There will be a point during your surface designer career where you'll need to create a collection or put together a portfolio or website showcasing the best of your designs in an attractive and professional way. If you stumbled upon this blog post without having seen the rest of my website, I urge you to click around a little bit to know what I mean. You'll notice immediately that my whole website contains a lot of product pictures featuring my work in an on-brand way. I've done so by using mockups to create a professional portfolio look, and you should to if you are in the design industry.
"But WAIT! What do you mean by mockups? Aren't those images real?"
Yes and no. Yes they are kind of real and they weren't created using any AI, but no, there are no physical enamel mugs with my Beach n Surf designs going around....yet. Those mugs, along with many other mock ups are files I bought from a brand called Creatsy (affiliate link) which in my opinion create the best Photoshop editable mockups there is. Mockups are files that you can use to add your images into to create a very realistic looking product and they are your secret weapon to create a professional and cohesive portfolio.
I've been using them for years to create images for my blog posts, photos to use on social media and more recently to build collections to add to my collection page and portfolio. I found that it's a lot easier for me to get a feel of how different designs look together by playing around with a mockup like this bedroom mockup I used to build my Maharani's summer garden collection a few months ago :
Aside from providing a great way to visualise how a collection is going to look as you build it, it's also a great way to show a prospect client what potential your designs have and how well they work together on different surface.
If you are a surface pattern designer mostly doing home decor textiles and wallpaper, building a portfolio that showcase a lot of mockup images on that theme.
If you are planning on pitching your collection as tableware, using plates, mugs and tablescapes mockups is the way to go.
There are several free and paid mockups options all around the internet, if you go for a free version, pay attention to the fine prints, some require you to give attribution. You also risk looking less original with a free mockup file, especially on social media. My advice with all product mockups files is to rely on as large library of assets as you can to avoid repeating the use of the same one all the time be it on Instagram or in your own professional portfolio. No matter where your prosepctive clients and customers look, they will want to see a wide range of application.
If your goal is to build a cohesive portfolio organised around collections, do not forget to use pattern swatches along those mockup to allow people to have a better look at how your patterns look as well. You want to create a visually appealing collection spread to sell your pattern collection to a prospective licensing partner or client.
And in my opinion, purchasing mockup files from a reputed company is one of those expenses you want to make room for in your business.
As stated after my first Creatsy link, this post contain affiliate link as I am a member of their affiliate program. That said, I only partner with companies creating products I can 100% vouch for, so rest assured that if you follow those links and make a purchase, you aren't going to be disappointed. I've been using these mockups for years and no other company create more realistic looking products than them. To be able to use those files, you will need Photoshop as they are all .psd files, all of them are highly customisable and are easy to use with a basic grasp of how to use "smart objects.
Comments