Why Do Linked Kittl Mockups Keep Different Placement and Colors?

Separate the Shared Design From Its Mockup Views

A merchant may use one approved brand graphic across a ceramic mug, shopping bag, and packaging box. The graphic should contain the same updated wording, but its position and visual presentation may differ across those products.

Kittl's Mockup Generator allows multiple mockups to reference one artboard. Changes to that artboard refresh the attached mockups, while individual mockup positioning and settings remain separate.

To establish the documented connection, select the intended artboard before adding a mockup, and repeat with the same artboard for additional views. Adding one without the artboard selected can insert a placeholder instead of the intended design. Record the actual attached artboard before diagnosing a missed shared update.

This means an artwork revision and a placement revision have different scopes. Correcting a promotional phrase in the master design is a shared-content task. Moving the graphic higher on a shopping bag is a view-specific task.

Before editing, identify which property the merchant wants to change. Do not create three unrelated artwork copies merely because the three carriers require different placement.

Check the artboard selection, attached views and color controls in Kittl Mockup Generator instructions.

Diagnose Color Differences by Object Responsibility

A white product mockup can still display a colored rectangle behind the brand graphic. That rectangle may originate from the artboard background or from a solid background already included in the artwork.

Kittl distinguishes Mockup Color, artboard color, and the design's own background. Mockup Color changes the product itself; it does not remove every colored area associated with the design.

If a shopping bag becomes white but the printed graphic still sits inside a blue rectangle, first identify the rectangle's source. Repeatedly changing the bag color will not resolve a background embedded in the graphic.

If the patch comes from a solid artboard color, the documented choices are to select the artboard and use the minus sign next to Color to make it transparent, or select the mockup and enable Match Artboard Color to synchronize the colors. Choose the intended visual result; synchronization is not deletion of background pixels embedded in the artwork.

If the solid background is part of the design itself, remove it or make it transparent inside that design first. Mockup Color and artboard color cannot override it. Inspect the actual result before approving the change, including any shared views affected by an artwork revision.

Likewise, a color difference between mug and box mockups does not automatically mean the shared artwork failed to update. Inspect each carrier's independent settings before altering the master design.

Decision branch: Correct shared artwork at the artboard level; correct carrier appearance or placement within the relevant mockup view.

Record the Shared Design and Each View

This is a proposed manual workflow, not an executed Kittl generation or printing test. Use the blank record for the actual artboard/version and each attached view. A wording change belongs to the shared source; a local placement issue belongs to that view. Keep unresolved ownership explicit instead of duplicating the master unnecessarily.

After a shared change, inspect all attached views for the actual wording, then compare placement, scale and background against each view’s brief. Preserve the specific before/after observations rather than filling in an expected refresh or approval.

Review Each Carrier Without Duplicating the Master

Maintain one approved artwork reference and a separate placement record for each mockup. This avoids treating every carrier as an independent design revision.

After a shared artwork change, review the wording and graphic content across all attached mockups. Then inspect each carrier's placement, apparent scale, background, and visible presentation.

If only one mockup looks wrong, diagnose that view's settings before changing the shared artboard. Otherwise, a local placement complaint could trigger unnecessary changes across every carrier.

For delivery, distinguish the artwork master from the individual mockup previews. A visual mockup does not establish manufacturing dimensions, print placement accuracy, or physical color matching.

Stop when the approved shared content is consistent and each carrier's independent presentation satisfies its own brief. Do not use mockup appearance alone as production proof.

Shared artboard and mockup-view record — actual observations

Save a copy of this record and enter actual inputs, actions and observations. Keep incomplete checks pending; do not prefill success.

Download review worksheet (CSV)