It’s all about presentation. Ideas and concepts are great, but mean nothing if they cannot be properly communicated. To help others understand them, we may create prototypes or sketch out an idea to get to a meeting of the minds. Fortunately, in graphic design, we do that by creating mock-ups.

Most times when we create designs, it’s tempting to send a flat graphic, as is, to our client or out to our intended audience. It can work, but it’s much more effective when we have a way for people to actually visualize a design in its intended environment. It’s easier to understand a mobile app when it’s being presented on an actual mobile phone, rather than just a standard graphic in a simple size.

It’s best to have some photo-realistic mock-ups, but if you have vectors, that will work as well. Today, we’ve put together a bunch of PSD’s and actions for great, professional mock-ups. It includes anything from corporate branding to shirts and more. We hope you find something useful and great to use for your next project.

Interactive design

MacBook Air 

Perhaps you want to show off a web design, application design or even just a desktop background. Whatever it may be, this is a great mock-up that’s fully scalable and can fit any project.

Blackberry z10 PSD mock-up

You’ll find a ton of iPhone mock-ups all over the Internet. However, this new Blackberry Z10 doesn’t get nearly as much love as the iPhone. Fortunately, we’ve found this mock-up to help you show off your app designs and such.

White smartphones mock-ups

What I really like about this set of mock-ups is the flat color design they’ve used. It gives off an illustrated/vector that’s not only great for mock-ups but for design elements throughout a design.

Safari browser PSD

I’m not a huge fan of Safari as a browser, but below, you’re able to download a PSD that you can use with your web designs. It will help your viewers and clients see and understand what your web designs look like in their rightful environment. 

iPod Touch PSD mock-up

The new general iPod Touch is now available for presentations with this mock-up. Great for featuring new music apps and how they’ll work in their new environment.

iPhone 5 PSD landscape mock-up

 This iPhone 5 PSD is made using smart layers and is fully scalable. Also, the iPhone comes in black or white. This is great for when you want to show how different mobile apps work or how responsive sites are seen on an iPhone.

HTC 8x PSD mock-up

Again, iPhones are all the rage. This Windows phone is great for those of us who work on different interfaces and need to present our work in such an environment. 

Samsung Galaxy SIII PSD mock-up

Considered the second most popular phone in the world, it’s probably a great idea to get this PSD in your stash. This white Galaxy PSD is all vector work, so it can be scaled for high resolution work.

MacBook Pro retina PSD mock-up

Sometimes, it’s not just enough to put our web design in side of a browser window. It’s very common for designers to create mock-ups using the actual device, whether it be a laptop or desktop. This time we have the new MacBook Pro.

iPad PSD perspective mock-up

It’s not evident what exact version of the iPad this is, but it shows it can be extremely versatile. Again, this is a vectored image that is fully scalable to fit in any of your designs. It’s great to give another, interesting angle for your responsive designs and apps.

Responsive design mock-up pack

Of major importance in responsive design, is to make sure you know and understand how your design is going to look in all browser sizes. This mock-up pack is great for putting all that together and helping visualize it.

Chrome browser PSD mock-up

As my favorite browser, this is a go-to of mine for when I want to present web designs to clients. It’s fully editable, scalable and all around wonderful for web designs. 

Identity and print

Magazine/Book Front Cover PSD

We’ll get started with a pretty simple magazine or book front cover. It’s high-quality and great for print and easily editable with smart objects. This is great for presenting covers with a fun bit of perspective, rather than just straight on. 

Fold Photoshop Action

This is a fairly simple action that transforms your one-dimension graphic into a tri-fold brochure. This is great for adding that depth to letters or brochures.

Flyer/Poster Mock-Up

If your flyers an posters are A4 or A5 sized, this may be the mock-up for you. You’ll be able to present your flyers with a bit of pizzazz to your clients.

Die cut business card mock-up

Create any shape business card with this Photoshop action. Not only do you get a neat car shape, you get a great angle and presentation as well.

Photoshop action for book cover

This is one of the most sought out mock-ups ever. Lots of people like to use these for e-books and physical books, rather than just looking at a one-dimensional presentation of a cover. 

Corporate identity mock-up PSD

Creating a corporate identity pack is probably something you’re familiar with. This pack features many different elements, including a brochure, letterhead, business cards and more to help present your ideas for an identity package. 

Magazine mockup

I like this mock-up because it’s a standard magazine size to help you show off advertisements, editorial design and more to your clients. This is a must-have for print designers. 

