Imagine you walk through a local shop or scroll online, and suddenly a product grabs your attention. Not because you've heard of it before, but because the packaging of the product stands out. It takes a few seconds for a product to either capture customer attention or just be left behind.
Most of the brands and designers are struggling and looking for a way to visualize their product before it gets manufactured. So they can save on their cost of printing and significant time.
That’s where the packaging mockup comes into action, which helps you to identify the flaws in the early stage, gather consumers' feedback, and improve areas where it is needed.
In this guide, we will break down the complete process of creating compelling packaging mockups, their benefits, types, and more. Grab your snacks and stay with us until the end.
What is A Packaging Mockup & Why Does It Matter?
A packaging mockup is a realistic visual representation of the product packaging before it’s actually manufactured. You don’t have to invest in printing; you can just design the packaging mockup and see what it looks like.
Graphic designers design packaging mockups, and they help marketers, brand owners, and entrepreneurs analyze their products' packaging and identify areas of improvement.
Packaging mockups are a crucial part of the product design process because they allow brands to get feedback from the stakeholders and potential users and optimize the product packaging according to them. This approach will maximize the user's experience and their satisfaction.
Benefits of Packaging Mockups
You have understood packaging mockups, and now it is time to explore some of the noticeable benefits that help you to know how mockups are helpful for your design workflow and for your final presentation.
1. Save Cost & Time
Packaging mockups save your printing costs and time, as you will visualize everything regarding your product packaging before it is created.
2. Visual Representation
A mockup will provide you with a 3D and realistic view of your product packaging, which helps you to identify flaws and issues. Plus, you can explore the placement of logo adjustments, text structure, and more.
3. Gathering Feedback
It allows you to share your product ideas with clients, stakeholders, and other experts in marketing to get feedback and their views regarding your product.
4. More Customization
When you are done with visualizing your product itself and gathering feedback regarding it, you can customize the mockup design by changing colors, text structure, and more according to them.
5. Brand Credibility
A packaging mockup will enhance your brand credibility and portray a message of professionalism, which ultimately builds trust with consumers and stakeholders.
Types of Packaging Mockup
When choosing the packaging mockups, various types are available, and each comes with its own set of features and benefits. Let’s explore them.
Box Packaging Mockup
They are flexible and used for various products, including food packaging, gifts, cosmetics, electronics, subscription boxes, toy boxes, and custom cardboard boxes. The design of these boxes will be displayed on the top, front, and sides. The shape or variation of Box Mockups is square, tall, flat, rectangular, perspective, sliding drawer, and more.
Pouch and Bag Mockups
Another type of packaging mockup is the pouch and bag, which is widely used for health, snacks, and coffee products. Some of the examples include food delivery bags, white paper bags, and zip bags. They are perfect for showing versatile packaging designs.
Flat Mockups
They are the 2D representation of a product packaging and are easy to create by the user. You can use this type of mockup to feature your product on social media, websites, and print materials.
Bottle Mockup
It is a visual representation of the product in a bottle form, such as glass bottles, cosmetics packaging mockups, bottles, and glass perfume bottles. If you have a brand that includes bottle forms of products or drinks, go with this type of packaging mockup. It is ideal for showing the design on bottles and how a label wraps around the surface of them.
3D Packaging Mockups
The 3D mockup provides a realistic view of your product and can be helpful when you are representing your product in front of clients or stakeholders.
Digital & Physical Mockups
Digital Mockups are created on digital software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. You can edit it easily at any time by using the software. If you want to experiment with different designs and styles while designing mockups, then go with it.
If you want to use your product for testing and prototyping, then a physical mockup is the best type to choose. This is the most realistic type and can be ideal for users who want to test and analyze the design before the product is approved for production.
Read More: Improve Your Branding with the Right Packaging Design Software
How to Create Packaging Mockups? Step-by-step Guide
Creating Packaging Mockups can be an important part of designing the product. It requires smart planning, visualizing, and proper execution. Let’s take a look at the steps that help you create packaging mockups efficiently.
1. Create a Design Brief
First of all, when creating a packaging mockup, create a design brief that includes the purpose of the packaging, your target audience, and brand image or identity. The design brief will help you to know what the next step is and when the destination is achieved. It’s like an outline of any task that you are doing to streamline your workflow.
2. Choose a Valuable Software
Now that you have created a design brief, start by choosing software in which you have expertise and hands-on experience. Several options are available on the Internet, but you have to choose one that suits your design needs and has core features.
3. Create 2D & 3D Designs
Now, create a 2D design of your packaging that includes all the components and materials, including the size, shape, and layout of the packaging. After that, convert it into a 3D representation to visualize clearly and identify flaws in the design to fix them.
4. Add Materials & Textures
Use software to add texture and materials in your 3D mockup to get a realistic view of your design and provide the appearance of your final product once it gets manufactured.
5. Test & Refine it
Once you have done all the above steps, it's time to test your product by analyzing whether it meets your design requirements or is ready to go for manufacturing. If some areas require improvement, then fix them properly, and you can test your mockup physically and digitally by using different software.
Best Free Online Packaging Mockup Generators
Here are some of the Free Mockup Generator websites where you can get free, ready-to-download templates for packaging mockups. This will save you significant time and provide you with some ideas about mockup design through templates.
- Canva
- Freepik
- Adobe
- Mockup world
- GraphicBurger
- Pixelbuddha
- Mockups Design
Tips to Consider When Creating Packaging Mockups
Here are some of the valuable tips you should consider when creating packaging mockups. These tips ensure that the final product will be exceptional, appealing, and worthy to customers from a design perspective.
High-Quality Images
As you know, humans are attracted to designs that look attractive and eye-catching. So you need to use high-quality images that increase the visibility of your design and are helpful for customers to visualize it properly.
Align with Brand Identity
Ensure that your product packaging mockup design is aligned with the brand image, identity, and values. It will be easy for customers to recognize your brand when they see the product.
Focus on User Experience
Customers are like money; the more customers, the more sales and profit. And more customers will prefer you only when they are loyal and satisfied with your product and brand. So, design your packaging mockups according to customers' perspectives, and the packaging clearly conveys the instructions properly to customers.
How Packaging Mockups Boost Your Brand’s Sales?
The brand’s sales depend on various factors, and some of them are related to your product’s quality and packaging. So, if your mockup design is according to your consumers’ choice, then they will definitely buy your product.
Moreover, they will also refer your product to their family, friends, and relatives. This overall process of packaging mockups, from creating a design brief to testing and refining, will surely maximize your brand sales and enhance brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Also Read: Your Guide to Creating Custom Designer Boxes for Powerful Branding
Conclusion
Designing a catchy packaging mockup is really helpful for all levels of brands, and it will provide you with a big edge over your competitors in the market. We have covered every aspect related to packaging mockups, including types, benefits, steps, and solutions that are used to create them efficiently.
Need assistance to design perfect packaging mockups? Worry not! At Custom Designs Boxes, our expert designers can help you create a packaging mockup that allows you to stand out in the market.
Whether you are looking to maximize your sales or enhance customer loyalty and brand image, packaging mockups will definitely help you to achieve all of these goals if you design them well with the right software and steps.
