There’s a brand-new monthly feature in Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine, that takes you deeper into the world of professional LEGO creativity than ever before.
Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine, is known for our in-depth interviews with the talented people who create LEGO sets and experiences… but the Blocks team is never satisfied with resting on our laurels. Our new Build & Chat series takes you deeper into the professional LEGO world than ever before.
The concept’s simple. Blocks Editor Graham E. Hancock sits down with a LEGO professional… and they build a set while they chat. The conversation is wide-ranging, going from their childhood experience with the brick, through their education, to their path to arriving in a LEGO role. They get deep into what drives them, their professional LEGO highlights and some of their favourite projects.
If you are fascinated by what it’s like to actually work at the LEGO Group, you’ll love reading these features. If you have ever thought about working at the LEGO Group yourself, you simply must read these interviews; they’ll give you a huge advantage when it comes to thinking about your career steps and the application process.
The great thing is that everyone is different – people have taken different paths to working with LEGO bricks, some people are life-long LEGO fans, some people are passionate about product design, some people love creating things for children. It’s a diverse group of people, which makes every conversation unique and fresh.
What’s more, we’re talking to people in different disciplines – model designers, graphic designers, element designers, experience designers, model builders… there are so many interesting LEGO careers out there and we’re covering as many as we can.
You can read the first Build & Chat, with LEGO Associate Creative Lead Astrid May in Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine, Issue 118. Here’s a taste, in which she talks about designing models for young children:
“There can be an assumption that it’s hardest to make 16+ or 18+ models, but there are a lot of challenges when making a model that has to look like something, but with fewer options for how to build it. Also, while making it, fun, cute and including simple functions.
“We work closely with element designers because we have specific elements we only use in our project, for example a big car chassis or a big plate that gives an easy start for young preschoolers. We also work closely with the graphic designers because we are the only project that doesn’t use stickers, because we know it’s too difficult for such a young audience to handle and place the stickers correctly. Adults like to get the nice, printed elements we have in our boxes.”
The second Build & Chat, with LEGO House Experience Designer Janne Lyng Sørensen, is in Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine, Issue 119. Janne worked in the LEGO design team before moving over to LEGO House. In this short snippet, she talks about crafting Disney sets:
“We started up an adult set that was a bit loose or free for what we could do with it. I suggested that we went a bit retro. We made something to put on the bookshelf, with VHS tapes put together. In the Disney community there are some even more specific fans again who are very much into the all the villains, so we tried something to target that. I made the sketch models for that, it’s a set now [43227 Villain Icons] with the villains and the VHS tapes.It really ended up amazing.”
Make sure that you are subscribed to Blocks, because there will be a new Build & Chat in the magazine every month, taking you deep into the LEGO world like never before. If you’re a LEGO fan… then this feature alone is worth subscribing for. That said, each magazine is 116 pages long and packed with exclusive content that you won’t find online.