The Tool That Changes the Game for Product Display Mockups

In this tutorial, we’re focusing on a website called Pacdora, which allows you to create unlimited product display mockups quickly and easily. All you need are three things: a mockup, a dieline, and a design. And guess what? This website gives you all of them.

You’ll get access to a huge library of packaging mockups, including:

• Box mockups
  
• Bottle and jug mockups
  
• Food packaging mockups
  
• Pouch mockups
  
• Jar, can, tube mockups
  
• And over 2900 dielines
  

What Is a Dieline in Packaging?

If you’re unfamiliar, a dieline is the layout or outline of a package when it’s unfolded. It’s what designers use to craft their package design accurately. Think of it as the blueprint of your box or pouch.

The beauty of the Pacdora platform is that it allows you to use these dielines and wrap your designs around them using 3D visualization. You can even create scenes that place your product in real-life settings.

Let’s Create a Product Display Mockup from Scratch

Head over to the Mockup Generator section of the website. You’ll find various categories: boxes, bottles, jars, food pouches, cans—you name it. Choose one according to your needs and click “Edit.”

You’ll then be taken to a 3D workspace where you can rotate the mockup, view it from different angles, and tweak it however you like.

Customize Sizes and Materials

On the sidebar, you’ll find options to change the size of your product display mockups. Each change instantly reflects in your workspace. You’ll also find material settings that determine the lighting and texture of your product. From matte to glossy to metallic—each material impacts the design’s look and feel.

Background and Animation Settings for Maximum Appeal

Head over to the “Background” tab to change your 3D environment. You can choose from:

• Gradients
  
• Solid colors
  
• Uploaded images
  

And yes, you can even animate your mockup. Just click the “Video” tab and pick from predefined animations to bring your product display mockups to life.

Uploading Your Design to the Mockup

To apply your own design to the product mockup, click on the Upload option. You’ll see the dieline on one side and a preview of your design on the other.

Import your custom design, adjust it to the dieline properly, and save it. The 3D view will now show your design wrapped around the product display mockups!

You can continue tweaking the design in 3D view, including its size, position, and perspective.

Take It Further: Create Realistic 3D Scenes

Now let’s get creative. Click on the 3D Design section to create custom scenes with your product. Choose a scene template, and the tool will automatically place your designed product into it.

Want to add more models? Use the Models tab to insert additional products and arrange them to create your ideal composition. Move, rotate, and transform each item to build visually impressive product display mockups.

Add Props, Assets, and Lighting Effects

In the Assets section, you’ll find props like cubes and platforms that you can add to your scene. These are perfect for placing products or adding dimension.

There’s even an option to use a transparent background, allowing you to export your mockup as a clean PNG image.

Then comes the Lighting tab. Here, you can switch between various light modes:

• Moonlight
  
• Skyfire
  
• Sunlight
  
• Snow World
  

And in the Advanced Lighting settings, you can control the direction, intensity, and warmth of your light sources—ensuring your product display mockups look stunning in any environment.

Rendering and Exporting Your Mockup

Once you’re satisfied with the design, click Super Render to download your mockup as a JPG or PNG in different orientations.

Want to keep the dieline for your next design? Use the Super Export feature to download it in three formats:

• PNG
  
• AI (for Adobe Illustrator)
  
• DFA (for AutoCAD)
  

There’s even an option to export the animation as a video—great for client presentations or Instagram content.

Designing with Dielines: The Right Way

Let’s talk about creating designs using dielines. Choose a dieline PDF and convert it to JPG using any free online tool.

Each dieline uses three color codes:

• Green – Bleed Area: Keep all design elements inside this boundary.
  
• Blue – Safe Area: Place your important content (logos, text, etc.) within this space.
  
• Red – Crease/Fold: This is where the box will fold.
  

Once you understand these areas, you can start adding design elements using tools like Canva. From patterns to brand logos, arrange everything precisely within the dieline.

Download the final design as a PNG (with transparent background), and upload your product display mockups back into Pacdora. Adjust it over the dieline in the mockup editor—and boom! Your design now wraps perfectly around the product.

If you want to know more about product display mockups, click here.

Inside and Outside Design Capabilities

Not only can you design the outer part of the package, but the platform also allows you to customize the inside of the box as well—offering a complete product display mockup experience.

Real-World Earning Potential with Product Display Mockups

With a tool like this, you can start offering packaging design services on freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.

