Introducing the new and improved Jay’s Brick Blog!

April 23, 2024 | 38

Your favourite LEGO news and reviews blog just got even better!

I am very proud to unveil a fresh new look and for Jay’s Brick Blog that has been months in the making! It’s not just a cosmetic refresh, as there are some fun new features launching on the new site as well, which should further the primary aim of this blog – to help you make better LEGO buying decisions!

The design change will hopefully make navigation of the site much easier, and also help improve readability and interactivity on the blog, plus new features such as a LEGO Minifig Scanner have also been developed to help you identify boxed LEGO Minifigures by scanning their QR codes!

Oh, and the Jay’s Brick Blog brand has also undergone a fun new change as you may have noticed, with fresh new colours AND also a new logo!

This has been one of the biggest personal projects I’ve been working on, and has been a labour of love for over 8 months. I received the encouragement to embark on this project after reading through the thousands of comments in the 2023 Reader Survey, with the ultimate aim of improving the reading experience on the site!

A new Jay’s Brick Blog logo!

One of the most exciting new developments is the creation of a brand new logo. I’ve been writing this blog for over 10 years now, and at the start, I kept putting off creating and designing a logo (mostly because I have very limited design skills), and before I knew it, more than a decade had passed.

Not sure if anyone ever noticed, but I’ve never had a logo!

As part of this new chapter, I wanted a fresh new brand identity and logo that I could call my own and thanks to the team at Canvas, we went on a journey to explore what and how Jay’s Brick Blog could look like.

You may have already known that I’m a big fan of all things LEGO Space, including my own M-Tron sigfig which I’ve used as an avatar from the very beginning, so one of the main references were of course the logos and typography from LEGO’s 80s and 90s which influenced the new logo.

I couldn’t be happier with the end result, which pays homage to M-Tron, Blacktron as well as the ubiquitous LEGO Classic Space rocket elliptical orbit.

I hope you like it as much as I do. Maybe there’ll be merch in the future that I’d love to hand out if I’m out at LEGO events!

Introducing the Jay’s Brick Blog Minifig Scanner!

Just in time for the launch of LEGO Minifigures Series 26 Space, I’ve also developed a Minifig Scanner! It’s a helpful tool to help you read the QR / Data Matrix codes on LEGO Collectible Minifigures (CMF) boxes that will quickly and reliably reveal the minifigure inside!

It’s really easy to use (best on your smartphone when you’re at the shops), and requires no app downloads for a fuss-free Minifig Scanning experience.

I don’t store any personal data, and won’t pepper you with promotional popups or spam either.

It’s developed to be fast, free and to be the most helpful tool there is to help scan LEGO Minifigures boxes.

Improved Reviews and Reader Scoring

The LEGO set reviews that you know and love are mostly staying the same, but there are now some cosmetic improvements to Final Scoring. I’ve also introduced a simple Audience Rating system, where readers can vote on a 5-point scoring system to quickly share your thoughts!

I think it’ll be an interesting tool to demonstrate what the wider public thinks of a particular set!

This new functionality will be rolled out on all new LEGO reviews, but you can check it out in action here!

Improved search, navigation and commenter’s countries

The vast majority of improvements are actually hidden from plain sight. As part of this redesign, there have been a significant number of upgrades made to the backend, which includes a much zippier browsing experience.

Navigation and Search has also been upgraded, allowing you to better search for content and posts in the blog’s archive, and to help you find the content you want, faster!

To reflect the blog’s global readership, your country’s flag will pop up next to your name in the comments section!

There are a few other things I’m tightening up and tweaking as we enter this new chapter of the blog, so some things might move around here and there, especially the homepage but I hope you enjoy the blog’s new look!

There’ll be new sections, resources and guides developed and I have plenty of other plans for content this year that I can finally launch now that there’s a new home for improved content!

A huge thanks to the team at Canvas Group for making all this possible! Its been an absolute pleasure working with the team, and for all the hard work poured into making my vision into a reality.

I’d love to know what you think of the new design, logo and more! Leave a comment to let me know what you think and if there’s anything else that you’d like to see!

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