A Website Mockup: What Is It and How to Create One?

Posted by admin Mar 31, 2022

Website mockups are essential for visualizing how the website will appear to clients or stakeholders after it is ready. High-quality and appealing websites are dominating the internet and businesses these days. For a first-time designer, creating sketches on notepads to test their attractiveness and functionality could be daunting.

Stats say:

• It takes 0.05 seconds for users to decide if they will continue with the site or abandon it. 
• 75% of customers decide on business credibility depending on their website design.

Hence, designing a site beyond the user’s expectations comes as a need. 

Without the final design in the form of a website mockup, the web design procedure does not transform. Hence, designers use mockups to brainstorm and settle on design concepts before beginning development or web designing work.

So, let us now dive deeper into everything you must be aware of in a webpage mockup, what is its role, and how to design one. Thus, helping developers in creating a functional website.

Overview of Website Mockup

It’s a structure made up of graphics, photos, and other elements that will make up the final output. A mockup is a static website design that shows how features such as CTAs will be incorporated, though the CTAs in the mockup will not be functional.

In simple terms, a website mockup is a design that illustrates how a website will seem. It also includes other key elements such as sliders, forms, and menus. All these ensure that usability and accessibility are not compromised.

Importance of Web Design Mockup

You will find enormous reasons why it is always better to settle for a website mockup. It lets you market your products more efficiently, decide on the budget, analyze the development costs, and ensure error-free design. 

Early Detection of Design Flaws

When you have a website mockup in hand, you can better determine the design functionality and appeal before you make it live. It allows you to keep on improving your design until you achieve the exact look and usability you expect.

In addition, you can evaluate the graphic components that don’t work fine. In simple terms, you can assess the visual hierarchy of elements with a website mockup.

Connect With Stakeholders to Get the Mockup Reviewed

Mockups allow the stakeholders to view what a web page will look like. They can assess all the elements like fonts, colors, styles, graphics, and more. Thus, enabling them to recommend any suggestions on modifications.

You can also create an additional version of the mockup to test the design with a different font or color. If you want to make certain adjustments, you can make the stakeholders see how the modifications will appear.

Simply put, the mockup for a webpage or website must be designed with a specific goal. This will help the website development or designing team to see how the sketched layout can be brought to life. Thus, keeping up with the visual creativity and business standards. It will also save you money on development costs and let you design a user-friendly product that satisfies the needs of your target audience.

Where do Mockups Fit When Website Designing

Website mockup does not come at the beginning or end of the process, It fits somewhere in the middle of the procedure. A simple website design covers wireframing, ideation, mockup, prototyping, and then making the design live.

Firstly, the wireframing level means building a page layout by taking an idea of what is the goal behind building that page. After that, the mockup comes into the role that puts life into that rough layout made as a wireframe.

Now comes the prototyping stage. Here, the real implementation of the mockup is performed. Of course, only after the development phase, the site will go live, and visitors will be able to access it. 

Step-By-Step Website Mockup Designing Tips

Of course, there is no need to create a website mockup if there is no purpose to achieve. Remember that creating a relevant and successful website design necessitates the use of a mockup. So, let’s speak about the measures you’ll need to take to accomplish this.

Build a Page Layout

Designing a rough wireframe is essential. It gives the sense of what elements you must include and their right integration in the design. Simply take a pen and paper and draw out the design you have ideated. Also, you can use software to do the same. There are not always chances that you can get the perfect layout in the first place. However, ensure the rough sketch depicts the CTAs, images, texts, or other elements. 

In simple terms, having a wireframe developed at the start saves time and effort later on when converting the desktop version to a mobile one. From the beginning, you’ll have a mobile-friendly and responsive website that works consistently across all devices.

After all, 57% of web users deny recommending a business that has poor website design and isn’t compatible with mobile devices. 

Add Visuals to Keep Mockup Appealing

If you think of designing a wireframe using a tool, further utilize the digital mockup tool that lets you draw the components into the right place. The crucial key design aspect that must be targeted in the mockup includes:

Color Scheme

The color scheme has an impact on the user’s experience and ability to make decisions.

Choosing the proper background color or overall color scheme is still part of the mockup, even when the wireframes don’t show it. Make certain that you choose inviting color combinations and not those that make it look cluttered.

Images

Whether it’s a mockup, a finished product, or a live website, image quality is vital. While designing a mockup, ensure the images can provide a close view of the final product. There are several tools that you can use to assure images are of high quality and users also understand the design language you are using. 

Content

Of course, the site’s mockup can not consist of all the content in the beginning. However, you can still put the effort into incorporating as much as possible images, website content, etc. 

Also, the dummy text won’t be that helpful in getting the exact picture of the final website.

Layout

Mockups are a great way to fine-tune the layout you created in a wireframe. Detailed designs enable you to observe how the page constructs the wireframe.

You can also incorporate design patterns. This guarantees that the website’s layout is consistent.

Consider and Implement Recommendations on Changes 

When you design a website mockup, you can perform user testing. It helps to analyze if your design is functioning the way you were expecting or if it needs some modifications.

During testing, share the web design mockup with other team members and get feedback. Testing helps to determine the usability of a website. Furthermore, the flexibility of mockups allows for making immediate changes and keeps them permanent.

Also, get feedback from the clients. You can share the mockups in the form of presentations or emails. In the meantime, you can ask for the changes if any, implement them, and share the modified mockup again. 

Summing Up

Many times, the professionals neglect the mockup stage during website development. The website mockups are ideal for lowering the entire web development costs and ensuring better usability. They also help in integrating the UX into the design at the very beginning. Thus, ensuring there is no need to keep on modifying the website now and then. 

In addition, the mockups allow the teams to make their own design decisions. The aesthetics of the page are also simple for stakeholders to assess. Thus, making them provide valuable feedback to get the design at its best.

At Awebstar, we provide exceptional web designing and web development services across different business niches. We are the leading website development agency with skilled professionals who aim to create relevant and elegant mockups. It includes everything from business goals to the ways to target the right audience. 

So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us to explore more about the offerings and software solutions.