Magic 3D Photoshop action

Sometimes, it can be really hard to present a logo. It can end up being really plain and boring. This Photoshop action has created a way to add a little bit of excitement to our otherwise mundane logo designs. 

Paper fold Photoshop generator

This is another simple Photoshop action that just ads a bit of style to what we be a normal graphic. Great for posters, flyers and any other type of print work. 

Poster mockup template (PSD)

This is one of my favorites, mainly because it adds a bit of something else to what would normal just be a flat design. This is a great example of how one could present something differently. This PSD is also very editable.

Bifold brochure mock-up PSD

It’s often hard to find a realistic, professional way to show our brochures. Most times you lose a side of the brochure, but with this mock-up, you do not. It shows you how to set up your files and where to place them on this wooden background.

PSD business card mock-up

If all you’d like to do is feature your business cards photo-realistically, this is a great PSD for you. It’s also print-ready for creating more professional mock-ups for clients.

Mockup 4 panel accordion

We’ve talked about tri-fold and even bi-fold. Here we have a 4-panel brochure, that’s created by using a Photoshop Action.

Stationary branding mock-up (volume 1)

I found a PSD like this more than helpful for when you want to showcase all of your work in a portfolio. Often times, we don’t design and print every piece of corporate identity first, so this is a great way to show it off all at once.

Apparel

Hoodie template PSD

With this hoodie PSD, you’re able to customize colors and designs while keeping the highlights and shadows in the original. This is a must have for anyone creating designs for hoodies.

Men’s vest PSD

Again, with this mock-up PSD we are able to customize our colors and keep our highlights and shadows to go with any design.

Shirt PSD V2 mock-up

This is an extremely easy PSD to use to show off your shirt designs. The instructions are simple and easy to understand. Colors are easy to change and highlights and shadows stay in tact easily.

V-Neck shirt template PSD

V-Necks are my absolute favorite shirt to recommend to clients. They’re trendy without being too fancy, so when I’m ready to mock it up, I use this wonderful template. The colors are easy to change and it’s even easier to add the design. 

Flat peak PSD

There aren’t a ton of mock-up templates for hats or caps. Fortunately, TheApparelGuy is hooking us up with this flat peak template for caps. You can change colors and even keep the cap sticker, if that’s your thing. 

T-Shirt mock-up

What I like about this mock-up is there isn’t a whole person and it’s also not just a shirt there by itself. It’s a nice in between for those of us who want to show our shirts but don’t necessarily want to feature a model. 

Food packaging

930g steel can mock-up action

Of course, you can see this template being used for any type of coffee can out there. I think there are many uses for this piece, and it’s even better as a scalable action. 

Paper chip bag mock-up

 You may developing the brand design for a new line of chips, popcorn, pretzels or etc. This is the mock-up action for you.

Paper cup PSD and action

Well, we all know what this is for and how to use it. This coffee cup mock-up is great if you want to try new designs or if you need a realistic version of a brand already well known. 

Photoshop PSD packaging

This page features an ice cream carton, two food bags, an two types of jars. This is great for your food packaging and can be scaled, as they’re vectors. 

Wine bottle mock-up PSD

Designers are becoming more and more creative when it comes to creating wine labels. They aren’t just regular rectangular stickers any more. In order to get a good visual on them, here’s a great scalable mock-up for wine bottles. 

Wine Bottle Photoshop Action

Perhaps you don’t want a black bottle for your wine. Or perhaps you find a PSD too hard to work with. This Photoshop action creates a vectored wine bottle for any of your uses. 

Miscellaneous

Wallet CD Mockup

CD and DVD packaging is an extremely important part of print designing for some clients. Though this is a specialized version of CD/DVD packaging, it’s definitely worth having to offer a professional presentation and a new idea.

Visa credit card mock-up

You never know what you’ll get into designing as your career progresses. Your next project may just be a credit card design! Now, with this mock-up you’ll be more than prepared for that. 

13 free professional mock-ups vol. 1

If you’d like a little more consistency between your mock-ups, this may be a great pack for you. It’s great for corporate/branding identifications and includes mock-ups for business cards, CD’s, clear cards, boxing and more. 

3D box generator

This Photoshop action can transform your designs into a 3D box in a matter of seconds. This is great for those of us creating a simple package for anything from food to software. 

What are some of your favorite mock-up templates? Do you have any to share? Let us know in the comments.

