New Lego Identity by Interbrand!

[dvw2]

Wow, Lego is launching a brand new identity done with Interbrand. (No logo changes.) Neat new typeface built on brick geometry and all sort of great visual details! The Interbrand press release only scratches the surface, but I think we can all be on the lookout for some new flavors.

https://interbrand.com/newsroom/building-beyond-the-bricks-the-lego-group/

Brand New feature (paywalled)

https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_identity_for_lego_group_by_interbrand_and_in_house.php

 

 

[Murdoch17]

EDIT: Nevermind. I jumped to conclusions.

Edited April 10 by Murdoch17

[MAB]

I read it. But I gavent really got a clue what it actually means for a LEGO fan. It reads very much like a report written by a consultant for management.

[Yoggington]

Well this sent me right down a rabbit hole for the past hour or two. The official video release is well worth a look:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/932665402?h=7a84303a79

There's an additional article here; https://www.thedrum.com/news/2024/04/09/lego-evolves-brand-identity-launching-first-full-set-design-elements

And indeed, the paywalled article above is better than the unpaywalled, access is easy enough if you just ask for the free entry version.

 

Overall it's not so much a full rebrand, as a simplification of the many disparate messy old brand principles. Previously: “23 guidelines and over 110 separate principles”. They've distilled this down to just five;

• design for your audience
• build from its system-in-play
• tell stories
• be playful and optimistic
• keep it simple

 

In real terms they seem to be pushing a few distinct items;

 

1) A new typeface (not a million miles away from the old one) called 'Lego Typewell'. It'll be a single typeface across all products/website/social media etc., with varieties of course for light, regular, bold, black etc. I don't expect this will mean no more Ninjago or Duplo logos etc., but all other uses of font outside of logos will likely be 'Lego Typewell' where possible. I quite liked the old Cera Pro they currently use on the website.

This is built from / based on the 'system in play' (aka real bricks). Look at these curves for example;

 

2) Improving & emphasising the 'Key Information Stack'. e.g. The area on the product box that tells you how many pieces, the recommended age and so on. see diagram below;

https://i.imgur.com/O9jo6EO.mp4

 

3) What they are calling the 'Clutch system'. This seems to be the most interesting. See the background of the key info stack for an example. It boils down to any shape or silhouette you'd see on a box, a website, in an instruction manual etc., being something you could build out of the 'system-in-play' (aka real bricks). Specifically these bricks:

So everything will end up with the same dimension as lego, like the three plates deep to 2.5 wide. In theory, you can build any of these.

And here's some sample usage:

https://i.imgur.com/UdhqC2T.mp4

 

 

4) Action Graphics

This is the commitment to use of language-free iconography for various actions within images, again using lego pieces. So instead of 'generic exhaust fume' behind a racing car on the start line, you'll see a cluster of ice-cream bricks and the like.

 

5) Colour. Not a lot of update here, but it sounds like the only colours you'll see being used in the future, are the actual lego colours. Plus of course, their traditional yellow will be prominent.

 

4) Motion Principles

This one is for the digital only. It reads like when you see an element on say, the website, in motion - well that motion will now simulate how bricks would work in the physical realms. So objects will click together or bounce with 'Lego physics'. An example is given of the 'add to bag' click affect on the website;

https://i.imgur.com/oTxu89c.mp4

 

 

4 hours ago, MAB said:

I read it. But I gavent really got a clue what it actually means for a LEGO fan. It reads very much like a report written by a consultant for management.

All in all it doesn't really give specifics of where we'll see this all used in the future. It shows all kinds of samples of packaging, posters, catalogue, website - but these are things the branding agency would have pitched to Lego, not commitments by Lego itself. If we see follow through, I imagine it means an updated (unified) packaging range, changes to the website & social media posts, differences in the mailing list output, instructions and that sort of thing.

 

 

...on the other hand, we could always see it only half-adopted..

 

[danth]

I'm still confused by what this is and why I should care.

[Murdoch17]

2 hours ago, danth said:

I'm still confused by what this is and why I should care.

You ain't the only one confused by what this is all about!

[Toastie]

7 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said:

You ain't the only one confused by what this is all about!

Same here.

Hmmm - is this what a large company does, when it runs out of good ideas for new products based on (way more than) half a century old principles? Do they make a new typeface based on their product? Or actions symbols. Or motion symbols ... in the end, the world will be rebuilt - using LEGO bricks. I am missing brick built symbols for feelings ... for starters, TLG could use #3176 or #39613 for true love ... would be a one-piece, no building necessary, hit-home symbol.

No idea what's going on ... just guessing.

Best,
Thorsten 

 

[Peppermint_M]

The company I work with (Local Government for life BABY) recently went through a big and expensive rebrand.

They "filled in" the gaps in letter of the logo (one that previously had little lines cut from it in a style that "evokes speed") and tweaked the shade of green they were using. No idea why, it just means that I swapped a few graphic files for making naff posters (Raffles, team events etc).

Seems to be another one of the random "Brand energy" exercises big business likes to do so that they can catch a few headlines.

 

[Lyichir]

4 hours ago, danth said:

I'm still confused by what this is and why I should care.

Nobody is saying you have to care. At least until we see this system put to use more widely, it's really only of interest to typography/graphic design enthusiasts.

[Yoggington]

Well I for one find it very interesting, as you can tell by my post above.

Sure there's a bit of corporate bumpf and buzzwords about the whole thing, but at the same time it scratches the same part of my brain as when some angled connection in lego fits together just right, or when you've ordered your spare parts together just so.

[MAB]

11 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

They "filled in" the gaps in letter of the logo (one that previously had little lines cut from it in a style that "evokes speed") and tweaked the shade of green they were using. No idea why, it just means that I swapped a few graphic files for making naff posters (Raffles, team events etc).

And I bet nobody in the intended audience noticed the difference. 

[Mylenium]

As someone working in the graphics design space this strikes me as exactly the kind of stupid exercise where a bunch of overpaid agency drones fresh off design school simply overthink it and go totally bonkers. Nobody cares nor is there any requirement that typefaces would reflect specific elements and the same is true for the background designs. They're only painting themselves into a corner. A few years after roll-out this is going to look very, very old due to the excessive and repetitive use of those components...

Mylenium

Edited April 12 by Mylenium

[danth]

2 hours ago, Mylenium said:

Nobody cares nor is there any requirement that typefaces would reflect specific elements and the same is true for the background designs. They're only painting themselves into a corner.

Yeah like when they can't use certain letters anymore because they retired the molds. 😁

[Lego Tom]

23 hours ago, MAB said:

And I bet nobody in the intended audience noticed the difference. 

I'm still trying to figure out who the intended audience was/is. I hope it wasn't me...

[Peppermint_M]

On 4/12/2024 at 10:22 AM, MAB said:

And I bet nobody in the intended audience noticed the difference. 

Literally no one. The work vans didn't even get new livery until the hire-period was up on the current fleet, then the new ones had the rebranded look. We still were told to use the stock of calling cards, carbon-copy certificate/service sheet books and our uniforms were a mix of old logo and new as no one was giving every employee a new set of gear for the sake of a new shade of green (at the scale on the uniform, you couldn't see any gaps in the letter...). 

Essentially, if you want to make easy money, maybe become a brand consultant!