http://www.brickfan.com SITE FEEDBACK REQUESTED

[brickfan]

Wanted to see if I could get help/feedback from members of this forum on developing Brickfan.com into the resource people think of for unique and original MOC plans and decals.

In a nutshell, www.brickfan.com is a commercial site with the intent of selling LEGO-themed PLANS and DECALS to “tweeners” (ages 10-17) to enhance their use of the LEGO System.

Brickfan.com is NOT associated with, endorsed by, or a part of TLG in ANY WAY.

As an experienced builder and active member and user of the various LEGO fan-sites out there, I’d love to see what this community's take is, specifically around the following:

Site Specific Questions:

1) What is your initial impression of Brickfan.com?

2) What do you think of the site’s overall navigation?

3) What do you think of the site’s colors?

4) What do you think of the site’s graphics?

Product Specific Questions:

1) What do you think of the selection of products currently offered?

o What are models and/or themes you would MOST like to see plans offered for?

2) What do you think of the design “quality” of the products currently offered?

3) What do you think of the product description and associated image for each item currently offered?

4) What do you think of the price for the products currently being offered?

5) Do you use “non-official” decals in any of your MOCs?

o What themes would you MOST like to see decals offered for?

General Questions:

1) What questions do you have about the site, the products being offered or Brickfan.com?

2) What recommendations would you make, and why?

3) What was you assessment of the BBQ FREE plan, currently offered on the site?

[J1A3L5]

Hey Jon, here's some answers for your stuff. Oh, by the way, I'm not sure if you realize it but I am the very same John Langrish who you met at NWBC a couple days ago. So I'll post these here as specific responses rather than emailing you like you asked. It'd be cool to keep in touch with you anyways.

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1) What is your initial impression of Brickfan.com?
All computer generated. There's something to be said for real pictures: I think that's a missing aspect.

2) What do you think of the site’s overall navigation?
Easy enough, pretty straight-forward.

3) What do you think of the site’s colors?
It doesn't look too bad, but there are a lot of colours to take in at once. It does create a visual separation between sections, which is good.

4) What do you think of the site’s graphics?
It looks very clean and professional.

Product Specific Questions:

1) What do you think of the selection of products currently offered?
I admit that none of them especially caught my eye, but then the models aren't really my type of models anyway. I really would prefer real-life pictures to browse.

o What are models and/or themes you would MOST like to see plans offered for?
Castle. Specifically, small castle models such as carts, wagons, and tents.

2) What do you think of the design “quality” of the products currently offered?
Average. None of them caught my eye as being special, but they looked pretty cool. None of them seemed too intricate or showed me any new building techniques, though.

3) What do you think of the product description and associated image for each item currently offered?
The descriptions are great, but once again I find the lack of a real picture a big downer.

4) What do you think of the price for the products currently being offered?
Personally, I'd rather spend the money on actual bricks and design my own stuff. That's my opinion, but I do know many others who enjoy making other peoples' MOCs. It's all opinion. I doubt I would be interested in paying these prices...but then, I wouldn't be interested in paying any prices.

5) Do you use “non-official” decals in any of your MOCs?
Never.

o What themes would you MOST like to see decals offered for?
None. I'd like to see a general rise in purist models.

General Questions:

1) What questions do you have about the site, the products being offered or Brickfan.com?
I'm not really sure what to write here. I'm not sure that I see the whole picture of what the site's full intent is. Personally I have little interest in instructions.

2) What recommendations would you make, and why?
Well, I think it'll be hard to compete with sites such as BiP where you can get instructions for all sorts of MOCs for free. Also, I'd suggest offering another download type aside from pdf.

3) What was you assessment of the BBQ FREE plan, currently offered on the site?
Considering I can't open a pdf file at this time, not a whole lot. I personally dislike pdf files. They're common, yes, and I know it's odd to not have anything to open them with, but I don't right now.




I hope that wasn't too negative or critical, Jon, but that's my honest opinion of it. A great start, but it admittedly doesn't interest me a lot. I also don't think I understand the full intent of the site.

-John "J1A3L5" Langrish.

[brickfan]

John! Of course I remember you! It was great meeting you--and glad to see you made it back home safely. :}

I really appreciate your response--your insight is useful--and something that we are really excited about here--because without genuine feedback, there's no way in knowing what we need/should change.

There's not much we can do about the market segment we're trying to appeal to (which are definately NOT Master Builders), rather builders who want more ideas to build--of course, we hope that our models will be compelling for a range of builders.

We're working on supporting multiple images per SKU, and the feedback around using actual photos is a really good point--look for this to come in the future.

If it's alright with you, I'll be emailing you (privately) about a new program we're launching next week, where we'll be announcing a "Call To Builders" for model submission, including revenue share!

Talk to you soon, and thanks again for such great feedback--keep it coming!