Brands and agencies often pay $100 or more for quality mockups. You can even reach out to local businesses, as every product-based business understands the value of packaging—sometimes, they’ll pay your quoted price without negotiation if the design meets their expectations.

Bonus: No After Effects or Complex Software Needed

In the past, people used to create packaging designs manually, then animate them using After Effects. Now, with platforms like Pacdora, you can do all of this in 5 to 10 minutes—no extra software or animation skills required.

All the features mentioned in this blog are available in their $1 per month plan (about ₹50), and their annual plan costs approximately ₹500.

Final Thoughts: A Goldmine for Aspiring Designers

If you’re a graphic designer—or planning to become one—this website is a goldmine. From dielines to mockups to 3D scenes and animations, it offers everything you need to create professional-grade product display mockups in minutes.

Start practicing, create a portfolio, and begin charging clients for something that’s both creative and profitable. The market is ready. Are you?

Spotify’s algorithms show new genres to listeners, curated to their preferences and previous search hits. The information is displayed on an intuitive layout, the user journey is so smooth that even first-time users will enjoy their time here. Why do we like it? Because of its dark interface, it’s such a relief for the eyes. 

The brand managed to maintain a cohesive structure over the years, despite adding new artists and albums to the platform. Also, its responsive design and easy navigation allow you to have a seamless experience on any device you are streaming music. 

In this blog, we will analyze some modern UI designs and how brands implement them in their branding.

Interactive 3D Elements

Interactive 3D elements enhance user engagement by allowing real-time manipulation of objects within the interface, providing a more immersive experience.

Brand Implementation:

• Nike: Nike’s product pages now feature 3D models of sneakers as a modern UI design that users can rotate and zoom, offering a tactile shopping experience. This approach bridges the gap between online and in-store shopping.
  
• Cognito: Cognito’s homepage showcases morphing 3D avatars that respond to user interactions, creating a dynamic and personalized browsing experience. This is another nod to interactive 3D elements, as modern UI designs.
  
• Implementing interactive 3D requires balancing visual appeal with performance optimization. Tools like WebGL are utilized to ensure smooth interactions without compromising load times.

These modern UI designs provide a hands-on feel, making digital interactions more engaging and informative, especially when evaluating products online.

AI-Powered Adaptive Modern UI Designs

AI-driven interfaces adapt to user behavior, preferences, and context, offering a personalized user experience.

Brand Implementation:

• Pinterest: Pinterest’s interface dynamically adjusts the layout and content based on user interactions, ensuring that the displayed pins align with the user’s interests and browsing history.
  

Designing for AI adaptability involves creating flexible components that can rearrange and resize based on algorithmic decisions, ensuring consistency across various user scenarios.

Users benefit from modern UI designs where content feels curated, reducing the effort needed to find relevant information or products.

Kinetic Typography

Kinetic typography involves animating text to convey messages dynamically, enhancing storytelling and user engagement.

Brand Implementation:

• Mailchimp: Mailchimp employs animated headings and call-to-action buttons that guide the user’s attention and make the interface more lively and interactive.
  
• Hello Monday: Their website features flowing text animations that create a narrative experience, making content consumption more engaging. While working on brand packaging, designers need to focus on modern ui designs.
  

Incorporating kinetic typography requires careful timing and motion design to ensure that animations enhance readability and do not distract the user.

Animated text elements make interfaces feel modern and can help in emphasizing key information, improving overall comprehension.

Progressive Blur Effects

Progressive blurs are used to create depth and focus within an interface, subtly guiding user attention to active elements.

Brand Implementation:

• Notion: Notion uses background blurs in modal windows to keep the user’s focus on the active task while maintaining context with the underlying content.
  
• Dropbox: Dropbox applies blur effects to dropdowns and tooltips, enhancing visual hierarchy without overwhelming the user.
  

Implementing blur effects requires balancing aesthetics with performance, ensuring that the visual enhancements do not hinder interface responsiveness.

These modern UI designs help in focusing attention and reducing visual clutter, making interactions more intuitive.

Bento Grid Layouts

Bento grids organize content into modular, asymmetric blocks, allowing for a dynamic and responsive layout that enhances content discoverability.

Pinterest: Pinterest’s adoption of bento grid layouts allows for a more flexible and visually engaging presentation of pins, adapting seamlessly to various screen sizes.

