Why did TLG change Technic Parts Colors?

[DrJB]

Those of us who've been with Technic for a while, did notice that some basic/common parts have seen their colors change 'permanently'. Those that immediately come to mind are below. Old colors are in the top row, and new colors are in the bottom row.

There are few others of course. My question is, does anyone know (for sure) what the reason behind the color change?

I thought I read somewhere that TLG introduced either new plastics or new molds, and they wanted to make sure the parts are easily 'distinguishable'.

[Victor Imaginator]

I think it's all for better readability of instructions. For ex.:

[dr_spock]

Because they can. Some times to freshen up the palette without thinking through like the new light green base plates.

[Anio]

There are 2 main reasons :

A) The color tells what the parts does/is.

A few examples :

tan pins = friction less :

blue pins = friction :

light bluish grey axle = odd length :

black axle = even length :

With an exception : 2L red axle , so as not to do mistake with regular friction pin (which is not blue because it would be too visible, and could lead to mistakes with )

Red gear: sliding / clutch :

Tan gear : bevel thin

With an exception : 20 tooth gear which is tan when used in a mechanism and black when used as a knob.

etc.

B) The color is used to catch the eye. A point of reference on the model. "There is something important in there", if you will.

Red for gearboxes, as it is the heart of a model, for example.

(which works with clutch gears, which are red too ;) )

Yellow pistons.

Or orange parts on PF elements.

One thing I have no explanation though is the color change in the driving ring. The old one was red (which makes sens with changeover catch), and the new one is dark bluish gray. Maybe red was too visible with the new design (the part is bigger). Or maybe designers tought that red changeover catch and clutch gears were enough to catch the eye.

[Front]

The new gear shifter driving ring is dark grey and not red. The colour of this piece is selected freely, as it does not look like anything else. But it makes sense to change the colour from the old red version, as they can't replace each other in a build. And I think a neutral colour like dark grey fit a driving ring better than e.g. an orange or green one.

Red is also used on the new gear wheel, to not confuse it with the old dark grey one, and fit the colour of the 8 teeth sliding wheel.

Erland

Tech. Design.

[nerdsforprez]

There are 2 main reasons :

A) The color tells what the parts does/is.

A few examples :

tan pins = friction less :

blue pins = friction :

light bluish grey axle = odd length :

black axle = even length :

With an exception : 2L red axle , so as not to do mistake with regular friction pin (which is not blue because it would be too visible, and could lead to mistakes with )

Red gear: sliding / clutch :

Tan gear : bevel thin

With an exception : 20 tooth gear which is tan when used in a mechanism and black when used as a knob.

etc.

B) The color is used to catch the eye. A point of reference on the model. "There is something important in there", if you will.

Red for gearboxes, as it is the heart of a model, for example.

(which works with clutch gears, which are red too ;) )

Or yellow pistons.

One thing I have no explanation though is the color change in the driving ring. The old one was red (which makes sens with changeover catch), and the new one is dark bluish gray. Maybe red was too visible with the new design (the part is bigger). Or maybe designers tought that red changeover catch and clutch gears were enough to catch the eye.

??? - I see the relevance of reason B but not A. Reason (a) states the obvious.... but doesn't give a reason for a change in color. It tells us that certain colors are associated with function..... but that is not the reason for the post. The second reason (b) does address the question. It states that color changes are necessary to draw the eye to certain different functions in a model like the example that a 20T gear in black as a knob but tan when used in like a gearbox. Also, as mentioned by @victor imaginator, it is to assist with instruction readability. This is especially noticeable in large UCS SW sets. The internal Technic chassis for many of these models are especially polychromatic. Check out the R2D2 instructions (UCS) for an illustration.

Colors all over the place......

[allanp]

I get the reasons behind it, but red, blue and yellow/tan like colours are not neutral, they clash with everything making the finished model not look so pretty. So I propose this:

tan pins = friction less :

These should be light grey

blue pins = friction :

These should be dark grey. With instructions that use black with grey outlines for black parts, like 42043, there should be no mistakes.

These should be black. Being so prominent in every Technic set and being a different length to the 2M pin makes me think it needs to be a more neutral colour than

blue.

light bluish grey axle = odd length :

I think with instructions that have a 1:1 drawing wherever an axle is used couldn't these be made black also?

black axle = even length :

Correct.

These should be black. You physically can't put a black friction pin in a + hole and a black axle will just fall out of a O hole so it should be obvious to spot if this has been mixed up with a regular friction pin.

Red gear: sliding / clutch :

Light grey, along with all other gears except for those which slide/are clutch gears/have an O hole, these should be dark grey. I wonder if it was necessary to re-colour the clutch gear to red when as far as I know, no single set has come with both kinds of gear in the set.

hard to confuse this with any other piece. Light grey.

Well, I guess yellow pistons do look more striking when they are moving.

Again, like the lever that moves it, it's hard to confuse it with any other parts. As i've suggested clutch gears be dark grey make this light grey.

I do feel these colour changes to more neutral colours would be for the better as it would make the finished model look more appealing both in life and on the front of the box/in catalogues. There are many parts in normal Lego that are very similar yet they can come in all colours. No colour coding is required there, only in Technic which is supposed to offer a greater challenge. But as always this is only my opinion, I have not done the research Lego has into these things.

Edited July 11, 2015 by allanp

[M_longer]

Your have forgot one thing. LEGO is making sets for kids. Small kids.

Different colours helps them a lot finding needed elements trough building process.

