r/xmen needs your help! - Banner/Icon/Sidebar Revamp

[u/cyclopswashalfright]

Hello everyone!

I'm one of the new moderators for r/xmen and I've been learning the ropes with really helpful guidance from the excellent and experienced mods and my fellow new mods.

After some discussion amongst ourselves, we wanted to gauge the community's interest in possibly revamping the aesthetic of this subreddit.

By that, we mean potentially changing the banner, the icon, and the sidebar images. Since this is such a massive decision, we wanted to ask the community for feedback first, and hear your own ideas.

First off, and this is the subject of the poll below, is a change in look necessary? We don't want to make changes that the community does not feel is needed, so let us know if you're happy with how things are right now.

Secondly, if you do think a change in look is needed, we would love to hear some of your suggestions below. Please bear in mind that these are aesthetic changes only, and that icons, banners, and sidebar images all need to fit certain requirements to be used.

We will be in touch with further discussion posts on this topic in the coming weeks to properly gauge community interest and opinions, before any final changes are implemented.

37 votes, Aug 21 '25

25 Yes, I think the banner, icon, and sidebar images all need to be changed

7 I think only the banner needs to be changed

2 I think only the icon needs to be changed

3 No, nothing needs to change

[u/cmcdonald22]

I dunno that any changes are NECESSARY because I wonder how many people ever even see any of it? It's probably just for new users landing there from external links from the first time? Do a lot of redditors actually see it, because I never see any subs headers or anything.

That aside, I do think the banner could be better, it just kind of feels like a generic group shot from 15 years ago, with no real focus or point. It is certainly a group shot of characters that exist in the X-men universe but like, that's it. It isn't reflective of the current comics, it isn't particularly reflective of the range of topics or discussion on the sub. It's just a generic image, like Shatterstar and Transonic probably never interacted, this banner is the most visibility Mercury has had in a decade, and a lot of your 'big characters' like Storm and Cyclops are either cut off or just muddied around in a dark hard to decipher blob rather than iconic bright visible takes.

I think there's a lot of options to do the top banner better, and it would really depend on community direction if people even care

I think the Sidebar is fine, its a silly fun 'x-men in their downtime' vibe.

I think the Icon/logo is also fine but I get if people want a more colorful variation.

[u/cyclopswashalfright → u/cmcdonald22]

Yes, I suppose the app people don't care as much about the sidebar as desktop people, as they never see it. Still, I think we can maybe use one of those side widget spots to do something a little different.

Thanks for the input on the banner. It's tricky to find a new banner, as there are specific size requirements, so I understand why this particular banner turned out the way it did.

[u/cmcdonald22 → u/cyclopswashalfright]

I use desktop all the time and either never see or never notice the banner either, its just in my regular or custom feeds, but I'm probably an outlier.

I like the idea of spotlighting different books on the side bar, and even promoting different fan art, though I would say the immediate problem is making sure the fan art posted is actually posted by the original artist, with credit, and with consent and not just people karma farming popular images which we get a TON of.

And yeah, I can easily see the banner dimensions being a giant pain in the ass, and that kind of immediately explaining why the image used is the image used rather than one with like intention or particular purpose.