Wednesday 26 March 2014

Blender

Blender Evaluation 


Over the past weeks I have been using Blender to increase the work in my portfolio. I believe that this is a piece of software that I have been quite competent using. I set myself to objectives for the use of Blender. One was to create a photorealistic image using blender and the other was to create an animation with the software. One of these I believe that I have achieved. As mentioned in a previous blog post (see blog post dated 22nd March 2014) I had begun to create the realistic image, however I felt that there were parts within the image that could have been improved, such as the lighting, as I felt that the image was still not light enough. The image below is my first attempt at the photorealistic image. 

(First Attempt)

In the second image, which can be seen below, I have slightly increased the lighting in the background to help improve the realism of the image and also changed the camera angle to what I think is a more flattering angle. I was mostly happy with this image, due to the fact that I felt that the lighting and the camera angle was correct, however I wanted to add something else to the image. So I decided that I would add some ice cubes, which in my view would add something else for the viewer to look at and overall complete the image. However this was something that I struggled to make. I used the same method as I used to create the Ice text (see blog post dated 16th March 2014) however I do not believe that this was successful, despite the fact that it does clearly look like a ice cube, I did not feel that it had a sense of realism. 

(Second Attempt)

I decided then to focus on creating realistic ice to go with the image that I had made. The image below is my finished result. I decided that I would use a different method to create the ice cubes, which would involve me having to use the sculpting feature within Blender. I used to feature to begin to take parts of the cube, because I wanted to create the idea that the ice cube was melting and if you look at when a cube melts it doesn't melt just from the bottom, like the ice cube below is, it melts all over. This means that a melting ice cube is never a perfect cube, therefore taking parts away from the cube would help improve the realism of the image. 

(The final image)


Overall I am happy with the final image, as I feel it does have some realism to it. However there are still areas that could be improved, such as adding the very fine details to the ice, such as the cracks and the very little bubbles that are sometimes within them, but these are very fine details. So overall I am happy with how the photo realistic image turned out. However the second part of my goal was to create a short animation that included my logo. This is something that I have not been able to do. I have not been able to do this goal because for reasons un-known to me and people that I have asked I have not be able to import my logo into Blender. I have tried many different ways of importing it, yet none worked. I even attempted to make the logo in Blender however this failed. I am still going to try and make this animation, however I do not see it being finished for some time. But despite the failed goal of making the animation in Blender, I am happy with my performance in Blender and do intend to continue to use the software and make more complicate images. 

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Kinetic Typography

Kinetic Typography Evaluation 


Having been introduced to kinetic typography as a mini brief as a part of the design of digital media environments unit, I believe that this is one of the weakest things I am at doing. Throughout the unit I had said that I intended to create at least 2 or 3 kinetic typographies of various films and songs along with the mini brief one that we had been set which was Gravity. However due to the fact that I hated the first Gravity kinetic typography I had to change the plan to re-creating the Gravity one and making just one more. However once i had re-created the Gravity one, despite the fact that it was an improvement, it was clear that I should focus on improving my skills through tutorials instead of making another kinetic typography. This is something that I have done a little of, however it has slightly taken a back step, due to the fact that since I have been introduced to Blender, I have been focusing on getting better at using that software because it is something that i enjoy more, and believe that I am better at using. This has meant that in regards to kinetic typography I have in my view failed. This is because I have not met one goal that I had set my self for it and the work that I have produced is work that I am not remotely proud of. 

I believe that I do need to improve my skills using After Affects by some great margin, so therefore I am going to make it one of the priority aspects of self study. I do hope to create some kinetic typography in the future that I am proud of. 

Saturday 22 March 2014

Blender

Attempting photorealistic images 


From a previous blog post (see blog post dated 18th Tuesday March 2014) I was in the process of creating a photorealistic blender image of water falling into a cup. I felt that this idea of a photo would be a good one due to the fact that it would help improve my skills in many different areas of blender, such as the fluid system, sculpting mode and transforming mesh objects into what you want. 

From my previous blog post one of the main things which I was struggling with was the lighting and what colour and strength it should be. As seen from the screenshot below this was one of the things that was really holding me back in begin able to create a crisp, realistic image. One of the main issues which I was doing in the below screenshot was that I the lighting strength was for one to strong, which was causing the material of the object to look slightly washed out. The other problem which should have been obvious to me is that within blender glass is not going to be as realistic against a very light background which I had. 


