Should Lego sets have the designer's names printed on them?

[TeufelHund]

I remember a lot of old comics from my youth in the 70s/80s where the creators (writer, artist) were never mentioned, so even though I could identify the work of a particular artist by sight, I could sadly never name them.

Now that Lego have started to produce video diaries featuring designers then surely its time the sets started to list their names. In that way you might actually get more excited seeing a set from a particular line is being produced by a favourite designer. It also gives due credit to the creators who produce set ideas.

What do others think?

[Off the wall]

No

[Freddy Bricker]

I love this idea, I respect the work of many designers and more often than not don't even know who I'm crediting. I would prefer the name be on the side of the box and not take up much space, learn what technique's one designer uses, and how another forms builds. But whenever we complain about a set, it's possible things could get very awkward if we were to be on a first name basis and it'd almost be like smack-talking a designer. But in order to recognize the work fully credit those who participated on a build, this would work out very well. But remember, TLG has over 200 designers and some projects take up more than 3, so maybe just have the designer be mentioned in the description of the set would work too. Like for example: New Spiderman, stop the Green Goblin and Doc Ock in Times square!...... by Legodesigner#5.

I would support both ideas, credit rarely ever goes to designers, they deserve some, but maybe the Lego group has thought this over and decided not to for some reason?

[branolego]

Some of them do in a not so obvious way, their initials are a lot of the time on the licence plate sticker

[obsidianheart]

I think some of the more clever decos on stickers or prints would allow then to work in some kind of signature. That would be neat.

[Faefrost]

Maybe not the routine retail stuff, but the D2C and special stuff. yes please. I love the credit that they give with the designer video's. I would love to be able to fully appreciate an individual designer or sculptors work.

[commodore_legolas]

I'd love to have a sort of credits page in the back of the instructions, listing the build designers, minifig designers and so on!

[WaysofSorting]

I see them not being listed as a sound matter of tradition and good sense. I would love to know who was involved in each set and at what stage, but in the end, product wise, the names don't belong. This is a product made by a group of many many people, each playing their parts -

[arc]

I'd love to have a sort of credits page in the back of the instructions, listing the build designers, minifig designers and so on!

I agree completely. The architecture sets have something like this, so it would be nice to see that kind of thing expand to other themes. at least have the designer(s) credited in the back of the instructions. A lot of creativity goes into these sets.

[montgocloud]

I think it would be interesting to look at your collection and see which sets were designed by the same person. Maybe in small font somewhere in the instruction booklet? The bottom left hand corner of the manual's first page (when opened) would be out of the way but still easily found.

So in short, yes.

[Lyichir]

I would love to see something like that, but I don't know exactly how practical it would be. Lego sets rarely have just one designer—between concept, sketch model, and final set, the sets pass through a lot of hands, many of them taking on very different roles. Occasionally a designer slips a signature into a sticker or print (examples include the "Stafford" engines from Agents or many, many license plates featuring initials or names on them), but usually your best resource for knowing who designed what set is to get it straight from the designers themselves. Mark Stafford, for one, has both a Brickset bricklist and a MOCpages where he tallies which sets he had a part in designing, along with notes about which other designers helped along the way.

[Aanchir]

I remember a lot of old comics from my youth in the 70s/80s where the creators (writer, artist) were never mentioned, so even though I could identify the work of a particular artist by sight, I could sadly never name them.

Now that Lego have started to produce video diaries featuring designers then surely its time the sets started to list their names. In that way you might actually get more excited seeing a set from a particular line is being produced by a favourite designer. It also gives due credit to the creators who produce set ideas.

What do others think?

My brother makes a good point of how many designers might be involved in any given set, but I think it WOULD be great if we saw a little more emphasis on the design side of things in regular LEGO play themes. Currently, other than designers who are active on AFOL forums, the main places we hear about who designed what are on the LEGO Creator, Technic, and City designer blogs and of course the designer videos that occasionally pop up in themes like Ninjago, Chima, and Creator Expert. We also get some info about the designers in the Master Builder Academy manuals and unlockable online materials.