Designing bento grids involves creating a system that accommodates diverse content types while maintaining visual harmony and responsiveness.

Users experience a more organized and aesthetically pleasing interface, making content exploration more enjoyable with these modern UI designs.

Modern Skeuomorphism (Neumorphism)

Modern skeuomorphism, or neumorphism, combines the tactile feel of skeuomorphism with the simplicity of flat design, using soft shadows and gradients to create depth.

Brand Implementation:

• Apple: Apple’s iOS apps incorporate neumorphic elements, such as buttons and sliders with subtle shadows, enhancing the tactile experience without compromising minimalism.
  
• Sony: Sony applies neumorphism in its music and gaming apps, providing a soft, tactile interface that enhances user interaction.
  

Neumorphism and related typography requires meticulous attention to lighting and shadow to create a realistic yet subtle 3D effect that aligns with modern design sensibilities.

The tactile visuals make interfaces feel more interactive and intuitive, improving user satisfaction.

High-Fidelity Illustrations & Character-Led Interfaces

Detailed illustrations and character-driven designs add personality to interfaces, fostering emotional connections with users.

Brand Implementation:

• Mailchimp: Mailchimp uses expressive illustrations in success messages and error prompts, making interactions more personable and less transactional.
  
• Cognito: Cognito’s onboarding process features animated characters that guide users through the setup, creating a friendly and engaging experience.
  

Creating high-fidelity illustrations involves a balance between artistic expression and functional clarity, ensuring that visuals enhance rather than distract from the user experience.

Character-led modern UI designs make interfaces feel more approachable and can simplify complex processes through visual storytelling.

Scroll-Driven Narrative Interfaces

Scroll-driven narratives transform the scrolling action into a storytelling mechanism, where content and visuals evolve seamlessly as the user navigates.

Brand Implementation:

• Hello Monday: Their website employs scroll-triggered animations and transitions that guide users through a narrative journey, enhancing engagement.
  
• Dropbox: Dropbox’s case study pages utilize scroll-based storytelling to present information in a structured and compelling manner.
  

Designing scroll-driven narratives requires a cohesive flow of content and visuals, ensuring that each scroll action contributes meaningfully to the user’s understanding.

This approach provides an immersive experience, making content consumption more interactive and memorable.

The modern UI designs are characterized by a blend of user-centric approaches. Brands that effectively implement these trends not only enhance visual appeal but also improve functionality and user satisfaction. As a graphic designer, understanding these trends thoughtfully can lead to more engaging and effective designs. For users, these innovations translate to more intuitive, personalized, and enjoyable digital experiences.

1. Plastic-less packaging 

Although multiple industries use plastic for product packaging, the cosmetic and personal care industry is among the top five. The carbon footprint is significant, as people cannot recycle the tubes. Brands like Lush are changing the narrative by introducing “bare” packaging. The shampoo bars, bath bombs, and personal hygiene products promote plastic-free, sustainable packaging design. This encourages people to rethink their shopping habits and urges brands to reduce single-use plastic packages. 

2. Mono-material packaging 

Earlier, brands used to combine different materials for luxury or fragile product packaging. However, this causes friction for consumers because it is difficult to dispose of/ recycle these packages. Companies could not claim eco-friendliness because the packaging may include non-recyclable materials. 

Monomaterial packaging addresses this issue by using a recyclable material like paper or cardboard as a substrate. These elements are recyclable, allowing people to reuse them for multiple purposes. We already see this packaging on Pepsico products, as the brand replaced the plastic rings on multipacks with paperboard carriers. 

Kraft Heinz has also introduced recyclable ketchup caps consisting of a single type of plastic. In the earlier versions, the caps were made from different materials, which made it difficult to recycle the entire bottle.  

3. Seaweed-based packaging 

Seaweed-based packaging is becoming an option for sustainable packaging for food, as an alternative to conventional methods. Compared to plastic foam, seaweed is bioavailable and can protect food from decay. Being completely compostable, people love this sustainable packaging design, compared to single-use plastics. Notpla partnered with Just Eat first to introduce this innovative concept in 2019. 

4. Compostable packaging 

Compostable packaging is one of the best sustainable packaging ideas to date. We have seen shopping bags made out of paper, which people can throw in the organic waste bin when done with them. Reformation is taking this a step further by introducing paper cloth hangers to minimize plastic and landfill pollution. 

