A mockup is a human-made representational artifact — a static or interactive model that shows how a designed system, interface, or object will appear in its final form. It is not a working prototype; rather, it is a fidelity-bound visualization used for stakeholder communication, usability feedback, and design iteration. Its parameters are: (1) it is a constructed representation, not the thing itself; (2) it fixes appearance and layout while deliberately omitting or stubbing operational behavior; (3) it persists through documentation, image files, or interactive design files that designers and stakeholders reference. Its persistence mechanism is the design workflow — mockups survive as artifacts in design tooling and as shared references across team members. [formal: mockup | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
mockup
A mockup is a human-made representational artifact — a static or interactive model that shows how a designed system, interface, or object will appear in its final form. It is not a working prototype; rather, it is a fidelity-bound visualiz…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made design artifact: a static visual representation of a product or interface, showing layout, typography, and visual elements without interactivity, used to communicate design intent.
Names and aliases
- mockupen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrrew7bi01etq89d4mrejdj1INSTANCE_OF →
A mockup is a specific kind of prototype — a high-fidelity model that represents the appearance and layout of a design without full interactivity. Competent-speaker test: 'a mockup is a type of prototype.' The nearest kind is prototype (not just model or representation, which are broader).
- cmrc6dopv00jba9g4op1ivbb1SERVES →
A mockup is built for the sake of communication — it exists to convey design ideas visually to stakeholders before full development. Law 8d: the mockup serves the communication process.
- cmrssifjh00bk145rcznrefirINSTANCE_OF →
A mockup is a specific kind of artifact — a tangible representation created to explore, communicate, or evaluate a design concept. A competent designer would call a mockup an artifact of the design process.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Aug 6, 2026, 3:18 PM UTC
- Content hash
- ce49e0b011ca221543d94412ad0745ffd4c70a2cc479d5b98fc9b3b59f14a464