Little You

What is Little You app?

In this Review of the Little You app, we are looking at designing a Little You custom miniature figurine using the web app. This easy-to-use web app provides the tools and structure for children (or anyone) to create an anime-style figure.

It is not compulsory to print any of the objects, and children can enjoy creating many of them without ever ordering a final product. The figure exists on the screen and can be rotated in 3D space during the building process. Finished miniatures can be 3D printed by the company behind Little You. These figures are multicoloured if the design calls for it, and you can choose which of three sizes you want to order. These sizes are 3cm, 4cm, and 5cm.

What we love about Little You.

Having a tangible outcome to the virtual design process is a fantastic reward for children's creativity. You won't need to purchase every design they make, but they can make a few and choose their favourite.

Each design that users of Little You save can be made publicly available so children can share their creations, at least in the virtual world, with others.

The physical product puts Little You into a small group of apps that step outside of the virtual world. Children who have created something in an app enjoy the anticipation of waiting for their designs to arrive and the satisfaction of having something they have made exist somewhere other than a screen.

This review is of the app used to design the figurines, so we did not go as far as to order and receive a figure. They look great on the app's gallery, and you can check them out for yourself by visiting it.

What skills does it improve?

Little You isn't designed as an academic app, but kids who want to develop their creative skills will enjoy using it. Creative teachers should be able to find ways to use the app in lessons, such as art and creative writing in English lessons.

What age is it appropriate for?

Children need only be able to access and use a web browser safely to enjoy Little Me. It is a visual process, so limited literacy skills should not be a significant impediment to using the Little Me web app.

Is Little You easy to use?

Using the app is very easy. Creators start with a basic body and then choose what to add from different categories. A colour picker allows some of the options to have their hues adjusted. Once done, users finalise their designs with a single button click and then choose a name and backstory for their little personalities.

How will students benefit?

Many kids enjoy creating and inventing characters, and Little You gives them tools to create an endless number of them and then flesh them out with a backstory. The existing figures in the gallery provide inspiration for what kids can do. 

How will teachers benefit?

The app could provide a fantastic exercise during creative writing classes. Teachers can set their students to create a figure and then write a short backstory to accompany it. As the description on the site is for a limited character count, it encourages children to be economical with their words.

How will parents benefit?

Little You doesn't cost parents anything for their children to use, and it provides an entertaining experience.

What Little You can improve on?

There can be a short delay between selecting a modification for your Little Me figure and it appearing. During this review, there were a few times where the buffering wheel span for about ten seconds, but this may be due to internet connection speeds or the device's processing power on which the web app was running. The site also took a few minutes to generate the final figure during this review.

Either way, while it would be nice to see it be a bit snappier, the delays did not mar the creative experience much.

How much does Little You cost?

The Little You web app does not cost anything to use. Kids can make as many figures as they like without ever paying anything. If you want to treat your child or reward their creativity, you can do so. The prices of the figures are related to the size of the selected model, and shipping is extra.

Is Little You safe to use?

None of the figures, their poses, features, and clothes are unsuitable for children. The objects with which you can equip your figure are of the sort you will commonly see in emojis. The only one that you might prefer was not there is that of a handgun.

After children have created a figure, they can name it and write background information for their character. As children may have modelled their miniatures on themselves, friends or family, they should understand not to include any personal or identifying details in the description.

It is unclear the level of moderation that exists on the site. Whether and for how long inappropriate phrases could appear in name or description fields is not stated on the app's information pages.

There are no advertisements on the web app, but there are links to the app's own social media pages. Users need to create an account to save figures and order the physical items, but they can still design the figures without setting up a Little Me account.

Overall rating of the app

Little Me is good fun to use, requires no commitment from those using it, and harnesses kids' imaginations. If you are the parent of a young child or teacher, check out the site and the process yourself to see if it is suitable for your kids first. Being completely free to use means that you have nothing to lose, and you might find your kids a fun outlet for their creative skills.