15 Search Engines or Banks of Mockups or Mock-Ups – FREE
Presenting your visual projects and ideas is sometimes very difficult, since, being an intangible element, clients or people find it difficult to imagine a logo on their corporate stationery, or how the design would be presented on a mug or on a uniform, or a design of furniture or shelves that will be used in the floors or points of sale.
For all this, we have a great ally and they are Mockups or Mock-Ups.
What is a Mock-Up?
Mockups or Mock-Ups are photomontages that graphic designers make, to present how the design would look on a structure, object, or space, to present a much clearer vision in the space, in short, it is a visual model.
They are frequently used to locate people to a model, which is the closest to the real thing.
Use that is given a Mock-Up
Mockups can be used to present a logo to complex designs, such as a business card, general stationery, website, lightboxes, billboards, product packaging, among others.
By using a Mock-Up, it allows you to have a vision of how it would look and also allows you to save on printing and assembly expenses, as previously said this is considered as a digital visual mockup, in which it can be presented to customers, and Depending on the ingenuity of each designer, they can show the work in the texture of each material used.
This is a basic resource, for most designers, because it also allows presenting graphic art adapted to many products or objects, to evaluate the visual balance that can be merged in each space.
Mock-Up Benefits
- Present a product with real details, which allows you to visualize and improve, without investing in the development of a real and tangible sample, before making all the necessary changes.
- Evaluate adaptability and visual balance, contrasting different objects or textures that can be used in the not too distant future by the person or brand.
- It allows people to be transported in space and offers a closer feeling of how the final work would look, using a model or prototype.
Disadvantages of Mock-Up
- Sometimes when presenting a mockup, you can create an expectation for the client, which, depending on the final finish, may not meet the same.
- When viewing montages on screen, there are times when the textures of the materials are not presented as-is and can create changes or adjustments at the last minute.
To avoid the aforementioned, it is necessary to clarify with the client that they are samples, or at the time of presenting the work, you can take with you a catalog of materials so that the client has a real contact fused with the use of the mock-up and thus have a clearer and more realistic idea of the completion of the work to be done.
Format of a MockUp
In most cases, mockups are available in vector or a .psd or .indd template. These formats can be manipulated in specialized design programs such as PhotoShop.
Mock-Up Type
There is a great diversity of mockups, since, depending on the use or adaptation you want to make, it can be used for business cards, billboards, outdoor advertising, corporate stationery, packaging, labels, uniform, press, POP material, among others.
Free mockups vs. Payments
The use of visual resources for personal and commercial projects can be limited according to the limits of uses authorized by the platform or the designers or creators behind each mockup, therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the type of license that each platform has, although, in most cases, they are associated with CC (Creatives Commons).
15 mockup banks
You can meet banks specialized in mockups, which cover different uses, that is why I share these exclusive banks:
Mockupworld
It is a bank with a great diversity of mockups, it has free options, which, according to the author, its use for commercial and personal projects is subject, and there are also paid mockups.
It has a great diversity from options to make assembly in most of Apple products, packaging, magazines, books, business cards, stationery in general, and much more.
Mockupworld Features
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: classified by categories and tags
- Icon formats: PSD
- Licenses: it depends on the assignment that each designer is given.
- Registration: No need to download.
Freepik
One of the most relevant banks and with an incredible collection of resources, from photographs, icons, vectors, and also mockups, the platform requires attribution when resources are used, and what I love about this space is that the paid version is affordable and can be invested in, as it offers many interesting options in mockups.
Freepik Features
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: keyword, license category, style, sort by (popular or recent), colors, orientation (landscape, portrait, square, and panorama), date of publication, and content curated by the Freepik team
- Icon formats: .png, .eps, .psd, among others.
- Licenses: There are 2 types of licenses, the free one, which needs attribution and has limitations for commercial projects (I recommend you read the policies), and the premium one, which does not need attribution and you can do whatever you want, both for commercial and personal projects.
- Registration: It is not necessary if you want to download, but it has a daily limit, and if you register, it allows you to download more items.
Graphic burger
It is an incredible space in which they offer incredible resources for the design of mockups, but you can also get icons and textures for designs, the person behind this space is Raúl Taciu, a design addict, however, other people can contribute with his work. It has more than 57 million downloads. They can also purchase premium resources.
Graphic Burger Features
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: they are classified by labels
- Icon formats: PSD
- Licenses: These are open-use for personal and commercial projects, but visuals cannot be resold, sub-licensed, or redistributed.
- Registration: No need to download.
Pixeden
It is a bank of audiovisual content full of textures, effects, and mockups. It has a free section, where they are exclusively selected for download, but there are premium resources, for which it is necessary to pay a special license for access.
Graphic Burger Features
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: they are classified by labels
- Icon formats: PSD
- Licenses: it depends on the assignment that each designer is given.
- Registration: No need to download.
Smartymockups
It is an exclusive space created by Andrzej Gdula, where he shares incredible mockups. Highlights the design of packaging and product presentation, supporting the community of designers in the world. It has free and paid mockups.
Smartymockups features
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: they are classified by labels
- Icon formats: PSD
- Licenses: it depends on the assignment that each designer is given.
- Registration: No need to download.
Mockups Design
Another space created by Andrzej Gdula, but with more diversity, offering mockups for books, business cards, and stationery stores, all this space, as in the previous one, offers free and paid elements.
Mockups design features
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: they are classified by labels
- Icon formats: PSD
- Licenses: it depends on the assignment that each designer is given.
- Registration: No need to download.
Stock InDesign
It is an exclusive collection that has more than 50 options, but for editorial designers, to present their literary works and thus present a more realistic model.
Stock InDesign features
- Do you have a search engine ?: no
- Filters: not applicable
- Icon formats: PSD
- Licenses: it depends on the assignment that each designer is given.
- Registration: No need to download.
Mockupfree. co
It offers a bench with diverse models of various items, the interesting thing about this platform is that they are designs that are not easy to locate in other spaces and if you request attribution when using it, and they are flexible for personal and commercial work.
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: categories
- Icon Formats: PSD
- Licensing: attribution required
- Registration: Not necessary if you want to download
Dribbble
The space has more than 2000 highly finished and innovative designs that are not easy to place on other benches. Not all of its resources are free, therefore, it is necessary to locate the tabs of each element where there is a label that says “free”.
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: categories and colors
- Icon Formats: PSD
- Licenses: it depends on the assignment that each designer is given.
- Registration: if necessary
PSD Repo
It is a collection of different designs in PSD format. This platform is made up of many designers, who share their work in this space and contribute to the creative community. Has free and paid resources
- Do you have a search engine ?: yes
- Filters: categories
- Icon Formats: PSD
- Licenses: it depends on the assignment that each designer is given.
- Registration: if necessary
There are other very interesting pages that you can find more mockup resources such as:
In conclusion,
Mockups are great visual allies, allowing users to perceive designs in dimensions. Therefore, it allows giving a more realistic appearance regarding the use and its implementation in physical or digital objects.