Look Mock Analyze Template

About the Look, Mock, Analyze Template

Our Look, Mock, Analyze Template makes it easy to quickly create designs and get valuable feedback from your team. With this powerful tool, you’ll be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses, what you did right or wrong, and whether you spent your time efficiently.

What is the Look, Mock, Analyze approach?

Look, Mock, Analyze is a method that allows you to discover inspiration, create mockups, and analyze your designs. When developing a new product or starting work on a new design, it’s crucial for you to understand what customers want and to communicate your vision. But it’s equally important to learn what has already been done. This can help you find common patterns and gather additional inspiration.

Benefits of using the Look, Mock, Analyze Template

Here are a few ways this simple three-step process can help your design team:

Seek inspiration. Creating new designs can be tricky, especially if you’re stuck in a creative rut. The initial step in the Look, Mock, Analyze method is dedicated solely to finding unique, inspiring ideas. By looking externally for what you want your design to be, you can later collaborate on how to bring these new ideas to life.

Creates focus. Knowing where to start in the design process can be overwhelming. This template gives your team a broad idea of what design features they are aiming for and why. Based on these insights, everyone is aligned on where to focus their efforts and dedicate their time.

Collaborate with your team. Getting input and feedback from your team is a crucial part of the design process. It helps you see what’s working well and how things can be improved. Getting someone else's opinion can also help you see the small details you may have missed. By analyzing all the ideas you’ve gathered, your team can make a collective decision on the best design to pursue.

When to use the Look, Mock, Analyze Template

The Look, Mock, Analyze framework is especially useful for simplifying the design research process. It helps teams structure their research and analyze mockups when building any design concept. For example, you could use this template to come up with new designs for a mobile app or website. In one consolidated place, you can conduct research, gather references, sketch some ideas, and analyze the results. It’s that simple.

How to use the Look, Mock, Analyze Template

Step 1: Select this Look, Mock, Analyze Template and share your board with the rest of your design team. You can copy and send a team invite link or invite others from Slack or Gmail.

Step 2: Start with the “Look” section of your board. This is where you source reference materials and inspirational content. Add screenshots from the web using Chrome Extension or the Capture web page feature to collect your visual references. Your competitors and existing successful designs are a great place to start.

Step 3: Next, move on to the “Mock” section. This is the place for you to use your imagination and add your own design ideas to the board. Use your reference materials as a base, but add your own creative spin to the designs. This is the time for your team to get creative. Don’t be shy about adding a lot of ideas to the board, no matter how crazy they seem. This step is about creative brainstorming more than strategic thinking.

Step 4: Last but not least is the “Analyze” column. Here’s where your team analyzes all of the mockups and discusses the pros and cons of each. This crucial step calls for a lot of communication and collaboration. Add sticky notes, leave comments, and tag your team members to get your ideas across.

Example of an effective mock analysis

Let’s look at an example of how a team of UX designers could use the Look, Mock, Analyze Template for their design research. The UX design team has been asked to come up with an improved user interface for a mobile app.

Starting in the “Look” column, all the team members look for other apps that inspire them and that they think are designed well. They post links, take screenshots, and add any reference material that they think will help them.

Next, the team shares images of their own mockups. Taking the best features and designs from the reference material, they add diagrams, wireframes, sketches, and videos to the “Mock” section. The team now has a significant number of creative designs, some better than others. It’s time to analyze them.

The team collectively shares their feedback in real-time in the “Analyze” section of the board. Everyone is invited to share their analysis and why they think a design is particularly exciting or lacking. This is also the space for the team to take a deep dive into which designs are practical or not. Finally, the team votes on the best design ideas and collectively decides which ones to pursue.