First created in 1949, LEGO bricks are still enjoyed by families around the world. They remain relevant in part because the LEGO Group deliberately made its form of creative play accessible in an increasing number of stories—through its franchises and those of partners like Disney and Marvel. The LEGO Group’s incredible success led to a unique challenge – ensuring consistency and connectivity across their diverse and ever-growing worlds.

We brought cohesion to the entire LEGO ecosystem by creating a set of unique assets for the brand beyond the logo; a full set of LEGO elements that can illustrate absolutely anything.

The LEGO brand refresh is already being rolled out globally across huge ranges of products, owned retail stores, extended merchandise ranges and multiple digital platforms. This is a fundamental change of the LEGO brand.

The new LEGO system was created to build cohesion globally and empower creative play for those designing brand experiences as much as the people who enjoy them. Also, in parts of the world the LEGO brand and products are copied and sold as a rival company. By creating more recognizable brand cues we created a competitive moat to build attribution for the LEGO Group.

Building the LEGO set of elements took over two years to complete. It was conceived then rigorously tested across different groups within the LEGO Group to ensure the system would be accepted across the organization. We tested the elements with six working groups that were used to pressure test the solution.

The LEGO vision is to help children learn through play. We thought about the barriers to play for children, researched modes of visual storytelling and recognized that the company’s youngest fans are still learning to read. The answer was found in the visual semiotics of comic books.

The language of comics had the power to attract and encourage storytelling. LEGO minifigures became the cast of a never-ending constantly adapting narrative owned by the individual who plays with the LEGO System in Play.

To deliver a more connected ecosystem, we dove into the LEGO archives to understand what makes them special. The solution was to build a full set of LEGO elements that could build cohesion and unlock creativity.

Each piece was painstakingly designed to work as part of a wider system. This included a new global Brand Typeface, LEGO Typewell™, available in 120 languages. A ‘Clutch System’ based on the brick, called LEGO Brick Pro which enables building anything digitally. Built as a font (or 130 glyphs). It can be used to quickly build crazy shapes, illustrations, and UX elements using the same geometry as the bricks.

Finally, illustrative ‘Action Graphics’ help add energy and emotion to storytelling. All these elements were brought to life authentically with Motion Principles based on how we all play with the LEGO brick.

The full LEGO brand identity establishes cohesion and builds recognition for the brand by fundamentally honouring the product, allowing creativity to flourish in display as well as in play. The new identity elements are already driving efficiency, consistency, and excitement inside the organization. This can already be seen across global markets, including in-store, packaging, marketing, and brand communications.