They can also be used for public display and demonstration purposes prior to the development of a prototype, as with the case of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II mock-up aircraft. In this context, mockups include wire-frame models. Mockups are often used to test human factors and aerodynamics, for example. Mockups are part of the military acquisition process. A large selection of proprietary or open-source software tools are available for this purpose. In many cases it is best to design or prototype the user interface before source code is written or hardware is built, to avoid having to go back and make expensive changes.Įarly layouts of a World Wide Web site or pages are often called mockups.
A software prototype, on the other hand, will look and work just like the real thing. A software mockup will thus look like the real thing, but will not do useful work beyond what the user sees.
Mockups, wireframes and prototypes are not so cleanly distinguished in software and systems engineering, where mockups are a way of designing user interfaces on paper or in computer images. They can also be used to test consumer reaction. Mockups are used in the automotive device industry as part of the product development process, where dimensions, overall impression, and shapes are tested in a wind tunnel experiment.
Boeing 2707 mockup at the Hiller Aviation Museum
