Design Nomenclature / Physical Model Making
Mockup
Also called mock-up, sketch model, study model, maquette
A stand-in built to answer one question — does it fit, does it read, is it the right size — with no obligation to work or to be made of the right material. Its value is entirely speed and disposability. A mockup that took a week to build stopped being a mockup somewhere around Tuesday.
Not to be confused with
- PrototypeStrictly, the first article made to test whether a design works. The word has been diluted until it means any model at all, including renders and slide decks. Insist on the qualifier: a functional prototype proves mechanism, an appearance prototype proves nothing about mechanism, and a production prototype proves the tooling.
- Appearance modelA model built to be indistinguishable from the finished product in every visible respect and functional in none. Surfaces, seams, colour and weight are right; the inside is a block. It pairs with a works-like model, which is ugly and does everything — the split exists because one object rarely does both jobs well.
Origin
Maquette is the French for a small preliminary model, from Italian macchia, a sketch or blot — the same root as a painter's rough. It carries the sculptor's sense: scale study, not deliverable.