There’s a moment just before sunrise when the world feels like it’s exhaling. And on one oddly chilly morning, that moment involved two old garden chairs, a poorly-frothed espresso, and a quiet conviction that our next mockup collection needed to feel alive.
That morning became the seed for what you now know as the Arbor Collection.
We don’t usually get sentimental about the objects in our scenes. But this one—this was different.
It Started With Burnout
After releasing back-to-back collections packed with digital screens, white studio floors, and soft gradients, something in us snapped. We weren’t tired of mockups—we were tired of sterile ones. The kind that look perfect but feel nothing. We missed the unpredictable beauty of light hitting leaves, the mess of real life. Something with breath in it.
Cue: the lawn.
The lawn wasn’t a design decision at first. It was necessity. It was the only place in the house where natural light hit uninterrupted between 5:30 and 7:00 a.m. It also happened to be where the two garden chairs lived—weathered, chipped, and quietly iconic.
We brought our laptops out there to test CGI lighting for another scene. But what happened instead was a question:
What if this was the scene?
No Studio, Just Stillness
We didn’t want a mockup that shouted. We wanted one that whispered. Something where your product could look like it belonged in a moment—not staged, not screaming “look at me”—but settled in.
The Arbor Collection became that moment.
We built the entire thing in CGI, of course—every blade of grass, every chair groove, every morning haze digitally sculpted. But we made it feel like you were standing barefoot with coffee in hand. The light is real because it’s believable, not because it was captured by a lens.
Designing a Scene, Not Just a Mockup
There’s a big difference between making a mockup and creating a scene.
With Arbor, we weren’t just showcasing products. We were telling a story:
Who lives here?
What do they care about?
Why would this mug, this tote bag, this hoodie—matter to them here?
The scene had to hold 18 different products, each in multiple mockup variations. That meant every object placement, every angle, had to feel purposeful. You’ll see that the front chair always holds the spotlight product. The chair behind? It’s for depth, for story. Sometimes there’s a folded throw. Sometimes it’s empty, like someone just got up.
There’s a shadow of a tree just off-screen. You can’t see the tree—but you feel it.
Espresso, Real and Imagined
The espresso machine was real. And it barely worked. But that warm cup at dawn became part of the ritual that shaped Arbor’s tone. We didn’t rush it. We didn’t over-edit. We weren’t chasing perfection. We were chasing peace.
That’s the energy we hope your customers feel when they see your design on one of these mockups.
The Results
Arbor became our most downloaded outdoor-themed collection within the first month.
More importantly, we got DMs from POD sellers saying:
“This feels like something I’d see in my real life.”
“I want to be in this scene.”
“This made me want to redesign my product shots.”
That’s not just design. That’s direction. That’s art direction. And it matters.
Why It Was Worth It
It took weeks longer than planned. The chairs had to be remodeled multiple times to get that perfect “sun-faded” look. We rebuilt the grass texture three times to avoid that synthetic, plastic-y feel. And the lighting? Don’t get us started.
But all of it? Worth it.
Because Arbor wasn’t just another batch of clean, isolated product shots. It was a scene. A vibe. A mini story, yours to step into.
And that’s what we’re really building at Banana—not just mockups, but moments worth sharing.