DESIGNER'S BLOG

<<	February 2010					>>
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28

Design Classics No.6
Posted by: David Keech on 24th Mar 2009 in Design Classics

Lego: The building Blocks Of Design




Training to be a professional designer starts long before university. It begins in childhood with Lego, Meccano, and felt-tip pens. Lego is a design classic on many levels - longevity being but one; as a kid I spent many an hour building visionary cars, cities and spacecraft with it, and all these years later I love to watch my own children building...visionary cars, cities and spacecraft with pretty much the same product. The joy of it is that 'toys' like Lego allow childrens' imaginations to run riot while at the same time teaching them how to construct form and how to to assemble components to make new and exciting entities.

The Lego concept began back in the 1930's with Danish cabinet maker Ole Kirk Christiansen. The word comes from the first syllables of the Danish words leg (to play) and godt (good). Christiansen had started with wooden toys but it was when his son patented the block/click system and combined this with injection moulding that things really took off. It is now a huge operation - according to John Henley of The Guardian, there are now 62 little coloured blocks for every person on the planet. That's a lot of blocks, and a lot of play good, or rather, good play.




Prestel's excellent Icons Of Design - The 20th Century says: "Educators, as well as the company itself, have recognized and praised the socializing and communication-enhancing potential of the toy, the "effective, three-dimensional modelling aid" for the young person's perception and comprehension of the world". Need we say more?

Lego Facts

1. There are never quite enough white blocks to make a massive Antarctic exploration centre.

2. There is always one block with tooth marks in it.

3. There may be 62 blocks for very human on the planet, but there are a further two down the back of every sofa.

4. If you take your kids to Legoland you will spend the whole time reeling from the stress placed upon your wallet and vow never to buy any of the stuff ever again. Apart from a couple of boxes at the gift shop.

5. These days all the kits are themed with big money branding like Indiana Jones and Star Wars, but don't worry, these themed sets are only ever constructed once as per the instructions (with a parent), before the kids revert them back to...visionary cars, cities and spacecraft.

I'll leave you with more shots of these superb Lego mini-figure installations, created and photographed by garden and landscape designer Chris Mennie.