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 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 could become the cast of a never-ending constantly adapting narrative owned by the individual who plays with the LEGO System in Play.