Hi. It’s me, Ana. I’m a graphic designer and the Shar-Pei cuddler behind ana & yvy. I’m also the creator of the mockups you’re probably using already and if not, you should try it. It will change your whole creative workflow. But first things first.

Loosing the pitch, winning the insight

The very first time I stumbled over mockups I didn’t even know what it was. My journey started over 6 years ago when I took part at a design pitch and I tried to present my logo probably to the potential customer.
I put so much effort into the pitch and after hours of work i had my on point design. So here I was, my ready designed logo and no clear idea how to present it. Usually I would put it on a white background and show it in different color situations, so I did. 

The deadline passed by and I didn’t win. After that the designs were published for all competitors and then my chin fell down: All these designers around there showed their ready made logo work in beautiful images with ready printed looking business cards and stationery products. I was overwhelmed. How did they managed to produce this so fast? How could they make a print and such a high quality image in this short amount of time?

Looking at my black/white and colored presentation I was so angry and sad. No matter how good my work was, the others showed their work in the use! As a customer you could directly see how the design will look on real paper. But me in my home office with only a usual printer and not that amount of money to make a whole printed version for a pitch, I couldn’t afford this kind of production and print neither then letterpress.

The journey began

After checking all the designs speechless I recognized, that some images where literally the same but had another design on the business card. This needed to be a digital work and no produced product although it looked like real stationery. I tried to copy the style, I used filters and adjustment layers but no matter how much effort I’ve put into it, nothing looked as good as the ones I saw at the pitch presentation.

I started to search all over the internet and there I’ve found it, the magical word “MOCKUP”. A whole new world with new possibilities opened in front of my creative eye. All kinds of mockups for every occasion and look. Business cards, flyers, magazines, books! Even boxes! This was crazy! Till this time I didn’t even know the precise description neither what a mockup actually was and then I’ve found this whole pool of pre-made products ready to put my own design on them. This possibility to see my very own design on a real looking ready produced product was mind blowing.

To be honest: At that time mockups still looked kind of rendered. The quality and realistic look came later when people in the industry started to ask for more, better and more authentic. But back then it was already mind blowing for me

Change your design workflow now

You don’t need to be a graphic designer or have amazing photoshop skills. You can be a beginner in this area. But with mockups you can let it look super professional and high end. Give it a try! We made mockups just for you as freebies. Every month you will get another unique mockup made by myself for you.

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Fun fact: I already saw an illustrator made mockup in my very first design agency when we designed a chips snack bag. I didn’t even thought about this small image at the time but later it came back to my mind. So funny how my brain saved this short impression and brought it back years later.