SpyreStudios

Web Design and Development Magazine

  • Design
  • Resources
  • Showcase
  • Inspirational
  • Tutorials
  • CSS
  • Resources
  • Tools
  • UX
  • More
    • Mobile
    • Usability
    • HTML5
    • Business
    • Freebies
    • Giveaway
    • About SpyreStudios
    • Advertise On SpyreStudios
    • Get In Touch With Us

Tips & Tricks for Creating Website Mockups in Photoshop

September 19, 2014 by Jake Rocheleau

Learning how to craft brilliant websites will take time and patience. There is no magic Adobe genie who will appear to grant you divine powers over Photoshop. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that, and even if it did you should obviously ask for infinite wishes first.

photoshop for mac covers logos photo

Prowess in Photoshop is developed by practice and study. You can learn a lot by visiting websites such as Dribbble to find examples of great mockups and free PSD files. But through practice you can truly cement skills to become like second nature. In this guide I’ve written up some tips to help you design usable website mockups in Photoshop without reliance on a magical arabian lamps.

Guides & Rulers

Measurement should be a Photoshop 101 topic whenever you design something which needs to be pixel-perfect. Websites are produced for digital screens, and that means your mockup should directly relate to how the final website appears in a browser.

Getting right down to the nitty-gritty details would mean you need a way to measure everything. Well thankfully Photoshop has the solution. Just setup your rulers(CTRL+R) and make sure the unit is pixels(double-click the ruler to change). Then you can drag out guides to be placed vertically and horizontally onto the mockup. The info panel displays your exact X/Y coordinates while dragging.

I prefer this technique because it helps designers craft pixel-perfect elements on the page. You can easily dictate height for a header, image slideshow, footer, and other miscellaneous elements. Plus when dragging items around they’ll naturally snap to guides which can make your job a lot easier.

There are some other great tips on the Photoshop Etiquette website covering basics of setting up usable PSD files.

Building with Shapes

Any major interface mockup should be constructed using shapes. I’ll assume you learned about the basic shapes in grade school so let’s pick up from there. Photoshop has a number of common tools which assist designers when drawing rectangles, circles, or other related shapes. These are often the foremost items placed onto a layout mockup.

When browsing different websites pay close attention to the layout design behind text & images. You’ll notice header sections, navigation bars, buttons, and sidebar widgets all fit into shapes. Good designers will be sure these items fit into some type of grid structure too.

So think of your design first as large conglomerate of shapes pieced together in a particular fashion. Think of yourself as the set director: your unique vision should organize a brilliant tapestry of elements placed in just the right spots. And while you may not get paid as much as a Hollywood director, or get to work on camera, or get to meet celebrities… just trust me shapes are important. Start with the fundamental shapes and make your vision clearer than a frustrated father after he delivers a very stern scolding. Do I make myself clear?

Smart Object Layers

A big topic related to vector elements is the transition to using smart objects. Vectors can be scaled up to any size resolution so they’re perfect for every graphic in your mockup. But importing vectors from Illustrator will create what’s known as a smart object.

The graphic is still editable but you’ll need to resize and change paths in a separate document by double-clicking on the layer icon. Also when applying detailed filters you wind up with editable smart filters. This is much better than regular filters which apply an effect directly onto pixels. Smart objects are vectors, so while the pixels technically exist they are free from constraint. One advantage is that smart filters can be edited unlike regular filters.

Texture tutorial: Crumpled Torn Paper Effect

Smart objects are perfect for icons or much more complicated vector shapes. Think of how you might use a gradient map or smart filter on data graphs, repeating patterns, or textured nav bars. Plus layer effects can still be applied recklessly without fear of damaging the layer.

Remember that shapes are the same thing as vectors. They’re vector shapes, meaning a shape layer can be scaled larger or smaller without quality loss. So you can convert Photoshop shapes directly into smart objects too. But either way it is best to create mockups using vector elements over pixel elements solely to retain flexibility for changing size or shape.

Start with Building Blocks

Learning new techniques from online tutorials is a great way to get started. But if you need to create ideas rapidly why not start out with smaller building blocks? PSDs are freely available to designers who may prefer something more akin to a LEGO practice session.

These PSD building blocks could include navigation menus, buttons, forms, or even fullsize website mockups. There is a lot to learn by dissecting a professional designer’s PSD file to see how it was created. Then you can learn even more by re-creating your own layout from their graphical elements.

Free PSDs: 32 UI Element Kits

If you want to learn how to cook it’s best to start with recipes. Learning how to design something from scratch can be just as hard as cooking from scratch. So there is a major benefit to practicing UI design with existing PSDs just to learn the basics of composition and layout structure.

Once you get more comfortable blocking items into a layout the next logical step is recreating these individual items from scratch. Then you’ll be cheffing up your own delicious UI recipes! The primary focus should eventually turn to layer effects and filters, which are complicated and require a lot of play time to understand the end result.

Closing

With practice you’ll learn the many popular tricks of using Photoshop as a web designer. Getting the basics down is fairly simple – but to progress further into high-quality mockups will take a handful of mistakes. Learning from your own mistakes is the quickest and most efficient way to progress quickly. Keep these tips in mind and keep at it! Over time you’ll be surprised at what you can design.

You may also like this article:

32 Photoshop Tutorials for Creating Web & Mobile Graphics

Filed Under: Photoshop Tagged With: graphic design, photoshop, tips

Recent Posts

  • How to Choose a Stunning Font Package for Your Brand
  • 31 Fresh Design Elements for Spring and Easter
  • 10 Templates for Music Concert Flyers
  • How to Build a Web Scraper Using Node.js
  • Best PHP Books, Courses and Tutorials in 2022

Archives

  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008

Categories

  • Accessibility
  • Android
  • Apps
  • Art
  • Article
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Bootstrap
  • Business
  • CSS
  • Design
  • Development
  • Ecommerce
  • Fireworks
  • Flash
  • Freebies
  • Freelance
  • General
  • Giveaway
  • Graphic Design
  • HTML5
  • Icons
  • Illustrator
  • InDesign
  • Infographics
  • Inspirational
  • Interview
  • Jobs
  • jQuery
  • Learning
  • Logos
  • Matrix
  • Minimalism
  • Mobile
  • Motion Graphics
  • Music
  • News
  • Photoshop
  • PHP
  • Promoted
  • Rails
  • Resources
  • Showcase
  • Tools
  • Tutorial
  • Twitter
  • Typography
  • Uncategorized
  • Usability
  • UX
  • Wallpapers
  • Wireframing
  • WordPress
  • Work

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

SpyreStudios © 2022