{"id":3352,"date":"2012-01-25T10:48:10","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T23:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/?p=3352"},"modified":"2014-09-05T17:05:39","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T07:05:39","slug":"using-mocks-in-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/2012\/01\/using-mocks-in-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Using mocks in projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_6560\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/compare_layouts.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6560\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6560\" src=\"http:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/compare_layouts-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"banner layouts\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/compare_layouts-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/compare_layouts-150x90.jpg 150w, https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/compare_layouts-600x360.jpg 600w, https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/compare_layouts.jpg 709w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6560\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Having a mock design can make it much easier to plan content and other elements of a project<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Getting a designer to prepare a visual mock early in a communications project will cost money of course, but it can often be well worth the expense. I am lucky in working with a \u00a0designer who quickly grasps my intentions so can produce lovely mocks relatively easily. The mocks then form a basis for developing the main project, which often does not even involve my designer. From recent projects, having a mock prepared early in the process has meant:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>you can put various ideas in one place so details aren&#8217;t forgotten or overlooked<\/li>\n<li>everyone involved can see what is being discussed. Otherwise, everyone assumes they are imagining the same thing but could actually have some very different ideas of what is being developed.<\/li>\n<li>when <a title=\"Communicating with suppliers\" href=\"http:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/2008\/04\/communicating-with-suppliers\/\">giving the brief to a supplier<\/a>, it is easy to ensure they understand how the final version should look and to specify key details. This obviously doesn&#8217;t apply to a design-based project but is very helpful for software or construction projects<\/li>\n<li>for non-designer suppliers, you can get a much better result if you show them what it is to look like &#8211; they can copy the design and save time<\/li>\n<li>you can be working on\u00a0the\u00a0content and other refinements while the underlying structure is being developed. For example, while the technical people are building the software, I can be working on the content of the user screens as I know where text will go (e.g. a heading and two short sections or one long section)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Before you start a new project and rely on written descriptions and your own rough sketches, think about the potential value of having a mock designed for your planning and briefing processes. Are you a visual person? If so, having a mock to work from is probably much easier for you. If you&#8217;re not quite so visual, don&#8217;t underestimate how powerful a visual can be for many people and how it can aid communication. <strong>Can you remember times when a mock made a project flow better than expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<address><a title=\"Images by vikasuh\" href=\"http:\/\/www.123rf.com\/profile_vikasuh\/#avsuper\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\">* Images courtesy of 123RF<\/span><\/a><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting a designer to prepare a visual mock early in a communications project will cost money of course, but it can often be well worth the expense. I am lucky in working with a \u00a0designer who quickly grasps my intentions so can produce lovely mocks relatively easily. The mocks then form a basis for developing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[490,1430,1386],"class_list":["post-3352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-communications","tag-design","tag-mock","tag-project"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3352"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6562,"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3352\/revisions\/6562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}