Adobe after effects is an intimidating piece of software, that in the right hands can provide powerful graphic animations and moving images and video into pieces of design that can help elevate it and achieve a wider appreciation and viewership. In this exercise there were tutorials to follow that began teaching the basics of text based animation. The first thing to discover is the ability to place assets into a new composition, by incorporating it into a composition folder, the assets become easily accessible to be placed into the timeline when needed. Texts and shapes can be added easily by using the various tools available in the top taskbar, after placing text the ability to animate and edit it becomes available. In this there was the discovery of the ability to utilise a plug-in called Adobe Bridge that offers a library of animation presets, in one example the text of the logo for Laneka’s was animated to fade in through the use of the adjustment section on the timeline. Through this section all aspects of the assets are available to be edited through the use of keyframes and the timeline settings, each individual object can be adjusted as well as the layer of each piece. In another example for this exercise it can be shown how using graphical elements it can help to make text and type stand out more and bring a more aesthetically pleasant view. Shown through the use of the naturalists logo incorporated here. Type is not the only thing that can benefit, as with this logo for Apeak, it offers a dynamically moving background in which the designer can experiment and incorporate different attempts at providing a good experience through a minimalist presentation; here there are a couple of variations displayed. 

To complete this exercise, there were multiple opportunities to add video into Adobe XD, rather than learning how to do this effectively there was more focus placed onto discovering the extent of what could be achieved. In adobe XD it works as is expected, a simple task of dragging and dropping into place where the designer needs the asset to be, this can be incorporated easily into the functionality of the prototyping software. In the example it shows a video being incorporated in multiple ways into Adobe XD as a visual of how it can be used within this software. Through the utilisation of masks and other techniques, a designer can use video and motion graphics to enhance and provide a much more impactful user experience for their website, the limits of technology do not supersede creativity, and technology only enhances the tools of the artist. With the Naturalists log, the boundaries of the tutorial were overstepped in an effort to experiment and discover what else can be achieved. it feels like a captivating design has been drawn up with the dynamic movement being incorporated within the logo and the background to help make the text style “pop” as described by the tutorial.