so its been around 3 years since this custom minifig blog first started, and there are over 2500 individual posts on here.
I’ve made some fantastic friends and done some amazing things as a result of this blog. notably i’ve seen the raise of amazing armory as a business, then the eventual split between some of the partners involved and Hazel taking on the business on his own, i’ve even gotten involved and suffered some of the issues faced with posting hundreds of thousands of items, this gave me a whole new perspective on what all the custom minifig accessory makers face so hats off to all of you. most importantly i’ve had the chance to share some of the great and inspiring custom minifigs that all you readers have produced, for that i’m eternally grateful!
we’re now turning a new era, i’m not doing much with hazel anymore though i’m helping with one specific project that you can see here. so i’m hoping to take this blog to the next level and make it more useful for all you readers.
as such, i’m keen to find out what your thoughts are and what you think could be improved about it. I’ve got a stack of amazing armory items that I’m willing to give away to one lucky reader, to win, simply tell me what you think could be improved on the custom minifig site.
how can we improve it? fancy a forum? more interviews? tutorials? a storefront? anything goes!
simply post a comment for your chance to win a load of amazing armory stuff.
When I view the blog in Google Reader, I don’t see the images. This means that I rarely am drawn to some really cool stuff (if the headline doesn’t grab me) which means I only click through to the site maybe twice a month. (For comparison, I click through to the Brothers Brick pretty much every day, based on the images that come through Reader).
Make me come more.
This site had a Hazel store a while ago, but now the store isn’t running and has not been for a while. The store was great and easy to navigate, but the prices were crazy. Most people can only order a couple weapons. I would also like to see more interviews with builders or even updated interviews. They were fun and always nice to read, but not a lot of interviews have come up.
I love this website. Im a recently awakened AFOL here in America, and i come to this site for a lot of inspiration. It’s on my list along with the webcomics i check daily.
I have no problems with the format of the site or its organization. It’s easy enough to follow, just as with any blog site. I guess it would just need a face lift on aesthetic design, (but dont go with a black background, its overused)
Tutorials? Oh heck yes! I’m sure you can get in touch with some great customizers who would be willing to help out.
I would also like to suggest (and I know this wouldn’t be a walk in the park) an overhaul of this site’s appearance. When I open up this site it really doesn’t grab my attention. One simple fix would be to just darken the top banner and the tabs. Even doing that would draw attention to the different pages. The titles of articles could also be slightly larger and easier to see. Also, at least make an effort to properly capitalize your articles. Nobody will take this news seriously if it looks like a twitter post. So that’s the simple stuff.
If you really wanted to change it up, I would recommend moving a few things around. Firstly, the minifig categories should be big and bold towards the top, after all look at the name of this site. It would be great if you could also do a gallery of the different minifigs when you click on a category. If it is possible to add a “Like” or voting feature on the figs, it would be a great little touch. If you can, I would remove as many adds as possible and put a few more “Buy Custom Minifigs” It would help the streamline everything and make it look a bit more professional. Let’s see, a search bar would be great. Of course a forum would be neat.
Finally the site overall is a tad plain. I’m sure a few artists in the lego community would be happy to help jazz it up.
So those are my suggestions. I think this site has great potential and I would love to see it keep growing.
I think an almost complete site redesign should be due soon.
A new, catchier logo
if possible different tags so i can sort through interviews, just custom minifigures, or mocs (the few there are posted) or whatever else may be posted.
some old content removed (any links that dont work, make the ones that do more easily accesible)
more user friendly, long lists of links (although ive read through them all) dont appeal to most people
I think a fourm would be good idea. Just make sure there are some good moderators to keep up on it.
tutorials are always great imo as im sure many people who visit this site are just wishing to find out how some of these things are done.
imo a shop isnt as good because i always like buying products from the original seller but i do think that if maybe it worked in the past why wouldnt it now? also more revenue and traffic to the site so go for it.
all in all the more content the better but it needs to have good navigation and be visually appealing.
i do know a little about creating sites as ive taken at least one class on different aspects of it for the last 4 years so if you have any questions to what i mean or need suggestions id love to help 🙂
great site and ive been reading for about a year and a half now. thanks for all you do!
I love reading news about new customs. I do think a tutorial area would be nice. Forums were others can interact even further are always nice.
I think changing the RSS Feed style might help too I use my iphone a lot to view the site and it doesn’t display well, maybe redesign of the main page and feed.
