How an iPhone Mockup Differentiates from Prototypes and Wireframes
The mockup is a design terminology that is popular nowadays due to the dramatic rise of technological advancement. It refers to the full-size visual model of a specific device like an iPhone. An iPhone Mockup is used purposely for demonstration, teaching, promotion, design testing and evaluation, and for other related purposes. During the preliminary period of the design creation, mockups are used by the designers after the wireframing stage to test the market by getting the feedback of the end-users.
Is it the same with prototypes and wireframes? Technically no! Prototypes mean the preliminary duplicate model of something like a tech device. They’re created for the purpose of evaluating the usability factor of a particular product. They’re done to achieve the goal of determining the interaction-based results. Prototypes play the important role in exploring the UI conceptual design.
Wireframes are structural blueprints of a particular technological creation. They usually answer the questions relevant to the crucial layout as well as the structure of a gadget. They play a vital role as far as coming up with the visual details is concerned. The technical and visual details will be derived after the solidification of structure and format.
Did you understand how prototypes and wireframes differentiate from each other? Now, let’s discuss a mockup, like a PSD mockup or an iPhone mockup. It is said that mockups work for the visual part of the design creation period, while wireframes, as discussed above, focus on the structural aspect. Since wireframes only focus is the structure, mockups fill in the gap which is the visual thing. It is akin to human anatomy in which the skin plays an important role to cover the bone’s physical structure.
The 7 Key Facts about Photorealistic iPhone Mockups
1. Mockup has a lot of benefits
A lot of people consider mockups as not really necessary or just optional. But this might be a wrong notion. Why? My disagreement is due to the essential thing that mockups play on the visual aspect. Again the bone structure in the human body will collapse if there’s no skin and the skin is the visual that covers and put the bones together.
According to Ramotion, a UI/UX design company, wireframes are imaginative factors while mockups are the visible aspect of a certain tech design. And visuals are very important for the stakeholders of a certain project due to the fact that they are the ones to be seen by the human eyes. By using graphic design software, a designer can create a pixel-perfect and awesome iPhone mockup. There are also designers who are so fluent and expert in codes. These people can create code-based mockups.
2. Mockups help avoid having a mediocre prototype
Prototypes are the end-results or by-products. As mockups come in between the wireframe (structure) and prototypes (the duplicate product) stages, they can complete the entire process in order to come up with a result that can provide evaluative and analytical feedback from the users. In terms of fidelity, it is in the mid-level right after the wireframing process (which usually also comes after doing the sketches).
3. Mockups help in solving possible problems
For instance, the customer would request to change something in the logo because he sees something has to be improved. With the availability of mockups, solving such problems can be very easy. An iPhone mockup can eventually resolve the issue as it is easy for the designer to tweak changes in the mid-fidelity level. Furthermore, if the color of the logo is going to be changed the visual effects will have to be transformed.
4. Mockups use realistic assets
For some, copy and images are not important in the mockup creation stage. But technically they must be part of the real assets that the designer must incorporate and use. But to make it clear, the finished illustration and custom images are not needed in the presentation. The hired team must focus and spend more time in the visual language so that the structure and end-result would become better.
5. It is important to fix problems in a faster way
The mockup flow of work should be kept simple, clean, and easy to understand. It’s just a waste of time if the team will do otherwise. The work output should not be static but it should be a dynamic one. Getting immediate feedback and taking actions to resolve the issues based on feedback should be part of the work ethic and values of the design team that handles the mockup creation process.
Moreover, it is really important that the work pacing is transparent to each member of the team as much as possible. Proper communication is imperative so that addressing possible issues can just be easy. And all project stakeholders in this stage should be part in the effectuation of the resolution process.
6. Using mockup tools can make the work output more efficient and effective
Of course, as this is a technology-based job, there are tools that are going to be used for more efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness. There are what we call free mockups tools for visual designs. Three of the popular tools the designers can use are Balsamiq Mockups, Mockplus, and MockplusiDoc. Each of them has distinct features from one another. You can as well search for the other free iPhone X clay mockup tools online.
7. Mockup designs should be in the correct format
The importance to create your mockup design in the correct format should not be taken for granted. Whether the designer creates the mockup from scratch, it does not matter as long as the format is right and perfect for the job to be done. This is an important requirement so that possible problems relevant to an iPhone mockup design will be prevented. For instance, when creating the logo the submitted logo design should be in a vector format.
Did you get the ideas behind this article? You can further read this article about the iPhone 7 Mockup Video Highlights Potential Design Changes published on Forbes in 2016. This article is still relevant until today.