Because of this issue, I did some research into what other people had done in similar images, and the from what I could see many of them used a black ground which in the centre had a light blur. This seemed to give the image the correct lighting that it needed and added something different to the image. By this the image was not simply some water falling into a glass there was something else for the viewer to look at. The screen shot below shows how the different light changes the look of the glass. Please note that the camera is at a different position and I had also edited the bottom of the glass so it looked like a normal glass. I personally believe that the darker background with the blur in the centre does make the image look a lot better. This is because it seems to reflect the light correctly of the glass, which obviously is going to make the image look a lot more realistic. 


One of the other main problems that I was having in attempting create the water pouring into the glass image was the use of the fluid system within blender. The main reason to why I was having trouble is because I did not set the system up correctly. This is because first of all I had set the fluid system to last for one second however I did not change the times of the time line which meant that the system became confused and did not operate correctly. The second problem that I had was that the water was also coming into fast. This again was my fault because I had increased the speed of the water inflow because the first time the water went in very slowly, however I had not been aware that when I edited the inflow direction that it automatically speeds the inflow of water up. So this again gave me a poor result. However once all these problems were dealt with the system did exactly what I wanted. 

(My finished result)

Above is my finished result. Although it is in my view the best image that I have made in blender, I still believe that there areas of the image that can be improved. One thing that could be improved is that the surface which the glass is on is a little dark and makes the change between the light top of the glass to the dark bottom of the glass a little extreme.  I also think that the light source could be increased slightly to light the picture better. However I am happy with the fact that the water and the glass does look realistic. I believe that with a little editing of the surface and maybe changing the camera angle, I could accomplish my goal of creating a photo realistic image. 

Friday 21 March 2014

Portfolio Website

Redone Portfolio Website 


Over the past month I have been re-designing my portfolio website. I have done this in accordance with the feedback that I received from peers and my lecturers. I have also redesigned it in the best way to show the skills set that I currently have. Below are images of my old website against the new website. As you will see there are very few aspects of the old website that has survived. 

(Index Page)
(About Page)
(Portfolio Page)
(Contact Page)
Overall I am happy with how my new portfolio website has turned out, and when compared to my previous one, it is a clear improvement. For the new portfolio website I changed the main colour scheme to bright blue and yellow because I wanted it to contrast the dark changing background that I would have. I felt that this needed to be done for two reasons. The first is that it makes the website look a loot less boring because if you   look at the old web pages there is a lot of white space that just looks boring. The second reason is that I feel implementing a changing background does show some degree of skill and therefore makes the website a lot better to its purpose of promoting me and my work.

The main pages that I believe have been most improved are the about page and the portfolio page. This is because on the old pages they were very boring pages and looked very poor. In the new pages I have added some circle animations that help display information. These are there purely to make the website look more interesting, and to show skill once again. 

There is one aspect of the old website that I did want to incorporate, but couldn't, which was the slide show on the index page. I did want to add the slideshow within the website, however I found that it simply did not fit with the overall theme of the website. 

To conclude I am very happy with the portfolio website that I have made and believe that it is a much better representation of my skills than what the previous was. 

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Blender

Animation 


Building on the blog post that I was posted earlier today regarding the animation feature within Blender, I decided that I would attempt to create an animation within it.  The animation that I was able to make is located at the bottom of the page. Although it is quite short, I am quite proud of it, due to the fact that to create it I had to manipulate the particle system within Blender, and that was not something that I had done before. In retrospect it was quite easy as Blender allows you to completely control how many particles there will be and when they will be introduced, so once that is completed it is simply about when the actual block text should disappear, and that is done through key frames. 

(Screen shot of me manipulating the particles)


I am planning on using what I have been able to create here in the animation that I am going to. This is because I feel that putting this effect at the end of video to make the logo disappear will add another dimension to my animation. This is because at the moment the idea I have for the animation is that the logo be facing backwards and then rotate to face the camera and at the same time I would be moving the camera to add a sense of dynamism. However adding this effect at the end maybe the perfect way of ending the animation. 

