Photoshop Tutorial on How to Create Mockups for Branding Materials

When it comes to showcasing a new logo, product design, or brand identity, displaying it on a flat canvas is not always the most effective way to do it. Customers and audiences are interested in seeing how the design will appear on physical products, such as business cards, packaging, t-shirts, or digital displays, rather than just a digital representation of it. The use of mockups in Photoshop becomes absolutely necessary at this point. Through the use of mockups, your branding may be transformed into realistic visual samples, which in turn makes your work more professional and convincing.

Is a Mockup Used in the Branding Process?

You are able to exhibit your ideas on products, packaging, or surroundings by using a mockup, which is a realistic template that may be edited before being used. Demonstrating how logos, typography, and color palettes will look on company communications, signs, or goods is one of the purposes that mockups serve in the context of branding. In addition to providing context, they assist customers in seeing the actual product before it is manufactured.

Why should you use Photoshop for mockups of your brand?

Due to capabilities such as the following, Photoshop is an excellent tool for making mockups:

Objects that are intelligent and can swiftly replace designs.
There are Layer Styles that may be used to provide shadows, textures, and depth.

Realistic effects achieved by editing at a high quality.

The ability to construct individualized mockups or modify pre-made templates on the fly.

1. Your branding assets ready.

In order to create a mockup, you must first collect your design files:

Either in PNG or vector format, the logo.
Brand typography and color palettes are considered.
Patterns, icons, and supplementary elements are all included.
If you have assets that are structured, the procedure will go more smoothly.

2. Finding or making a base mockup.

Your choices are as follows:

You may make use of a prepared template by downloading a PSD mockup of high quality (for example, business cards, stationery, or merchandise packaging).
Construct your own by taking a photograph of the product or creating a blank picture of it and then preparing it in Photoshop.
You may save time by using premade mockups, but bespoke mockups provide you the opportunity to be completely creative.

3. Insert Your Design Using Smart Objects This is the third step.

Launch Photoshop and open the mockup PSD file.

Find the layer that is normally titled “Your Design Here,” which is the Smart Object layer.
When you want to open the Smart Object, double-click the thumbnail of the layer.
Save the file once you have pasted your logo or branding design inside.
Now that you have returned to the main file, your design will seem to be applied to the mockup surface in a realistic manner.

4. Customize for realism.

To emphasize the uniqueness of your mockup:

Make adjustments to the shadows and highlights by using Blending Modes or Layer Styles.
You should match the viewpoint so that your design will easily connect with the geometry of the product.
In order to provide depth, you might make use of textures such as paper grain, cloth weave, or packaging material.
Utilize color modifications in order to ensure that your design blends in perfectly with the surrounding surroundings.

5. Export and present

Your mockup should be exported in high quality after you are satisfied:

Go to the File menu, then choose Export, and then select Export As.

Depending on the requirements of the presentation, save the image as either a JPEG or a PNG.

To create a professional presentation, you should use different mockup perspectives (front, side, and top).

6. Pro Tips for Creating Better Mockups of Your Brand

Maintain mockups that are consistent with the look of your brand.

Make use of a variety of mediums, including print, packaging, and digital, in order to provide them with a comprehensive image.
For the purpose of making client evaluations more manageable, organize mockup files into a presentation deck.
You should save mockup templates that may be reused for future projects.

In order to demonstrate your designs in a professional manner, one of the most efficient methods to do so is to create mockups representing your brand using Photoshop. Bringing your ideas to life and assisting customers in visualizing how their brand will seem in the real world may be accomplished via the use of Smart Objects, the customization of shadows and textures, and the utilization of high-quality templates. Not only does a well-made mockup show a logo, but it also communicates the narrative of the company in the context of its surroundings.

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