It’s quick and simple!
The only drawback of MockupBro is its small selection of mockup templates—there are only about 84 available. However, everything on the site is completely free, so if you’re looking for quality mockups for free, MockupBro might have what you need.
How to Create Mockups?
To create mockups:
- Open the Mockey AI mockup generator on your web browser.
- Create an account and click on Mockups for a template.
- Upload your design.
- Adjust the mockup as needed.
- Download it as PNG or use it in your design.
How to Create Mockups on Mockey
You can quickly upload your design or logo by clicking “Upload Design,” and it will instantly create a polished mockup for you. Let’s show you a simple guide for making a mockup using Mockey.
1. Visit Mockey.ai and Sign Up
Visit Mockey.ai and click on the “Mockups” category in the navigation bar on the homepage and select any products you like to create mockups. Make sure you sign up there if you are new.
With this free website, you can access many professionally made templates for various types of mockups and presentations.
2. Choose Your Template to Customize
When you begin a new project, you have the option to select from a vast collection of templates created by expert designers, with over 15k to pick from. You have the option to select from more than 50 different categories.
3. Free Customizable Feature
Now, you have the option to personalize your design using the editor section. You have a few options to play with here! You can switch up the colors, use warping feature, AI tools, and adjust the size of your design. Give your creative project a makeover!
4. Lastly, Download Your Mockup with No Watermark
Once you’ve made the changes you wanted, it’s time to get your customized mockup. Simply click on the “Download” button, and it will save to your device.
Your design can be downloaded without any watermarks.
Get Free Mockey App
One more good thing about Mockey is that you can get the Mockey App from the Play Store for free, and there are no extra charges or fees, just like the website version.
In the app, you’ll also find a section where you can check out the latest mockup templates that have been added.
Conclusion
To conclude, you got your answer to the question, “What is a mockup?”. Also, you got all your answers related to mockups and how they can really help your business and marketing efforts.
Using Mockey’s mockup generator, you can swiftly and effortlessly make mockups for your upcoming project.
You can pick from many mockup templates that you can fully customize. We’re sure you’ll discover one that suits you.
Still want to learn what is a mockup? Why wait? Go to the website and begin creating the next mockup right now.
FAQs
What is a mockup in UI design?
What is a mockup in UI design? UI mockups are representations of what a finished digital product will look like. It shows how elements are arranged, the colors used, the fonts, and the icons.
What is the purpose of a mockup?
Mockups are visual representations of designs, products, or concepts. It is designed to bring a concept or wireframe to life and lets a designer evaluate how different visual elements interact with one another.
What is a design mockup?
What is a mockup design? A mockup is a detailed preview of your product’s design that shows what the final product will actually look like.
What is an example of a mockup?
An example of a mockup is a digital design prototype displaying the layout, colors, and elements of a website or app without highlighting its functionality.
What is a mockup generator?
What is a mockup website? A mockup generator is an AI tool for print-on-demand. It helps you make a realistic picture of your design on a product without making the real product. This way, you can show off the designs to possible buyers and see how they’ll look on the actual product.
What a mock-up means?
A mock-up is a sample version of a product or design. It helps show ideas, get feedback, and show how things will look or work before making the final version. It helps everyone see what the final result will be like.
What is mockup in Figma?
A Figma mockup is a detailed visual of a design used to show ideas to others or test layouts before they’re developed. It helps designers make realistic previews of websites, apps, and other digital products using mockups of devices.
Who can create a mockup?
You can make a product mockup by using templates, mockup generators, or by designing one from scratch with tools like Mockey.ai. This helps you see how your designs look on products, get feedback, and test ideas before making them.
Related reading:
- 10 Best Mockup Tools to Create Product Mockups in 2024
- Wireframe vs Mockup vs Prototype – Explained in 2024
- How to Make Book Mockups for Free in 2024
- How To Make Hoodie Mockup (3 Easy Steps)
- How to Make a Frame Mockup in 3 Easy Steps
- 10 Best T Shirt Mockup Sites in 2024
- 10 Best Mockup Websites for Stunning Design Templates
- How to Make Clothing Mockups – Quick Guide
- How to Make T Shirt Mockup in 2024