Blender

Animation 


Yesterday in a workshop, we were introduced to the animation feature within it. I believe that this piece of software is quite simply better than the previous piece of software which I was using to animate, which was Adobe Flash. I personally believe Blender is much better than Flash for animation because of all the features Blender provides its users with that Flash doesn't. I believe that the fact that Blender allows for 3D modelling and the ability for camera tracking means simply, in terms of professional high quality animations that Flash simply can not compete. I also believe that the ability that the software has to track realtime movements is also incredibly exciting because it means that if you were animating a person walking then you pick up the minimal little details, which aids in giving your finished product an incredibly professional feel. Admittedly Flash is a lot easier to use and does allow for 2D animations which Blender does not. However this does not really mean that Flash is

However I have only just been introduced to the animation feature within Blender, so I am not really thinking of making incredibly high quality 3D models and animating them in realistic ways. However this is something that is possible to make using Blender. This can be seen in the video below. It is a free open source 3D animation which was created by the Blender Foundation. For me it is an incredibly inspiring piece of work, because it shows just how far this piece of software can be taken and what can produced with an immense amount of time and skill. 


Obviously I don't have the skill set to even come close to creating something as complex as the above video, however I do want to incorporate some Blender animation into my work. Therefore I am going to create a simple animation, which incorporates my logo and could be used within my website, or any videos that I may make. 

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Blender

Exploring The Software 


As mentioned in the previous blog post (see blog post date 16th March 2014) I have been recently introduced to a piece of software called Blender. I have continued to do tutorials for Blender in an attempt to increase my skills. However along with that I have also been trying new techniques on Blender myself, in an attempt to better understand how each material, modifier and lighting works, within the software. 

What I have found through exploring the software, is that despite how well you have made an object and how realistic the shape and material maybe, it is the lighting that really ensures that the final render is realistic and stunning. This is problem that I have begun rot encounter, because my knowledge of how the lighting within Blender works and how it reacts with different materials and surfaces is effecting the overall quality of renders that I am making. This can be seen in the image below.


The image below is of a glass that I was attempting to make. However from the image, despite the fact that the render has a very low sampling, which means that the quality of the image is not as good, it is clear to see that because the surfaces and lighting are not correct that the overall quality of the object that I have made has dropped. 

However as seen in the image below (which is a image that is rendered with a high sampling rate) that as the lighting is correct the overall quality of the rendered image is much, much higher. 


This means that I am going to have to spend some time studying how the lighting in Blender works and reacts with different objects, because my overall goal using this piece of software is to create a number of photo realistic images.

Sunday 16 March 2014

Blender

Introduction 


Over that past few days, I have been introduced to a new piece of software call Blender. Blender is an open source piece of 3D suite. The software allows for  the entirety of the 3D editing, from modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing and game creation.

As this is the first time that I have ever heard of the piece of software, let alone used it, I felt that it would be approbate to find some tutorials online and use them to build up my understanding and skill when using Blender. After some research I have many different Blender tutorials however the ones I have been using are from the YouTube user tutor4U. I chose these tutorials to start with, due to the fact that what they were showing that was going to be made, I felt was achievable. Along with that within the tutorials, they discussed the interface which meant that I have become to feel much more comfortable when using the software. Below are the three videos that I used and what I was able to create. 

Pool balls


My finished result


Carve effect


My finished result
Ice Text 


My finished result 


From doing these tutorials I have learnt many different techniques and skills, such as correctly lighting the scene and begin able to manipulate objects and materials as to create the appearance of something such as ice. I am planning on doing many more Blender tutorials throughout the coming weeks, as I would very much like to increase my skills with this piece of software because I have not even touched the top of the barrel with what is possible to accomplished with Blender. 

Saturday 15 March 2014

Kinetic Typography

Re-done Gravity and Plan Rethink 


Having stated in a previous blog post (see blog post dated Thursday 13th March 2014) I had decided that I would re-do my Gravity kinetic typography. I have completely restarted it and my finished result can be seen below. 

As with the first one I am not overly happy with the finished outcome. I do believe that this one is slightly better than the first one that I made because there are different elements within it, such as a different coloured text and effect for one character speaking and plain white text for the other. Within this one I have also used different sized text to illustrate the emotion within the character's voice. I also believe that the image that I used within the typography was tasteful because it suited what was begin said and was not purely there to make up the space. However once again I am not happy with the work, due to the fact that I believe it is still boring and lacks any creativity. With previous examples of kinetic typography that I have shown, they all had one thing in common, and that was that they were exciting and creative. They were also not one dimensional like mine. By one dimensional I mean that there were many things happening at once, such as text moving around the screen, objects interacting with the elements on the screen and the background was changing. However mine has once again has fallen fowl of begin boring and one dimensional, as it is essentially some text appearing on screen with an effect and then moving of the screen. 

