A mockup is a useful tool for designers in both the engineering of a physical product and/or software. When engineering a physical product, a mockup is a model made from cheap materials in a short period of time to give an idea about how the product is going to look and how it can be handled. [1]
In software engineering it is used to brainstorm or figure out what needs to be built and can be used to define expectations and objectives. [2] Mockups first appeared in physical design engineering but were soon adopted in military and aerospace engineering as well as it was a useful tool to show, market and test new designs. In the new online age mockups are also often used in software engineering to show how a webpage is going to look before it is developed. [3]
Mockup for physical designs as used in military, aerospace, industrial design engineering and systems engineering is used mainly in big projects. This is done to test a preliminary design, for example to test aerodynamics or human interaction with the design by training. It can also be used to make reliability and maintainability visible, to convey a design, and as a marketing tool [1]. The latter one is especially applicable in industrial design engineering.
