Hey there, savvy entrepreneurs! When you design a brand-new app or website, you want the best materials to show it off and boost your marketing efforts. Enter a product mockup! This visual asset showcases how your creation would actually look in real life, giving stakeholders and potential customers a preview of just how great your project is. Now, sometimes people pick mockups that seem like a good choice but may be missing valuable key elements.
No worries, that’s why we’re here! Today, we’ll go over what makes up a perfect product mockup and how to select the best option for you with Placeit by Envato as your creative ally. Let’s dive right in! 😀✨
Product Mockups 101: Skip to What You’re Looking For! 🔎
Design Success: Must-Have Elements of a Product Mockup ✅
In the fast-paced digital world, first impressions matter more than ever. So, whether you’re launching a sleek new app or a cutting-edge website, a stunning product mockup can make all the difference. Just think about it, it’s a sneak peek into your project’s grand debut. And what a way to spark excitement! 🚀✨
Ready to showcase your next big digital idea? Let’s dive into the key elements of a perfect product mockup and bring all your creative ideas to life! Read on. 😌
1. Beautiful Setting ✨
You want a product mockup that is set on a beautiful canvas to make sure your app stands out. While a plain background can work well when emphasizing simplicity, using real-life settings like a modern office desk, a sunny beach, or a bustling coffee shop can create a more engaging and relatable presentation for your audience. After all, you’d like them to experience firsthand how your new app or website can seamlessly integrate into their everyday lives.
💡 Key Insight: You should use identifiable locations that will aid in showing your app’s purpose. For example, a digital mockup with a fitness center backdrop for a workout-tracking app to highlight its use in an active environment.
🌟 Tips for Picking a Beautiful Setting in Your Product Mockups
Consider these pointers for selecting a website or app mockup with a standout backdrop:
🔅 Picking a product mockup that has warm lighting and a friendly feel will lend to your app’s designs.
🌳 Mockups set in locations that look sociable and accessible work for the majority of apps.
📱 Product mockups set in locations with sleeker looks work better for more serious or business-oriented apps and websites.
Remember, a great website or app mockup looks trustworthy and presentable. So, ensure your design is clean, professional, and user-friendly to make a strong first impression. Eager to get started? Don’t miss out on these Digital Device Mockups with Interchangeable Backgrounds! 😀
2. People 😃
It’s always best to showcase how someone has been using your app or website, as this will make your product look accessible. Moreover, this type of digital mockup will give potential customers a level of familiarity and confidence with your product that you wouldn’t achieve otherwise. As for the model, the character can be either off-stage or on-stage, each option conveying a different level of interaction and context.
💡 Key Pointer: Off-stage personas are the most common type of product mockups as they focus on the app or website itself, highlighting its features and interface without the distraction of a specific user.
🌟 Tips for Selecting Digital Mockups Featuring Models
😊 When opting for on-stage characters, choose models that represent your target audience, helping potential customers connect and see themselves using your product.
📱 On the other hand, for off-stage mockups, ensure the design is clean and simple to avoid distracting viewers from the main product (your awesome project!).
💼 Focus on a digital mockup that places the model and product in relevant and relatable settings, such as an office or a home to showcase practical use cases.
Additionally, consider that these types of product mockups tend to have props in the scene, such as a cup of coffee or an uncapped marker lying nearby. If the person is in the scene, you’ll see someone interacting with the device mockup. Remember, having people seen using your app or website will humanize them and help them situate them in the real world. Feeling inspired already? Check out these Crazy App Marketing Ideas That Worked!
3. Theme 💻
The combination of the character and the setting will create a theme, and you want to be sure to select a product mockup with a theme that reflects your app in a real-life situation. Consider that a great digital mockup will have a recognizable central topic meant to complement your app’s main purpose. Whether it’s a business, e-commerce, or fitness theme, make sure you select based on what’s contextually relevant to your product and target audience.
💡 Pro Tip: When picking an image remember to think about who is going to use it and when they will be using it.
🌟 Example of Themes for Product Mockups
- Office desk with stationery and laptops.
- Professional workspace with charts and documents.
- Conference room with a projector and team members.
- Gym or fitness center with people working out.
- Outdoor jogging track with users tracking their run.
- Healthy kitchen setting with nutrition and recipe apps.
- Classroom with a tablet mockup featuring an educational app.
- Home study area with books and tablets.
- Library with users accessing online resources.
- Airport or train station with travel planning apps.
- Beach or tourist spot with users exploring guides.
- Hotel lobby with booking and reservation apps.
In a nutshell, the theme is what you need to use to target your audience, as it will help customers relate to your product. It will also give them a clear picture of where and when your app will come in handy. This is the best way to show off your chosen use case. Want a deeper dive into app marketing? Take a look at these common App Marketing Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them). 😃
4. Focus 💡
By this point, we’ve gone over three key aspects of a product mockup. Do consider that the misuse of all these elements can distract the viewer from the app or website’s main purpose. A truly perfect mockup will still keep the focus on your app as it’s meant to be a seamless integration of the people, setting, theme, and props to not overwhelm the viewers, but rather engage them.
💡 To Recap: A great product mockup, whether a website or app mockup, will be concise and won’t distract from its main purpose.
🌟 Tips for a Good Photorealistic Mockup
📸 A good photorealistic mockup will have your screenshot fitting perfectly without any strange borders and edges that might distract viewers or create an artificial atmosphere. If needed, you can always use our free Image Resizer to get the perfect visuals for your mockups.
⭐️ You want your mockup to look natural; when it doesn’t your customers will notice and it will impact how they perceive your business’s professionalism.
🪄 Ensure your chosen mockup aligns with your business’s brand identity to provide a cohesive and consistent presentation throughout all your marketing materials.
All in all, you want to choose a mockup that gives your app the spotlight and serves to compliment it without shifting any focus from it. Want to get started? Promote your project with Awesome App Store Screenshots!
5. Tells a Story 💬
To recycle an old cliché, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. All of the above elements, if well chosen, come together to create a story in one image. Said story is what will essentially help you sell your product. In other words, you want to show your project in context to highlight its practical benefits and real-world applications in a visually appealing way. It’s all about functionality and design, all in one asset!
💡Friendly Reminder: The story can give your app a real-world use case. Thus, potential users can envision how it solves their problems or enhances their daily activities.
🌟 What Story Do You Want Your Brand to Tell?
The story you build makes your app or website more than just a pretty face, it shows its purpose. Many people might look at an app and think, “Sure, that’s neat”, but won’t buy it because they do not think they need it.
A product mockup that tells a good story will make a user think they need your product. It will look more practical and give the impression that downloading your app straight away is the way to go.
⭐️ Digital Mockup Bonus: Free App Mockup Generator to Promote Your Apps
Want to Try out Some Perfect Mockups? 🪄
These elements create the perfect product mockup that will engage your audience. Be sure to look for them when you are ready to show off your next brand-new project, whether a sleek app or website. At Placeit by Envato, you’ll find tons of options for your business, perhaps you’re looking for an iPhone app mockup or an Android mockup?
After you’ve selected the perfect match for your brand, be sure to check out our social media templates and videos to boost your business. No design skills are needed! All our templates are professionally crafted by our expert team and ready to be customized in no time.
🌟 Want to try an app mockup for free? Don’t miss out on our freebies! Now, we want to hear from you. In your opinion, what makes up a perfect product mockup? Drop a comment below and let us know!