I think an online resource might be the best place to put this kind of information. That way it'd be accessible to anyone, not just to people who own or otherwise have access to the original set. It'd be great if every theme had a section for "designer profiles" where it would show the designers for that theme and the sets they had a hand in designing. Like the LEGO Creator designer profiles, but a little more in-depth.

[Teessider]

I like the idea of having architecture style information in the instructions booklets, but an online resource would be interesting as well, especially if it could give extra information about the building techniques used by the designers.

[Artifex]

I think the name of each set designer(s) should be printed on the set manual.

[DrJB]

It kind of takes away from the 'team spirit'. For sure the designer has contributd his share, but what about the people who designed all the fancy parts he's using. How about the person who did the art-work for the box (e.g. 41999) ... sure do not want to alienate (i.e. not give credit to) all the supporting staff. I say absolutely NO.

Edited December 5, 2013 by DrJB

[Herky]

Legally the finished product belongs to TLG, therefore, it is proprietary to TLG and it is highly unlikely TLG would do this. I think they make an exception with Tucker for architecture due to the process it takes to make these and the fact that they are likenesses of actual buildings. City sets, town sets, etc and on and on, are designed playsets that are created by designers who get paid by TLG and this is their licensed product. This is why the cussoo ideas have to go through the vetting process in order to get made, they essentially rework the original idea so as to not have to produce a license from that original maker.

In short answer, I believe there is a way to find all of the folks names out by using TLG's HR site if one really wanted to look into it, but it's kind of like all of the people at the mint who make the money and the designer of the bills, they don't get their name put on the money. Short answer, I would have to say no...while it is a cool idea, there are simply too many people involved and I don't think we want to pay extra for end credit type stuff in our sets. Just my opinion anyway

[TeufelHund]

Legally the finished product belongs to TLG, therefore, it is proprietary to TLG and it is highly unlikely TLG would do this.

Well it's the same for comic book creators yet they now get their names credited for their work (unlike in the past) even though the publisher retains the rights to their work. They probably get more sales this way because people are more likely to buy something developed by a favourite creator than one they didn't know the name of.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

I'd like to see them somewhere on the instructions. Maybe the cover or final build step. I do like the license plates on City sets that have their initials

[Freekysch]

Well, in the Technic line you often see the initials of the designer printed on some of the stickers (eg. 8258, 8285, 8043, 8053, 8265, etc).

[Andy D]

I've been thinking about this and my conclusion is maybe an "Easter Egg" type of thing, like a tile in some inconspicious but visible place with he designer's moniker.

Andy D

[Dr Leg O Brick]

Its a good idea, however, a toy/collector line I collected (Art Asylum Star Trek) stopped printing the names of the designers, after a company change admittedly, due to the fact that so many were involved in designing the action figure. Sure, they're action figures, and its a different set of circumstances, but if Lego where to do it, perhaps they would run into the same problem. I'd love it, particularly as others have mentioned in regards to D2C sets, and all sets in general, I just think perhaps rather than a page or three in the back of the manual, perhaps as mentioned an Easter egg route, such as the City and Space Police 3 sets, are best at the moment. Maybe a web link to a page or even mini-site on Lego.com?

[Hrw-Amen]

The idea of having some special tile or print on a brick somewhere is OK and I think we have examples of this already. I do like the idea of a page in the instruction book, preferably at the back where all the advert stuff is anyway. It does not have to be huge, I am sure a single page or spread would do.

[kinggregus]

I would actually like it a lot as well. Are there any places were we can currently identify which designer is behind which set?

[Dr Leg O Brick]

Too my knowledge Kinggregus, and I'm sure some other person will add or correct this in a latter post, the Lego City designers initials are on the Registration/Licence plates, on the Space Police 3 and Alien Conquest sets the Graffiti and ship specifications respectively have again the initials, and I'm told that the Ninjago and Exo-Force have a similar thing again. However, I don't/didn't collect the last few, and I sure there are others. You could perhaps cheat, as some designers have added Bricklists on Brickset, such as these:

http://www.brickset.com/brickLists/?7613

http://www.brickset.com/brickLists/?5289

[escortmad79]

Not on a set (apart from licence plates for vehicles which is the norm), maybe the instruction book or small print on the box.

TBH the majority of Lego fans are kids & won't be interested or even know that sets are designed by different designers