[J1A3L5]

Jon,

My main concern with trying to sell to that age group is that a lot of them have parents who don't trust online sellers, can't afford the money, or have no way to transfer the money. I'm fortunate that my parents trust what I do online for the most part and let me use their credit card all I want as long as I pay them back accordingly.

My main point about real photos is that I personally don't put a lot of stock in computer generated models. It's too easy to cheat or use large amounts of unusual coloured pieces, making the final product near-unbuildable. Seeing a real model gives proof that it is indeed a real possibility, and adds encouragement.

Of course it's alright for you to email me privately anytime you want, with any questions you have...or anything else! I'm usually fairly quick with responding. If you use MSN messenger, feel free to add me to your contacts.

-John.

[Jamit]

I will copy John.
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Site Specific Questions:

1) What is your initial impression of Brickfan.com?
Same as Jail's

2) What do you think of the site’s overall navigation?
Nothing wrong with it.

3) What do you think of the site’s colors?
It could use a more firm color sceme.

4) What do you think of the site’s graphics?
I like them very much. You have a nice and simple banner which I like alot.

Product Specific Questions:

1) What do you think of the selection of products currently offered?
There all town. Since I am not a town builder (for the most part) I have no interest.

o What are models and/or themes you would MOST like to see plans offered for?
As John said Castle. That is the theme that I am into right now. But Pirates would also be welcome.

2) What do you think of the design “quality” of the products currently offered?
To tell you the truth, low-average.

3) What do you think of the product description and associated image for each item currently offered?
Very good.

4) What do you think of the price for the products currently being offered?
I spend my money on bricks. So any price is too high.

5) Do you use “non-official” decals in any of your MOCs?
Yes.

o What themes would you MOST like to see decals offered for?
Pirates. But I doubt I would buy them.

General Questions:

1) What questions do you have about the site, the products being offered or Brickfan.com?
No questions.

2) What recommendations would you make, and why?
Lower the prices. Most TFOL don't have many bricks. So there first concern is to buy bricks, not plans.

3) What was you assessment of the BBQ FREE plan, currently offered on the site?
A neat idea. But since I rarely build town I would never use it.

[TheQ]

Site Specific Questions:

1) What is your initial impression of Brickfan.com?
"Just random gallery site"-type of thing. I didn't thought that it was some company site.

2) What do you think of the site’s overall navigation?
In my opinion, bit too straight-forward. It seemed like you want to go STRAIGHT to the business, not showing other alternatives (if there is any)

3) What do you think of the site’s colors?
Too many "plain" colors. Could use two or three main colors.

4) What do you think of the site’s graphics?
I don't really like. It is too plain. Simple is nice but the site really need to beef it up. Surf around and try to search for "modern look".

Product Specific Questions:

1) What do you think of the selection of products currently offered?
Like Jamit said, it is very much "town" all the way. "Town" really isn't the favorite theme of your desired customer-range. TFOLs are usually more into "Castle" and "Space".

o What are models and/or themes you would MOST like to see plans offered for?
"Castle" and "Space".

2) What do you think of the design “quality” of the products currently offered?
Low or average. Much better than the TLG's worst, tho.

3) What do you think of the product description and associated image for each item currently offered?
Text is good but pictures are too "CADdy". Picture which would show the actual model in real life would give much better image.

4) What do you think of the price for the products currently being offered?
AFOLs could easily get that kind of money, but not TFOLs. Generally the prize policy you provide is good, but needs bit of work still.

5) Do you use “non-official” decals in any of your MOCs?
Only thing I have added are self-made cloths (made of paper). I am pretty much purist.

o What themes would you MOST like to see decals offered for?
Space.

General Questions:

1) What questions do you have about the site, the products being offered or Brickfan.com?
Is there group of persons behind this or is there only one person?

2) What recommendations would you make, and why?
Same as

3) What was you assessment of the BBQ FREE plan, currently offered on the site?
Not much to say about it.

[brickfan]

Excellent feedback. I really appreciate everyone's feedback--and will be incorporating alot of the suggestions into the next update. Will be posting a FAQ on my site--but in quick response, Brickfan.com is currently only me :-(; however, will soon be issuing a request to all builders to submit MOCs that they would like considered for licensing and/or revenue share--this way it will enable Brickfan to get depth and breadth of plans--and there is a TON of talent out there.

Sorry for the dumb question, but what is a TFOL? Thx.

[J1A3L5]

TFOL = Teen Fan of LEGO. An unofficial variation of AFOL.

Jon, I'm sorry I haven't emailed you back. I will later today I hope. Thanks for the pics of my MOC - Do you mind if I use them in my own gallery? I hope to make it a sub-gallery of fest pics from various willing people.

-John.

[brickfan]

Not a problem at all! Feel free to use any/all photos--just so you know, any photos I took at NWBrickCon with people/humans in them, I will not post--as some/most people would prefer their privacy. :-) Do you have the pic that you took of the two of us? Can you email it to me when you get a chance? Hope all is well. L8R.

[J1A3L5]

...emailing you as we speak...

Hang on a minute,

-John.