Because of this I have decided to have a rethink on the plan which I stated. In that plan I stated that I was going to recreate the Gravity typography and make another one of the ending dialogue in Shawshank Redemption. I have decided that I will not be making another typography for the time being as I feel that due to the fact that I do not have a large skill set using After Effects, that my time would be best served doing a number of tutorials to improve my skills. Once I believe that my skills have improved enough I will create another kinetic typography. 

Thursday 13 March 2014

Kinetic Typography

Revised Plan


I have recently changed the plan for the further kinetic typographies that I am going to make. Previously (see blog post dated 8th March 2014) I had stated that I was going to create just one more, which would be based on the end scene of Shawshank Redemption. I am going to still be doing that, but along with that, I will also be redoing the Gravity one that I produced. I have decided that I will be redoing the Gravity kinetic typography because at the end of the day it was not a piece of work that I was overly proud of and I would rather spend time redoing something to get to a level where I am proud of the work, than simply leave it. 

Within the new Gravity kinetic typography I am going to add subtle aspects, such as background, images and different fonts, to it. I am going to do this because from research that I have conducted in to kinetic typography, the best ones are the one that incorporate images, have colourful/interesting backgrounds and use different fonts and font sizes throughout it. I feel that if I add these aspects then that will aid in me making a much better product. 

Wednesday 12 March 2014

WWW - Magna Carta

Sir Tim Berners-Lee: World wide web needs bill of rights


(Source: http://www.mysciencework.com/)
Recently Sir Time Berners-Lee, the man who created the world wide web, has come out and said that the world wide web needs a Magna Carta type document, which protects the rights of its users. In an interview which he had with BBC Breakfast, Sir Tim has said that the issue should be considered as important as human rights issues. He said 

"It's time for us to make a big communal decision...In front of us are two roads - which way are we going to go?...Are we going to set up something like a Magna Carta for the world wide web and say, actually, now it's so important, so much part of our lives, that it becomes on a level with human rights?" (Lee, 2014)

My opinion on the issue is that the idea of having a Magna Carta type document in place for the world wide web is an incredibly vital one. This is because the world wide web has become an incredible large part of every bodies lives, with the Culture-ist saying that over a third of the population of the Earth uses the internet. This further increases the argument that there needs to be some sort of documentation in place which limits what information companies and governments can gather from peoples use of the internet, because at the moment there are not many laws in place which protect peoples privacy on the internet, and therefore having a constitutionally binding document for the world wide web, would ensure that people would know what rights they have, in terms of privacy on the internet and what information/surveillance governments and businesses can do within it. However the chances of this happening are in my view limited because at the end of the day governments and businesses have the perfect tool, in the world wide web, to monitor and gather information on people, which means that this type of document will probably never happen. 

References

BBC News, 2014.  Sir Tim Berners-Lee: World wide web needs bill of rights [Online]. BBC News. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26540635 [Accessed: 12th March 2014]

Culture-ist, 2013. More Than 2 Billion People Use the Internet, Here’s What They’re Up To [Online]. Culture-ist. Available from: http://www.thecultureist.com/2013/05/09/how-many-people-use-the-internet-more-than-2-billion-infographic/ [Accessed 12th March 2014]

Monday 10 March 2014

Photography

Photography Evaluation 


Having completed the mini brief of finding all the letters in the alphabet through everyday objects and shapes, and having completed some self-study through creating some panoramas and a time lapse. I am going to stop with photography for the time being, as there are other aspects of this unit that I now need to focus on. 

I have enjoyed doing photography these past weeks and have gained many skills with photography, such as lining pictures up correctly in the 3x3 grid system, ensuring that the lighting is correct and making sure that the correct things are in focus. Overall the best skill that doing photography has given me is to actually look at my environment, because I have found that if you look hard enough, even at everyday objects, you will find art. This is the skill that I believe that you really need to become good at photography, because you may have all the technical skills, but if you do not have the vision for photography then you will never produce amazing pictures. 

Overall I am happy with the pictures and time lapse that I have made, especially with the fact that the only previous experience of photography that I had was with my phone. I also found it quite enjoyable and is something that I may continue when I have less things to focus on, because I believe that if done correctly then some very stunning work can be produced. 