Edited July 11, 2015 by M_longer

[Jovssen]

  ‎ ‎ ‎

Edited February 6, 2017 by Jovssen

[sm1995]

I get the reasons behind it, but red, blue and yellow/tan like colours are not neutral, they clash with everything making the finished model not look so pretty. So I propose this:

tan pins = friction less :

These should be light grey

blue pins = friction :

These should be dark grey. With instructions that use black with grey outlines for black parts, like 42043, there should be no mistakes.

These should be black. Being so prominent in every Technic set and being a different length to the 2M pin makes me think it needs to be a more neutral colour than

blue.

light bluish grey axle = odd length :

I think with instructions that have a 1:1 drawing wherever an axle is used couldn't these be made black also?

black axle = even length :

Correct.

These should be black. You physically can't put a black friction pin in a + hole and a black axle will just fall out of a O hole so it should be obvious to spot if this has been mixed up with a regular friction pin.

Red gear: sliding / clutch :

Light grey, along with all other gears except for those which slide/are clutch gears/have an O hole, these should be dark grey. I wonder if it was necessary to re-colour the clutch gear to red when as far as I know, no single set has come with both kinds of gear in the set.

hard to confuse this with any other piece. Light grey.

Well, I guess yellow pistons do look more striking when they are moving.

Again, like the lever that moves it, it's hard to confuse it with any other parts. As i've suggested clutch gears be dark grey make this light grey.

I do feel these colour changes to more neutral colours would be for the better as it would make the finished model look more appealing both in life and on the front of the box/in catalogues. There are many parts in normal Lego that are very similar yet they can come in all colours. No colour coding is required there, only in Technic which is supposed to offer a greater challenge. But as always this is only my opinion, I have not done the research Lego has into these things.

I agree wholeheartedly. Hell, just make all the axles and pins in one color, that's all I want.

[DrJB]

So what we're saying then is, TLG started with almost gray across the board for all technic parts, then slowly 'evolved' to distinguish them and group them by 'sub-families' r.g., friction vs. frictionless, odd vs even ... etc.

[Josephiah]

I think (probably like many here), I appreciate the colour coding as a functional thing when searching for parts and building, but am not such a fan of the looks of the final result.

[dr_spock]

Why 3 different colors for this? I recall my 8053 crane have them in red and black.

Any way, I do find the different colors helpful in sorting after I parted set or MOC. Also speed build contests at AFOL conventions.

Edited July 11, 2015 by dr_spock

[Jurss]

I think because those are pretty visible, un has to be in color with body

[N-4K0]

I don't mind the changes in color. I find it more interesting if there is a bit more color in e.g. a gearbox, rather than black, light grey and dark grey only.

[andythenorth]

I just wish the parts were made of metal, then they would be more realistic. I don't get why Lego make them from nasty plastic.

[Lipko]

I don't mind the changes in color. I find it more interesting if there is a bit more color in e.g. a gearbox, rather than black, light grey and dark grey only.

I agree with that one. Though I may be one of the very few who likes "color vomit" in Lego models, and don't like dull one or two color models and plain grey or black chassis at all.

Color coding also helps to find parts. There are much more selection of pins and axles nowadays, so no color coding would make finding parts very frustrating. And not everyone can afford the space to have a wall of small containers and keep everything always sorted (or not everyone can affor to have a huge collection that makes sorting parts worthwile in the firts place).

Edited July 11, 2015 by Lipko

[Epic Technic]

The different colors are very useful to find certain pieces but it does sometimes mess up looks.

I just wish the parts were made of metal, then they would be more realistic. I don't get why Lego make them from nasty plastic.

This is honestly a completely stupid comment. If Lego were made with metal then most pins would be rendered useless and many system connections would not work either. Plastic is much cheaper than metal plus metal is more time consuming to manufacture.

By the way, not everything in this world is metal, lots of it is plastic. You might want to look into meccano instead if you want metal pieces. ;)

[Anio]

This is honestly a completely stupid comment.

We know for quite a long time that Sheldon Cooper is fan of Lego.

Now we know that he is member of EB. haha haha.

[zux]

I wish flagships would be considered as Expert Model where pins, axles and gears could be in non-standard colors, based on colors used in model. I mean why can't pin below be black (as an example) again?

It was already available in this color, and even heavily used, so it shouldn't be a problem for an expert to place it correctly while assembling set.

Same goes with other parts where instead of red/blue/tan we'd love to see black/grey/white.

[Erik Leppen]

I agree with that one. Though I may be one of the very few who likes "color vomit" in Lego models, and don't like dull one or two color models and plain grey or black chassis at all.

Me too, really.

The colored gears help find stuff, but for me the main advantage is that they help dissect photographs. If you see a picture of a model, you know what pins are where, because each color of pin-end can only be one of a few types. A tan pin-end must be an axle pin, 3L pin or 1.5L pin. A red axle-end must be a #2. A blue axle-end must be an axle pin. A dark-gray axle-end must be a long axle pin or special axle. In old sets, a black pin-end or axle-end could mean anything.

[M_longer]

I wish flagships would be considered as Expert Model where pins, axles and gears could be in non-standard colors, based on colors used in model. I mean why can't pin below be black (as an example) again?

42009 used lots of 2L black pins instead of blue 3L, to have boom built without blue dots:

[andythenorth]

This is honestly a completely stupid comment.

Yes but

Edited July 12, 2015 by andythenorth

[Victor Imaginator]

Maybe using unused new type triangle instead of 8-10 years old part will help.... And it's another argument for changing colors of technic parts, it's possible to determine an age)

[andythenorth]

Also the colours aren't realistic. The yellow parts aren't the Caterpillar Highway Yellow. Lego should really get this stuff right.