A website mockup is a required step before you can work on your interactive designs. As designers, your job would be to turn your clients’ or your own ideas into creative mockups.Thus, allowing you to visualize your webpages and their interactions.
And for those of you who are interested, you can now learn how to do a website mockup in photoshop, using the following guides. Here, we’ll provide you with intuitive and detailed instructions, so you can make the best mockups using classic design software.
Table of Contents
Make your sketch first
To start with, you shouldn’t jump right into the actual design jobs. Instead, make sure to spend your time reviewing the web ideas and working on your sketches. These will allow you to visualize the web pages and their interactions while also sparking ideas that you’ve never thought of.
Feel free to work with the convenient pencil and paper to note down your main ideas, then continue to visualize them with sketches. Draw as many sketches as you wish, and don’t hesitate to work on your multiple ideas before settling with the best one.
If you’re more comfortable with the platform, you can also use the drawing features in Photoshop to work on many of your web ideas. Plus, since we’re going to continue the design process using the software, you might want to get comfortable with it.
The design process in Photoshop
Once you’re happy with the sketches, it’s time to turn them into professional mockups, using the adequate tools and features in Photoshop.
Create a new canvas
Start by selecting the File menu and choosing the New option. This will prompt a window where you can select your preferred canvas format. Feel free to select your own sizes and other settings to work on different web designs. Or you can use the provided presets for web mockups in Photoshop.
Select and confirm your setup to immediately create and get directed to your new canvas. Here, you can begin to work on your many cool designs.
Select the preferred backgrounds
The next step would be to select a preferred background for your website. Depending on the designs, you can choose to work with different backgrounds of solid colors, patterns, or images of different themes and topics.
Use the paint option to work on the certain active area consisting of your current web layout to add solid colors. Or select File, then the Place Embedded option to look for images to add to your background. Here, the app will let you navigate through many images, and you only need to select a few to apply them to your design.
Add and adjust the guidelines
To make it easier to work on your web designs, Photoshop users can use the convenient rulers to create guidelines for their designs. As a result, they can create symmetrical and compositionally appropriate web mockups.
Simply enable the Ruler feature using the Control + R or CMD + R command on your Windows or Mac devices, respectively. Select and drag the cursors on top of the rulers to adjust the guidelines. You can then lock the guides by selecting Lock Guides in the View menu.
Add your sections and components
Begin to work on the composition of your web mockup using the simple shape tools in Photoshop. Follow your sketches to add circles, rectangles, and other shapes to represent certain sections and components on the page. Then detail them with colors and text to make them more comprehensive.
Add your sections and components
Add introductions and text content to certain articles on the page. Enable buttons so you can direct people to sub-pages from your main page.
Load up logos and images, then add them to your web layout, to make it easier to promote your business and convey messages.
Don’t forget to work on other important elements on the mockup layout, including testimonials, newsletters, contact info, and more.
Simply access the Shape Tools on the toolbar to use your different shaping features in Photoshop, then select the best shapes for each component.
Once you’re happy with your design, you can save the mockup in Photoshop.
How to export your designs
With the generated mockup, Photoshop users will have many export options for their creative designs. Here, the app lets you save your Adobe Photoshop files so you can share them with co-workers for review and refining.
Use the software to save your mockup designs as images, so you can conveniently share them with clients. Here, they can review your designs in relation to their web concepts and tell you what you need to fix.
Using design tools
And if you wish to work on further design options and interactive features, then Adobe XD is definitely a good option, especially when you’re already in the Adobe ecosystem.
Simply import your Photoshop mockup to Adobe XD and the app will offer you many useful design options. Make use of the many design elements and mockup controls to create your interactive mockups on the go.
Have no trouble adjusting the web elements and components using the power tools in Adobe XD. And enjoy working with the massive asset library to add additional elements to your designs.
Or alternatively, if you want an app that’s more beginner-friendly, then Visily is another great option. Here, the useful mockup tool will offer similar design features to Adobe XD. However, you can now use the AI-powered features to immediately realize your different designs in Photoshop.
Use Visily for a simple design experience
Here the app provides you with the screenshot 2 design feature, in which it can turn your current Photoshop images into high-fidelity web mockups completely automatically.
Plus, it can even take things to the next step by allowing you to skip the Photoshop mockup design. Instead, you just need to provide the software with a clean sketch of your web layout, and the smart AI can automatically realize your designs in Visily.
And last but not least, the Visily AI design assistant is always available to provide you with useful instructions and design suggestions. Thus, allowing you to refine and perfect your web mockups.
Outro
The design process of a web mockup in Photoshop isn’t that difficult if you know the way. And by providing you with an intuitive guide on sketching and how to do a website mockup in Photoshop, we hope you can start to work on your web ideas. And don’t forget to use the design tools if you’re having trouble with manually designing your mockups in Photoshop.