Photography

Finished Photographic Alphabet 


Some time ago I was set the mini brief of having to find all the letters in the alphabet in every day objects (see blog post 27th February 2014). Since then I have been looking for the last letters that were needed, which were : G, J, K, Q, U and Z. I have found these letters and they can be seen below.
(G)
(J)
(K)
(Q)
(U)
(Z)
Above are the missing images that create the letters in the alphabet. Using this I have created to images, one of the complete alphabet and one of my name. 

(My Name)

(Complete Alphabet)

Saturday 8 March 2014

Kinetic Typography

Plan 


Having finished the Gravity trailer kinetic typography, I am planning on at least making one more. This because, that even though I was not overly happy with what I made, I did have fun making it. Along with that I want to develop my skills using After Affects, because I would like to develop my skills so that I can attempt to try and make something spectacular, like the video below. 

(Created by Youtube user: Henriquemsilva. Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JIfIdPnSas)

As I was saying, I am planning to make another kinetic typography. The clip/speech that I am going to be using is the end clip of Shawshank Redemption (see below). I will not be doing the entire clip, just a segment, like the Gravity one. I have chosen to do this particular  clip for many different reasons. One is because I feel that Morgan Freeman's speech at the end is not reliant on visual queues, as the Gravity clip was. Because of this I feel that it will be better suited to kinetic typography, due to the fact that the spoken word can do near enough all the work and that the visual movement and animations of the words on the screen will aid it and add another dimension to it. The second reason that I am choosing this clip is that unlike the Gravity one, when the speech is going on, I an imagine what the kinetic typography I am going to make is going to look like. Things such as the colour of background and the size and font of the text are appearing when I am hearing the speech, which means that it is more likely that the kinetic typography that I am going to make for it will be much better. 


Kinetic Typography

Finished Product 


A number of days ago I was set the brief of having to make a 15 second kinetic typography version of the Gravity trailer. Below is what I created. 




Overall I am not very happy with what I managed to make. There are many reasons for this. One I think that what I made is incredibly boring, as unlike some of the examples which is showed in a previous blog post (see blog post dated 4th March). In those videos what the creators had managed to get a sense of dynamism and originality to there work, where as mine is just boring and dull. Another reason, to why I am not overly happy with my work is because I feel that some of the text is out of time with the speech. This means that the overall quality of the production drops, because at the very least with kinetic typography the words that are being said should match the words appearing on the screen. I also feel that the clip that we used did not aid the quality of the product that I have made. This is because the clip that we had was very repetitive and quite chaotic, which did not aid me in begin able to create something which I am proud of. 

However I am not going to be to disheartened with what I have accomplished with this piece of work,  due to the fact that this was the first time I ever used this piece of software. Therefore realistically the expectations I had in my head was never really going to meet the screen, due to the limited skill that I have with this piece of software. I also gained a large amount of experience from creating this kinetic typography, and that experience will stand me in good stead when I try and create something much better than what I have made here. 

Thursday 6 March 2014

Photography

Time Lapse and Panoramic Images 


Over the past few days I have gone out to various places to create some panoramic images and a time lapse. I decided to do this because we had been introduced to the techniques in workshops that we have had over the past few weeks, so I thought that it would be a good idea to go and practise the techniques myself so that I can improve my skills within photography. The equipment that I used was a tripod and a 8 megapixel camera that friend allowed me to borrow. 

When preparing to do these pictures I did have some degree of trouble in deciding where I would go to take them. The first place that I had thought of was a place called constitution hill. It is place that has a great view of Poole town, the key and the hills in the distance. However there was two problems with the place. One problem is that while the scenery on the hill is good there are trees in the way. Which means that if I did use the hill then the panoramic images would have looked weird because most of what the camera would pick up would be the trees. The other problem is that I wanted a place that I could do a time lapse, and because the fundamental requirement for a time lapse to work in my view is some movement, a place where there is very little movement would not be a wise choice. 

After a little more thinking I decided that a good place where I could get both a time lapse and panoramic images would be Poole Park. This is because within the park there is some very nice scenery which would be great for the panoramic images and secondly there is a lot of wildlife. The fact that there is a lot of wildlife means that there would be a lot of movement, which means that I would be able to collect photos for a time lapse. 