I also think since a lot of this is photo oriented that a flickr group might help, I think most of the pictures are housed on flickr anyway, a group where we can become members of and add to etc might be nice, the Groups are free as well.
Overall keep up the great work! I love visiting the site and checking out the new customers and awesome creations.
The Customminifig Blog is a great place to check out all of the cool new Lego Minifig news and creations. I log on every day and check out all sorts of different things. I love it for that purpose : )
I do have a few suggestions though.
1. A New/Updated Customminifig Store.
In the past, I used the customminifig store to acquire the older HAZEL pieces, and I must admit: It was a great source indeed! The shipping was speedy, and the parts were great. The price was a little bit too much for me though.. It nearly drained my entire wallet one time! ; )
Anyways, an new or updated store on Customminifig would be excellent, and very exciting.
2. Tutorials.
Tutorials here on Customminifig would really brighten up my day. There are some minifig techniques that are just too hard to figure out by myself, or I might need some help with a part of a technique. Being minifig customizer and creator, I would be more than happy to help out!
3. A New Logo.
A new or improved Customminifig Logo would be great as well. I feel that the “banner” up at the top of the screen is just too big for my tastes. And also a bit bland and boring… Hmm.
I’m sure that there are plenty of Artists and/or designers in the Lego community over on Flickr who would love to help you out with that. Try asking HAZEL. He loves designing Logos. He even designed one for my Buddy Icon over on Flickr : )
4. Easier Site Navigation.
A search bar and bolder “links”/topics would definitely improve the site’s navigation. I know it would help me out, and I’m sure that plenty of others could benefit from it too.
5. More Members; More Popularity.
I’ve noticed that almost none of the photos that are blogged on Customminifig are ever commented on. That sad fact disappoints me a little, especially when I see some of my friends’ creations, and even my creations go un-noticed. Whenever I get a photo blogged by Customminifig, I usually only get 5 or 6 views. On The Brothers-Brick (for example), if someone gets blogged, their views skyrocket into the thousands. I would definitely invest some of my time into helping grow the Customminifig community into a larger one.
Well, those 5 ideas are my suggestions for the Customminifig Blog. Thank you for running this awesome website for the past few years! I hope that my suggestions will help!
-Chef
Apart from Flickr, this blog and Ugly Duckling are the two places I’ve come to rely on for consistently good posts about minifigs and the minifig community. So first, thank you for your continuing work with the blog, it’s very much appreciate. 🙂
Now, off the top of my head…
1) If ‘d have one overall critique of the site, it’d be the design. It’s functional but *incredibly* bare, style-wise. I remember the first impression I had was being surprised that a site about little colorful plastic people was so monochromatically simple. The layout’s fine, but it could definitely use a redesign to help pull it in line with the subject matter.
2) I would love to see more interviews from people! Having stories and learning the rationale behind some of these customs is a great thing to read about, and really adds a nice additional layer to the figures.
3) This sounds bizarre, but since most posts are posted by “Custom Minifig”, I’ve never actually been sure who owns/runs the blog. At one point I thought it was Hazel because of all the AA stuff, but that’s obviously not the case. “We” and “I” seem to be used interchangeably on the site, adding to the confusion. If you’re up for it, a quick blurb on the “About CF” page about the person (people?) in charge would help give the blog a more personal face.
4) Can you add a bit more space between paragraphs? 😉 It can be hard reading long blocks of text because the paragraphs run together.
5) I personally don’t have a need for forums or tutorials, as those are fairly well covered by other sites I visit.
m19
I come to this site very often and like most of it as is but to be honest (no offense intended) some times your review on custom minifigs can be dry and detached.
For a minifig website I would like for your input to be a little more passionate about the “trade” for lack of a better word.
Site redesigning and logos are great for the Aesthetics but I think you want ideas for the MEAT of the site.
One thing you can do is hold contest (as you are doing now) that will get people more active, tutorials are great for new comets learning about customizing.
I personally would rate new minifigs created by the public, figs created by lego, and any/all new accessories made by Lego and customizers.
Also your personal opinion on how you would like something approved if anything.
eclipse
I think that this blog was and is a very great idea. I come through and look at the figures around once a week.
I have a big agreement with eclipse, Everything that he said is very helpful.
