In the context of user interface design, a mockup is a prototype version of the interface, created with the purpose of establishing the design direction, demonstrating or documenting the functionality, and validating the usability.
A UI mockup is likely to contain no actual art aside from basic geometric shapes, placeholder icons and text labels. Thanks to their simplicity and fast turnarounds, mockups allow for quick iterations on different layouts and ways of surfacing information to the players.
Take a look at a simple yet effective wire-frame mockup created by one of SpaceApe's in-house UI and UX experts:
Following that, we ...
