Hello everyone! Whether you are new here or a returning visitor welcome (back) to Pokémon XYZ! I just wanted to provide an update to the design of the site by sharing a new header! This header is a combination of images from the two most recent games in Pokémon’s main series pipeline–Pokémon Legends Arceus, and Pokémon Scarlet/Violet. It conveys that Pokemon XYZ seeks to be collectively exhaustive when it comes to Pokémon–not just including news from the most recent main series game, but analyzing the series as a whole to provide competitive insights. This relates to meeting the needs of you guys as competitive players, as having up-to-date insights will allow you to make better plays in your competitive Pokémon battles.

I was able to find the source images for the header on Google images. I am able to use these images because they fall under Creative Commons licensable images. I knew I wanted my header to utilize a multi-layer image, so I started by selecting the subjects I wanted to use from my source images. From there, I copied the subjects onto a new layer without the background. Finally, I opened the image I wanted to use as my background onto a new layer, gave it ~50 pixels of blur, and merged down the layers to include a few subjects in the foreground. I feel that a multi-layer image provides a professional look and feel as “any professional design created in Photoshop is likely to use multiple layers,” (Manovich 10). Using a multi-layer image also allows for a “smoother” sort of effect, as compared to a single-layer bitmap image. Multi-layer images also allow for for the layers to be easily separated by myself and other creators.

Reference:
Manovich, L. (2011, December 6). Inside Photoshop. Retrieved October 9, 2022.