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Micro-display LED tech could light up the next generation of face-wearable gadgets.

A tiny head-mounted display, like the one in Google Glass, will only be useful if you can see on-screen alerts and information clearly. And that’s tricky to achieve, especially without draining battery life—as Google notes, it can be hard to use Glass’s projected display in bright sunlight.

You don’t know until you try.

This is what the leaders behind Computing Education for the 21^st Century (CE21-Maryland) have figured out. Drs. Marie desJardins, Penny Rheingans, and Susan Martin say that removing the mystery and misconceptions surrounding Computer Science is the key to getting more women and minorities to purse careers in the field.  

Historically, Computer Science has been dominated by white males. Just take a look at the numbers. In 2010-11 only 12.7% of computing degrees went to women. A mere 4.6% of Computer Science graduates were African Americans and 6.5% were Hispanics.

It’s not that women and minorities are no good at Computer Science.  It’s that they often think they’re no good. When you walk into a classroom and no one looks like you, it’s easy to feel like you don’t belong.

Dr. Marie desJardins, a CSEE professor, gives one part of the explanation for this trend. “Youth gaming culture is really dominating Computer Science majors,” she says. Boys who love video games naturally gravitate to Computer Science in college. Women aren’t typically avid gamers. Instead, they tend to gravitate towards social careers–not something they associate with the field of Computer Science.

Herein lies the problem: most of us don’t know what computer scientists actually do. “There are some iconic careers that we understand,” says CSEE Professor Penny Rheingans. “We know what doctors do. We know what lawyers do. But, nobody knows what Computer Scientists do.”

Only by experiencing the discipline firsthand will kids understand if the field is for them. Take Dr. Rheingans, who was headed down the path to becoming a lawyer when she took a Computer Science class: “And I fell in love,” she says. It was hard and sometimes frustrating, but that challenge got her hooked. “Not enough students have the opportunity to experience that.”

Even if women and minorities want to take Computer Science, they don’t always have the opportunity in high school. Throughout Maryland, inconsistent curriculum and spotty availability has made it hard for students to be introduced to the subject.  

Computer Science is not a graduation requirement, nor is it even offered at every Maryland high school. Most schools offer it as an elective like ceramics or woodshop. Since the class doesn’t count for credit, those students– who aren’t otherwise encouraged by parents, or a longstanding love of computers–don’t have much incentive to take it.

Computers are becoming an increasingly ubiquitous part of our lives. As such, Dr. desJardins thinks that Computer Science should be a requirement for high school students. “We make them take Government, Math, Science, and English. But, we don’t make them take Computer Science—but it’s the fastest growing job market of any discipline,” she says. “I think it’s morally wrong that we’re not teaching children how to master this technology.”

In March 2012, Drs. desJardins, Rheingans, and Martin formed CE21-Maryland to get a deeper understanding of the shortcomings of Computer Science education in Maryland, and to help solve this problem. The group is supported by NSF’s Computing Education for the 21^st Century (CE21) program.

Last August, CE21-Maryland held its first mini-summit to raise awareness of these issues among Computer Science high school teachers across the state. The summit successfully helped establish connections among teachers who share this passion for change. “Having a community is absolutely important to helping empower people,” says Dr. Rheingans, who has proven the importance of community first-hand as the director of UMBC’s Center for Women in Technology (CWIT).

On May 17, CE21-Maryland will hold its second Summit for Computing Education. Teachers, administrators, legislators, and industry leaders will gather at UMBC to explore these issues, network, and discuss plans for increasing the number and diversity of students studying Computer Science in our state.

The summit will include a college student panel, where current computing majors will share their journey to becoming Computer Science majors. One session will take a look at the AP CS Principles course, a proposed AP course being developed by the College Board and National Science Foundation, with pilots offered around the country.

Dr. desJardins realizes that recognizing the Computer Science curriculum problem is a lot easier than fixing it.  “It’s a chicken or the egg problem,” she says. Regulating Computer Science classes across the state can’t happen until teachers are trained to teach it. Training is not likely to happen unless enrollment increases. CE21-Maryland envisions a two-pronged approach to train teachers and make connections with legislators who can make a difference.

The women behind CE21-Maryland are working hard to change the compostion of Computer Science majors. But, why?

