You have painstakingly planned and created a product so far. The next step is to show people the product you’ve put your heart and soul into using product mock-ups. 

The question is: how are you going to ensure that every thoughtful detail behind your product could get across using the mock-ups? What are the fundamental elements that you should pay attention to when you’re making them?

Importance of Product Mock-ups

In sum, a mock-up is made to show people the visual of your product. It should look as true to life as possible as it is meant to show people how the product would look like in reality.

Aside from that, a mock-up could be a way to test the visual of your product without necessarily having to produce it first. Mock-up, in a way, is the sandbox that allows you to explore any visual alterations to your product. By looking at the mimicked version of your product, you’d be able to see how well your product concept translated visually and decide which aspects you could change. Hence, the product revisions could be executed more economically.

The Fundamental Elements of Product Mock-ups

• Theme and setting

It is important to show how your product looks in a real-life situation. Choosing the right theme would help set up the theme of your product. Add enough details and setting to your product that could help people to relate to it. For example, if your product is electronic, design your mock-up to make your product to be professional-looking. You could simply choose a clean-looking background that gives off a modern and futuristic vibe. 

A good mock-up could make the viewer understand the main purpose of your product simply by looking at how it’s set up and corporated with the theme of the design. 

• Color Palette

Colors are another key ingredient of a mock-up, as they could deliver the key values of your product. Many studies even suggest that color could influence someone’s psychological response, much like how red could raise one’s appetite. In a way, color is a language that could deliver how your product should be perceived as. 

You could simply stick to the color of your company branding in the mock-up so that people could associate the product with your brand. Or, if you’d like to turn your design to be more impactful, choose a color palette that incorporates color that has a meaningful message behind it. For example, you can play around with the color white or gray to make your product looking modern and sophisticated or use more purple to add a sense of uniqueness to your product mock-ups.

• Authenticity

While incorporating your product into the mock-up design, ensure that the contrast and shadow of the product look realistic. Be careful with sloppy edges and borders that would distract the look of the mock-up. It might feel too much when you pay for all of these small details. However, it is definitely worth the effort as stunningly realistic product mock-ups could elevate your brand and, eventually, influence the customer’s purchasing decision.

• Focus

While you’re adding small details and themes for your mock-up, don’t miss one important thing: your product should be the focal point. The key to this is well-proportioned composition. You want your product to look as polished as possible using small details, but you don’t want the design to look overcrowded so that your product doesn’t stand out. Ensure that people would naturally set their eyes on the product the moment they see the mock-up. 

You could play around with white space to help your product stand out and look visually appealing.

All things have been considered. A good-looking mock-up won’t suffice if it won’t move the viewer to purchase the product. Great product mock-ups come down to the one that could represent your product well. Nowadays, you don’t have to worry about making your mock-up design from scratch. Many designers offer stunning templates that could showcase your product beautifully. Be sure to check out AQR studio‘s work if you want to see some of the examples of stunning crafts from talented artists.