Imitating professional Lego designs

[David Thomsen]

This is unlikely to be of interest to many people, but it has always struck me how you can always tell an MOC from a genuine Lego set by lots of little details. Things like, for example, how on Brickbeard's Bounty there are two dark green fang pieces near the bow, even though they appear to serve no function whatsoever, either aesthetically or functionally. They have always bothered me, but without them I don't think the ship would be the same. And you'd never see them on a fan creation, just because fans tend not to think so far outside of the square as Lego designers seem to.

Or take something like Green Grocer, where every inch of the front is crammed with as much fine detail as possible, whereas a modular building MOC will mostly be a blank wall with a couple of windows on it.

While some models would look better for being made by fans (for example, the 2009 Garage could thoroughly benefit from having proper walls) but no longer look like an actual Lego set, I think a lot of MOCs could benefit from some of the methods and techniques of Lego designers.

So... how do you design something so that it looks good enough to be sold as a Lego exclusive? What do you avoid, and how do you avoid it? What give a good Lego set the flair that brings it to life? And so on.

(Note that I'm not suggesting that authentic Lego sets always look better than fan creations - the very very best designs are the fan ones that simply blow your mind)

Edited October 25, 2009 by David Thomsen

[Rick]

I'd say most of the good fan designs are much better than most of what TLG comes out with, except for the exclusives of course, because fans try to overcome the inherent limitations in official designs. I guess the limitations that designers have to work with are mainly cost, piece availability, and not being able to put too many different pieces in a set. (This latter point becomes apparent when you compare the inventory of an 1980s Town set with a 2000s City set. It also makes it much more difficult to build alternatives with newer official sets, and could be the reason for not included alternative builds on the back of the box anymore, but that's a different issue.) But these limitations are understandable, because TLG's designs have to marketable, fan designs obviously don't. Having said that, TLG designs are often more sleek/finished than fan designs. I sometimes feel fan designs suffer from over-detailing, which comes at the expense of a less sleek overall looks and less sturdiness. TLG designers have to strike the right balance between detail, looks, sturdiness, functionality, cost. But that's what designs are evaluated on. The latest issue of 'Behind the Helm' has some interesting insights into the Lego set design process.

[allanp]

Well I think that when most people design a MOC, they design it once. However when a designer creates a product for lego, they tend to build several prototypes and versions of it. I think another aspect is time. We mortals have to design our MOCs outside of work in our free time which for many, is a precious thing. Official designers however get to build lego all day at work giving them the time to really perfect the design of a model. Another advantage they have is the resources to design and create totally new parts, existing parts in new colours and new decals/printed parts. So whilst the designers have some limitations like cost and so on, they also have some very useful luxeries.

This thread is an interesting one and I always enjoy the challenge of building my technic MOCs as if they were to be mass produced by lego. I limit the number of peices (eg a maximum of say 1800 elements plus one motor or 1300 elements + 2 motors/pneumatics). I only allow parts that are currently in production. I certainly don't allow any cheating (like cutting parts or glue!). The finished model must be strong and sturdy enough for lots of being played with by kids. It must have new funtionality and playability. It must be an improvement on any past iteration (if I build a supercar, it has to be an improvement on the 8880, 8448 and any MOC supercar i've seen on the net). It must be as complicated as it's size allows and also have that finished/perfected look that would fool anyone into thinking they are looking at an official set. It's because of these goals that I can fully appreciate the amount of time it takes to really perfect a model. That, among other things, is something the designers at lego have much more of than we do.

[der seb]

ok, how do you make sets like the TLC designers?

as for Indy sets: Insert Indy

for Space Sets: insert ugly aliens + at least one head with a scared and a normal face

agents + power miners: insert at least one of this

You should have no problems to pass the quality inspection!

Now don't take this post so seriously

[Svelte]

allanp sums it up pretty much perfectly. For set designers, creating new models is a full-time job. It would be interesting to know how many models a year someone in the Exclusives team is responsible for. Star Wars has its own department, so excluding exclusives from that line, in 2009 we had the 10193 Medieval Market Village, the 10194 Emerald Night, 10196 Carousel and 10199 Winter Toy Shop. We know that at least the 10196 Carousel was a joint collaboration, so that gives you at least 3 months per other Exclusive set as your full-time occupation as designer.

Considering that most AFOLs have full-time jobs and personal lives, the amount of amazing work that is produced is very impressive!

The Exclusives are in a privileged spot, however - if you are a regular reader of Brickjournal, you can see how work produced by fan builders gets streamlined and stripped down for official set production (such as the work done on the SP3 line).