Early LEGO

Photo 1. The duck, a wooden LEGO toy from the 1930s, occupies a special place in LEGO lore. When young Godfredt told his father that he had saved time and money by only using two coats of varnish on a batch of ducks, his father made him go back to the train station, get the ducks, and stay up all night adding the third coat. The story is used to illustrate the maxim “Det Bedste Er Ikke For Godt.” (Only the best is good enough.)

Photo 2. A LEGO Town set from the 1960s promised a play experience that was “real as real.”

Photo 3. One of the LEGO Group’s many innovations under young Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen was the introduction of fantasy themes such as Space. The 1979 Space Cruiser was a big hit.

Experimentation at LEGO : 1999–2002

Photo 4. The LEGO & Steven Spielberg MovieMaker set was an attempt to find a “blue ocean” market opportunity.

Photo 5. In the early 2000s, LEGO phased out the DUPLO brand in favor of the new LEGO Explore brand. The LEGO Explore Music Roller was one of the first toys to feature the new brand.

Photo 6. LEGO Digital Designer, developed by Qube Software, allowed users to create virtual LEGO constructions and upload them to a LEGO website.

Photo 7. The Galidor action figure, introduced in 2002, had a full spectrum of complementary innovations, including a new building system, a TV show, and a video game.

Photo 8. Between 1996 and 2002 LEGO launched three LEGOLAND theme parks in the UK, US, and Germany.

The Evolution of Bionicle

Photo 9. The Slizer line, launched in 1999, was the toy world’s first buildable action figure and a precursor to the Bionicle figures.

Photo 10. The RoboRiders line, launched in 2000, never took off and was pulled from the market after little more than a year.

Photo 11. Building on the success of Slizer and RoboRiders, LEGO sketched early concepts for Voodoo Heads, the toy that would become Bionicle.

The Birth of Bionicle

Photo 12. Two of Christian Faber’s early concept sketches from 2000 for the toy that would become Bionicle. Note the pill-shaped container that delivers the Bionicle heroes to the island of Mata Nui.

Photo 13. The canisters used to package the Bionicle toys in 2001 were very similar to the concepts drawn by Christian Faber.

Photo 14. The innovations tracked in these two pages culminated in Bionicle, a line that was far darker and more violent than anything LEGO had offered before and was an immediate hit with boys around the world.

Open Innovation at LEGO

Photo 15. The four original Mindstorms User Panel members (standing) were selected from the LEGO fan community and invited to help the LEGO team develop the next generation of the product. In the back (from left to right) are Steve Hassenplug, John Barnes, David Schilling, and Ralph Hempel. Kneeling in front are the LEGO Group’s Søren Lund (left) and Paal Smith-Meyer.

Photo 16. The LEGO Architecture Fallingwater kit.

Photo 17. Adam Reed Tucker, a Chicago architect who had created massive LEGO models of famous buildings and landmarks, worked with Paal Smith-Meyer at LEGO to develop the Architecture line of toys.

LEGO, Minecraft, and 3D Printers

Photos 18, 19, 20. LEGO fans can now design and replicate kits in their homes. Above is a re-creation of the LEGO Architecture Fallingwater kit in the online game Minecraft. Using a fancreated conversion program, that model was sent to a 3D printer to create a physical version, shown left next to the original LEGO Fallingwater kit. Finally, the fan-designed re-creation was “printed” using a Makerbot 3D printer, shown bottom left.

The Birth of LEGO Games

Photo 21. The original proposal for LEGO Games. Notice the Innovation Matrix in the lower left and the management team’s votes in the lower right. Management was asked to rate each concept according to how well it met the criteria of “never seen before,” “obviously LEGO,” and its potential to achieve annual sales of DKK one billion (about $200 million) per year.

Photo 22. LEGO dice prototypes. The final version is shown in the lower right of the photo.

Photo 23. Ramses Pyramid, one of the first sets in the LEGO Games line.