Make your logo designs look incredible with these presentation mockups
There’s an ironic truth when it comes to design:
While WE might be great at taking an abstract concept and visually understanding its future iterations and breakthroughs, our clients aren’t.
Showing them a logo on a white background can confuse or underwhelm them. They usually aren’t visual people. They can’t visualize where this is going, what the end result will look like, how this design will impact their brand and business.
This is why mockups are our secret to success.
A great mockup takes an abstract brand logo and color palette and turns it into something clients can visualize along with us.
Trade secret: this is true of bosses and managers as well. Ever shown a design to your boss for him/her to scratch it without realizing it’s potential? Lesson learned the hard way - don’t present designs to anyone with veto power unless they’re complete (no, “in progress I’ll see if you’re headed in the right direction” viewings!). Throw in a mockup or too and you’re golden - suddenly the same design that was “wrong” when in progress is now exactly what we needed. You can thank me later ;)
When it’s possible, creating custom mockups and images using situations that are relevant to specifically your client’s brand is ideal. I once used Firefly to create a photo of a cafe with a paper on it and then added a cafe loyalty card design to the paper. Sometimes even just a baseball cap, hoodie, or an apron can make the design more relatable.
But sometimes there aren’t any unique situations for them (after all, we’re not always branding cool sports equipment brands and coffee shops - sometimes it’s just an accountant or a lawyer).
We also don’t want to spend too much time on mockups. After all, time is money. And if the client hasn’t hired you to design their website you don’t really want to create a whole homepage design for free without any strategic copy or a photoshoot…
Better to show simpler mockups than half-baked designs that don’t show your full skills.
The trick, therefore, is to find mockups that show off our design concept and enhance our designs without requiring us to create too many additional designs on our own time.
Presenting a list of my favorite go-to branding mockups.
Logos
The first time my clients see their logo is in a mockup where it’s exciting and impressive. Then I lead into showing the logo design in all its colors and the full explanation.
Once I’ve shown them the core brand elements, then I go into full branding mockups as scenes or stationery sets. But I start with just the logo so we can focus on that without any distractions.
For this mockup I aim for something simple, impressive, and with adjustable colors to match the brand design, such as an embossed logo or a plain logo on a business card.
Simple Stationery Sets
Unique Stationery Mockups
When possible, I try to find or create mockups that are relevant to this specific client. Things like a baseball cap, a mug, a sweater, a delivery box, a bottle, etc. Or, at the very least, to use stationery mockups that include relevant elements such as florals, leaves, shadows, stone/wood/metal, etc.
Also keep in mind style as well as elements: dark and moody, light and airy, dynamic or still, etc. These are additional decisions you make when selecting mockups, depending on the brand style you’re creating.
Make it all fit together into a seamless experience.
The more you can paint the story of your client’s brand and make it immersive, the more they’ll see themselves in your design and buy into the vision you’re creating for them.
More clients on board, less client revisions - just the way we like it.
Final note
Remember, you’re the designer. You should never feel limited by the mockup. Use Photoshop Generate to expand backgrounds and bounding boxes to zoom in so that you can frame your designs in the best light possible.
Happy mockuping!
PS. Wondering where I found all of these? Literally every single one was from Unblast. It’s my favorite place to look for mockups, after Google of course.
