Free Billboard Mockups from a needed inspiration walk

Designers and art-workers in Germany alike, have you ever scoured the internet for the perfect billboard mockup, only to come up short? Especially when aiming for one that looks like it could be placed in Germany?

I kept encountering this problem but never gave it much thought until the perfect storm of frustration and boredom came to fruition one day during the pandemic. That's when I decided to take a walk, camera in hand, with multiple purposes in mind: to work on my 10k steps, mental health, and to tackle the idea of creating my own billboard mockups.

I took it to the streets of Schöneberg, south of Berlin, where I live. I wanted to capture authentic scenes but with no people around. I am not an expert, but I believe you can’t post pictures that easy if you don’t have explicit permission from the subjects. Hence I waited until bus stops were empty, streets quiet or no cars passed by.

It was just a tiny adventure, I did feel a bit embarrassed by how “crazy” I looked, taking pictures to posters??? I couldn’t help feeling awkward when people would stare at me. I slowly built more confidence by thinking that they are just probably more curious than anything. So I continued. That is until I was too cold and decided to head back home.

During the pandemic we were asked to stay home as much as possible and not mix up with too many people. It has been very hard for me to be reduced to such a small world. But if I am honest, now that we are out of it and things are relatively back to normal, I am still struggling to get out of the comfort of my home if I don’t have a set purpose for it. Groceries, meeting friends, the gym or work. But just to go out for a walk by myself with no agenda or purpose, is still a struggle. One that I want to dominate of course. 

There are many difficult things and feelings that the pandemic has brought to us but some positive ones I do want to keep. Such as going for a walk alone for the sake of it or even coming up with ideas to gamify this good habits for myself.

I arrived back home with cold cheeks and a sense of feeling accomplished. I let those picture sit for months, actually, years. 

Earlier this year, I needed to use the old SD card with the same camera and noticed that I still had those pictures. I had some free time in the next few days so I decided to select, edit and build usable mockups. 

Today, with Midjourney/ AI you can probably prompt the right scenario anyways. Still, I want to share the result with all of you. Who knows, they might be useful for someone.