(Panoramic images from Poole Park)


(24 Frames per second)

Above you can see the panoramic images and time lapse that I gained from Poole park. The time lapse is at 24 frames per second which is the standard frames per second for videos and other forms of motion pictures. I also created other time lapses and I felt that 10 frames per second also suited it, due to the fact that the speed that it generated suited amount for the effect that I had produced. I had tried lower frame per seconds than 10, however I felt that it became far to slow and looked very boring. I also tried a higher frame per second than 24 however when pushed higher the video became so short, that it was a case if you blinked you would miss it. This taught me a lesson, that I should have stayed there for longer and gained more pictures because I may have been able to produce a time lapse that had a very high frame per second. 

After I had been to Poole Park, I then decided that I wanted a panorama that incorporate both man-made industry and nature. Therefore I decided to go to a place called Hamworthy Park, which is not far from Poole Park. I decided to go there because if you stand in the centre of the park and look one way you can see nature, in the hill and the ocean, but if you look another way you can see industry in sun seekers factory, and the sails of the boats that are harboured. This I felt would make a great panoramic because it would show two very different things in one picture. 


(Panoramic images from Hamworthy Park)

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Kinetic Typography

Introduction to kinetic typography 



Today we were set another project of having to create a kinetic typography version of a part of the Gravity trailer. This project will be created within Adobe After Affects. This will be the first time that I have used this piece of software, so I am hoping that I will learn a good amount from this project. 

"Kinetic typography refers to the art and technique of expression with animated text. Similar to the study of traditional typography of designing static typographic forms, kinetic typography focuses on understanding the effect time has on the expression of text." (Lee 2014)

There are benefits and negatives to this type of broadcast. One of the negatives is that within this type of broadcast you are not able to see the person that is saying the words. That means that you are not able to see there emotions, which can sometimes aid in convincing someone. Another negative is that that kinetic typography can be very biased to the person whom is editing it. This is because the person,  whom is editing, is in control of what words you will see, what font the words will be and most crucially what words have more emphasis on them. This means that the person editing it can in many ways manipulate peoples subconscious into agreeing with their views, just by the way in which they edit the material. Obviously this negative can also be a positive for some people, but I believe it is only a benefit for the people that want to convey their opinions across. There are also other benefits to kinetic typography. 

There are many different ways in which kinetic typography can be interpreted. One way is that the animations can be used to animated what the word means. For example is the text says 'fast' then the animation of the text could be fast. The video below is an incredible example of this form of kinetic typography. 

The other method is simply animating the words that are begin said so that it presents the information in a dynamic way. The video below is a great of example of how the information  or song in this case, is being displayed in a dynamic way. 
The piece that I am going to make, will try and incorporate some aspects of both of these videos. The aspects that I am going to incorporate is the use of making words such as detach actually act in way that the word means, like the first video.  After I have made the Gravity kinetic typography, I am going to attempt to make another one. This is purely due to the fact that I believe the speech that we have been given for this task is not suited for kinetic typography, as it is reliant on the effects and acting within the movie. So because of that the other one that I will be creating will be more of someone giving a speech, or purely just saying dialogue in a movie.
Reference list 
Lee, J. 2014. Kinetic Typography. [Online] Available at: http://johnnylee.net/kt/ [Accessed: 4th March 2014].

Monday 3 March 2014

Portfolio Website

A New Start 


I have recently started recreating my portfolio website. As mentioned in a previous blog post, I would be completely recreating the website from scratch as I felt that there was not really and redemaning qualities to the website. From the old website, only one thing will be remaining, and that is the design for the logo. The logo in terms of design and functionality will be the same as the previous logo, however this logo does have a different colour scheme to the previous one, so that it matches the new colour scheme, which is dark backgrounds and light colours for text and images. 

As mentioned nearly all of the website will be changing. This includes the layout. Previously I had the navigation bar located underneath the logo. In the new design the tab bar is located at the top and to the right of the logo. Although this may seem like a small detail, there is some reasoning to why it has been placed there. One is that through research that I have conducted into other portfolio websites, nearly all of them had the logo and navigation bar laid out as I am planning to. Another reason, is that simply it uses the space better. In the old design there was a lot of empty space, and although I do not want to clutter the site up to much, having a lot of unused space just makes the website look uninteresting. 

Another design change that I will be implementing into the website, is the introduction of changing background. This background will not be to dissimilar to the one that I created in the team channel website. The reason that I have done this is because one of the main criticisms that I received for my previous attempt was that it was boring, so I am hoping that the changing background will add some dynamism to the website, which prevents the user getting bored. I am also hoping that using this method effectively will also show some degree of skill.