So you worked really hard on your design project and now confident enough that client will approve it easily, but sadly he rejects and you have to work all again.
Sometimes your designs are awful, let’s accept it.
But that’s not the case always. Most of the time your client is unable to imagine how design would actually look great after print or goes live in browser.
Here comes the importance of Mockups in your presentations.
Showing your design in such a way which gives client a feel of end-result is crucial to get quick approval. Most likely by using high quality mockupsIn my experience of more than a decade working with clients, I learnt that clients want to see end-result right from the beginning even if it’s just design phase. And when they see plain and straight design with no feel of end-result (no matter how great design that is), chances are they will reject or ask to make changes which can ruin your great-looking design. That’s why showing design in a way which gives them feel of end-result is crucial to get approval quickly, most likely by using high quality mockups.
Not yet bored, still with me? Good!
Then let me share with you some of the presentations from my recent projects which shows how using good mockups help me to get client’s approval quickly.
I was designing company’s brochure for construction firm and after I am done with cover, back and some inside pages, time to show them to client. Instead of sending plain PDF to my client rather I prefer spending little time browsing some creative brochure mockups which can display my designs efficiently and give my client feel of end-result, something like below (scroll left and right to see plain and mockup version of my presentation)
You, as web or graphic designer are imaginative person. You can start imagining from start how your design would look like or behave in browser or how does the brochure would actually look after print. But wait, you are imaginative person not everyone, right? you can create things in your head to see future and pretend like Bran in Game of Throne, thats great. But that doesn’t mean your clients are also like you, actually they are maybe quite opposite.
Design you show to your clients maybe a great piece of work but they might not get the feel if not presented well, which can lead you into frustrating process to redesign everything. Thats why presentation of your design is so important. Use some psd mockups which do justice to your designs and present them to clients then. Here are few more examples of my presentations with. great looking brochure mockups.
Once I get approval and design phase is over then I provide plain pdf to my clients for proof reading, by that time I already have their approval and they now only focus on text and reading not on design.
Above examples give you idea more about graphic design projects. However, same techniques I use for my web projects as well.
For example, I spent hours/days to design homepage and send client for approval with lots of explanation about each section, how it would animate or react on user interaction which client can/can’t imagine actually. Rather I slice my website design into few pieces which doesn’t take much time. Then let’s say I have a slider in my design, I would replace that single image into actual image-scrolling slider with jQuery. Now when client see design with scrolling images instead of just one whole plain image, giving him feeling of end-result which ultimately increase chances of fast approval.
Lastly, we spent countless hours on designing website, brochure or any other project. Spending little more time on presentation wont hurt but will save you many frustrating hours of re-work. There are hundreds of mockups available in almost every category such as Computer & Laptop, Packaging, Logo & Branding and much more, use them in your presentations.
That’s all for now everyone, do let me know what do you think? If you have tips, feel free to share in comments section.
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