A new and colored back round would look really good. (Red would be nice)
Also, if you would post something like “Blogged by custom minifig (With custom minifig being a link to site)”On wherever you find the item, the people who view it might click on the link and start looking.
thanks so much to all of you for your feedback and comments, i genuinely appreciate you all taking the time, so now, good news, i’ve got enough bits to go to all of you, so anyone above this post is going to get some goodies…the big prize winner however is still up for grabs to anyone who posts a comment below!
to those of you above – send me a comment with your address, the comment won’t get approved but it’ll be an easy way for me to get all your addresses without too much hassle, once again, thanks so much for the constructive feedback, i hope i can make this site live up to your expectations.
Echoing something else Eclipse said… The comments you make in posts like this, for whatever reason, come off as a lot more human (is that the right word?) than the actual blog entries, which I’d agree can come off as detached. I’d also like to see that same passion carried into the main posts, a bit more of your personality injected into what you’re reporting on. (Don’t take any of that wrong: great site, great posts… Just some more of “you” would be great, I think.)
m19
I love this site and am eternally grateful for you taking the time to bring it to all of us. That being said I feel the background to the overall page lay out does not compliment the photo’s you post and talk about. Black is not necessarily the way to go, but a darkened boarder would improve things. I think that, if possible, a tan background where you currently have white, and a darker brown or gray for the outside boarder would help the eye focus on the photo’s and articles more more naturally when first opening the site.
Don’t skimp on your personal comments and take on the creations you highlight. I agree with Morgan19 and Eclipse that your personality/take on things should be turned up.
Interviews would be cool to see. Especially if you mixed this in with tutorials. The tutorials could highlight certain styles and creators with interviews that relate to the tutorial. Wouldn’t have to dominate the interview with info about the tutorial, but it would be a way to make the tutorials a bit more interesting and unique. (unless its been done and I am slow on the up take) :o)
Some of this will echo what others have said, but I figure that duplicate suggestions might help in the sense that you know that more than one person feels that way.
Overall I just want to say again thank you for keeping the blog going. I check the site daily and continue to visit it regardless of if you make any changes.
Man I just reread my post above, I think Morgan stated it best when he said more of “you” in the posts.
In this topic you seem more human and alive, I like the energy.
Now to correct my last line, I meant to say “How you would IMPROVE (not approve)” of fig if anything.
I definitely agree with Grafx and Morgan. More personal feedback rather than general feedback would be nice : ] Personal questions/comments about the fig would really enhance this excellent blog, in my opinion.
Also, regarding the latest topic, I think that annual awards would be great! It would most likely attract more members, and arouse great discussion. Contests also attract more members as well. Whichever you choose, I have full faith in your decision!
Another thing that I would like to point out is that there is no “edit” feature. Personally, I would like to edit my posts if I have a spelling error, or something that I missed while posting. Is that something that could be added to the customminifig blog?
Thanks a bunch.
-Chef
i think there should be more minfig homepage updates
what kind of updates? news on industry? more minifigs?
minifigs. they’re so awesome.
Can you tell me when you are going to ship, because I will move to a new house soon.
could be a few weeks/months but drop your address off again after you’ve moved and i’ll send it your way 😀
I agree with Eclipse in a couple things –
The changes to the aesthetic appeals of the site will probably be the easiest for you – it shouldn’t take much to get this to the next level! I’d love to see a little more color, but that’s my personal opinion, and nothing more! Perhaps in the future it might be nice to have other Blog contributors throwing in their thoughts – again using The Brothers Brick as a model – there are several “bloggers” on the site who bring different thoughts to creations – it might be nice to add a few others into the thought process. Just a thought.
I think you do a wonderful job of finding various minifigure creations and trolling through a great number of sites to find what people have done. Continuing to do that is a must – it’s a great aspect of this site. I think (as Eclipse mentioned) having things to draw further members to the site – such as contests, tutorials, etc will be a very welcome addition. I think also offering reviews of minifigure related items, or having others review them would be beneficial to our art.
I also agree with Morgan – I would love to see more space between posts – or spread out the ads so your eyes are drawn to the figures primarily, and only to the ads secondarily.
Thank you very much for wanting our opinions!
a annual award for the best mocs would be nice !!! have the different catagories & let the fans vote for a couple of awards
You should put a part of the site dedicated to show pictures and vids about how to customize minifigs. this would be helpful to me because my strong suit is in exacto knifing lego brand guns.