“First of all it’s a numbers problem. Second of all it’s a diversity problem,” explains Dr. Rheingans. By 2018, nearly 40,000 new computing-related jobs will be available in Maryland each year. But, only about 2,000 bachelor’s degrees in computing and information systems are awarded by Maryland institutions annually. Recruiting more women and minorities to the major will help satisfy the huge need for computing majors in the future.   

But, perhaps more importantt is the chance to add diversity to the next generation of technological problem-solvers. “Different perspectives leads you to stronger, more robust solutions,” she says.

The same researchers previously mapped racist Tweets about President Obama. In both cases there’s reason to be a little skeptical.

Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.

Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.

To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot

Willem Besselinkt turns data into 3D displays http://depot.ly/kTLw6

Men’s Health Magazine got redesigned. Find out more about it here: http://depot.ly/kTOrF  via @SPDtweets

And a good one from Adobe: how it reinvented the pen to draw on the Internet http://depot.ly/kTJTD

10 handy tips for learning a new technology via @nettuts – http://depot.ly/kTLdP

Ouch! Google+ Users Spent an Average of About 7 Minutes on the Site in March http://depot.ly/kTJ5i

Apple Climbs To Sixth Place On Fortune 500 List, While Facebook Makes Its First Appearance http://depot.ly/kQskm

How to Stop Fearing Your Superpowers http://depot.ly/kQrzR

Illustrated Aliens Series: Everyday a New Alien by Andy Martin, the Handymartian http://depot.ly/kJid2

Hip illustrations by Andrés Ariza http://depot.ly/kJi8b

A Case For Why Green Design Must Be Beautiful http://depot.ly/kJhSE  *Great read via @FastCoDesign

 Quick Tip: The Character Panel in Adobe Illustrator http://depot.ly/kJhD5  /@vectortuts

Follow The Blogs You Love In One Place With Bloglovin http://depot.ly/kJhjH

 6 advanced business terms all freelancers should know (or risk looking stupid) http://depot.ly/kJhdD

How I Work: IDEO’s Duane Bray On Creating Great Digital Experiences http://depot.ly/kJgTj  *Cool @smashingmag interview

Designing gaming websites – a primer http://depot.ly/kJgRD

Cool tricks http://depot.ly/kJgLe  3D Inset Parallax Effect

25 Outstanding Google Fonts for Web Design http://depot.ly/kJhaZ

The Loop Holes in Google Glass http://depot.ly/kJgC6

What are Responsive Websites made of? http://depot.ly/kJgz6  via @guypod

 Want more? No problem! Keep track of all our tweets by following us @DesignerDepot

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Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.

Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.

To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot

Willem Besselinkt turns data into 3D displays http://depot.ly/kTLw6

Men’s Health Magazine got redesigned. Find out more about it here: http://depot.ly/kTOrF  via @SPDtweets

And a good one from Adobe: how it reinvented the pen to draw on the Internet http://depot.ly/kTJTD

10 handy tips for learning a new technology via @nettuts – http://depot.ly/kTLdP

Ouch! Google+ Users Spent an Average of About 7 Minutes on the Site in March http://depot.ly/kTJ5i

Apple Climbs To Sixth Place On Fortune 500 List, While Facebook Makes Its First Appearance http://depot.ly/kQskm

How to Stop Fearing Your Superpowers http://depot.ly/kQrzR

Illustrated Aliens Series: Everyday a New Alien by Andy Martin, the Handymartian http://depot.ly/kJid2

Hip illustrations by Andrés Ariza http://depot.ly/kJi8b

A Case For Why Green Design Must Be Beautiful http://depot.ly/kJhSE  *Great read via @FastCoDesign

 Quick Tip: The Character Panel in Adobe Illustrator http://depot.ly/kJhD5  /@vectortuts

Follow The Blogs You Love In One Place With Bloglovin http://depot.ly/kJhjH

 6 advanced business terms all freelancers should know (or risk looking stupid) http://depot.ly/kJhdD

How I Work: IDEO’s Duane Bray On Creating Great Digital Experiences http://depot.ly/kJgTj  *Cool @smashingmag interview

Designing gaming websites – a primer http://depot.ly/kJgRD

Cool tricks http://depot.ly/kJgLe  3D Inset Parallax Effect

25 Outstanding Google Fonts for Web Design http://depot.ly/kJhaZ

The Loop Holes in Google Glass http://depot.ly/kJgC6

What are Responsive Websites made of? http://depot.ly/kJgz6  via @guypod

 Want more? No problem! Keep track of all our tweets by following us @DesignerDepot

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