What was the result – did your client just like one design, or a bit from each?

Another good concern. I name the mockups something completely different to help fix that, although I’ve run into that problem before too.

Some recent names I used were “Biggie”, “Coastal”, and “Breathing Room.” They all had something to do with the design, but weren’t like “Design #1″, “Design #2″. They hinted at what the design looked like.

Yes, some clients do want to see multiple mockups, but I do find it confuses the process.

I had one case where the client had signed-off the design, but would often talk about an alternative design we had explored. He was confused as to which design we were working on!

That doesn’t mean you have to spend hours in Photoshop making the design pixel perfect. Take 20 minutes and sketch it out and let the client have a choice of the general layout because you go into Photoshop or the code.

I find this to be a better way because if the client is truly unhappy with your original design, the rest of the steps you listed are just like building on a leaky foundation.

With those few different designs – are they full graphic mockups?

I agree that you should always send work to the client you’re happy with.

I might even now still do a few different designs and see where they take me, some I delete and throw away in frustration or I end up with a few I like, but still only send one on to the client.

If you follow the brief and add things you feel would be of benefit, you only need one design (in theory!).

Don’t confuse the client.