5. Plantable packaging 

What’s more zero-waste, eco-friendly than plantable packaging? People can plant the seeds after consuming the product. Pangea Organics was the first brand to launch this idea, however, its dedication toward sustainability is top-tier. The bags are compostable, and the products can be planted in the garden.  

6. Edible packaging 

Edible cups and storage containers are the best options for sustainable packaging for food. Have they finished eating the food? Well, they can eat the containers too, maybe later on. No landfill, no compost, no headache. Although many brands are doing this, Evoware and Cupffee come to mind. Cupffee introduced non-GMO and heat-resistant coffee cups, and Evoware uses seaweed to create edible sandwich wrappers. However, this concept has been used by many fashion brands; TAMGA Designs is a notable mention. 

7. Mushroom packaging 

Mushroom packaging might sound like another sustainable packaging material for food, but it has other uses. Heavy electronics manufacturers use it as an alternative to polystyrene to protect their products from damage. This packaging is sturdy, recyclable, and flexible, making it the best choice for shipping these products internationally.    

8. Corrugated packaging 

In this sustainable packaging design, brands utilize fibres from trees and old containers to package products. Depending on the product, these containers can be used up to 5-7 times. We see this packaging in e-commerce, especially during shipping. These sustainable packaging materials may reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50%.  

9. Recycled packaging 

Here, brands use recycled materials to package products. Yes, these materials are recycled after being in the market. This way we can reuse natural resources, incorporate sustainable packaging design in every aspect, and reduce waste in landfills.  

10. Cellulose packaging 

Cellulose is also considered among the top sustainable packaging materials, especially for the food industry. It has minimal impact on the environment and can be reused because it can resist moisture and prevent damage, especially during long-distance travel. 

11. Furoshiki 

Furoshiki is a Japan-inspired sustainable packaging idea, in which the product is packed using cloth. The goal is to reuse old but beautiful clothes for packaging, instead of wrapping paper or plastic. Fashion brands have already embraced this concept to create beautiful and thoughtful packaging. Would you prefer doing this for your brand? 

12. Eco-friendly packaging 

This is an amalgamation of sustainable design packaging that includes cornstarch, kraft paper, ocean waste packaging, and returnable packaging. Cornstarch is used to package dry fruits, as an alternative to bubble wrap and Styrofoam. Brands that want to establish themselves as environmentally conscious. 

Kraft paper is created with wood pulp, especially pine wood, to create sustainable packaging designs. The Kraft paper can come in different sizes, can be customized as per brand guidelines and style.   

The cleaning product brand Take Method, in collaboration with Envision Plastics, created soap bottles from the plastic dumped into the ocean. Consumers love this packaging because it allows them to reuse the bottles for a long time.

Coca-Cola first introduced Plant Bottle, a plant-based plastic bottle, to reduce its carbon footprint and its role in plastic pollution. The bottle is prepared with plant chemicals (mainly corn), and can be reused by consumers.

13. Plant-based sustainable packaging 

Green cell foam is also considered a plant-based packaging. The bio foam is created using corn and is mainly used to package industrial products (to create an air pillow). The foam will dissolve easily with water, thus making it an eco-friendly option.  

14. Recycled apparel packaging 

Recycled apparel packaging focuses on reducing the over-reliance on virgin plastic and chemical-based dyes. We know the fashion industry has been struggling with the usage of these chemical dyes, and was looking for alternatives. Patagonia was the first to use soy-based inks and recycled content in product packaging, thus fully embracing the concept of sustainable packaging designs. 

15. Paper-based packaging 

Paper is highly regarded among sustainable packaging materials and has been used to replace plastic packaging. It is biodegradable, recyclable, and durable, which makes it a top packaging material for e-commerce, food, or transport. 

If you want a high-quality, transparent paper to package products, you can rely on glassine. It is a smooth and glossy paper, consisting of biodegradable wood pulp. It is safe for us and the environment, and does not react with external materials. Unlike other materials, it is pH-neutral and free from acids, which makes it the best option for wrapping luxury items, like candles. 

Nowadays, brands are focusing on sustainable packaging design ideas to position themselves as eco-conscious. They are using reusable and environment-friendly materials to wrap products and help consumers lead a mindful life. This includes using paper, green cell foam, seaweed, and mushrooms, among other materials. Many brands think that utility and sustainability do not go together, however, they are wrong. With intelligent product packaging design, you can combine these concepts and help your brand connect with people instantaneously.