He explains: “You’re allowed to talk about all the projects, what movies are coming, and all the new things everyone is working on.” There’s also a spread of 39 nationalities over the design team which contributes to the creativity, Gómez says. “People can stay in LEGO Star Wards for decades,” Gómez says, “but some of us like a little more diversity.” It depends on a “constant dialogue” with managers but “it’s possible to move around, and some projects might require you if you have a specific talent.” Even though the building is “super confidential”, once you’re inside there’s a spirit of openness, Gómez says. “That way, we know what people are working on, we ask questions, we give feedback, we laugh, we chit-chat.” There are also weekly check-ins where every designer presents a ‘show-and-tell’, explaining to the team what they’ve been working on for the week. “Everyone sits at this table and builds together,” Gómez explains. There is also a ‘building table’ for each team – a big table with boxes of the most-used bricks. Designers within a theme sit together, and the desks are close to each other as a way to encourage communication. For really big sets however, Gomez says that there might be collaborations. Usually one designer works on one set, as it requires a “complexity” that would be difficult to manage with multiple designers. At the start of a semester, each theme is given a set number of boxes at different price points to design. On Hidden Side, the AR-incorporating theme that Gomez works on, there were around six designers the previous semester. Depending on how big the theme is, there will be a different number of designers assigned – generally around four, though this number can increase to 10 or 12. LEGO runs projects by ‘semester’ and usually releases new sets in the summer and January. How does the team work? LEGO’s Hidden Side line “You can design your own toys and build your own idea.” “I was so impressed by the whole idea of LEGO,” he says. “It seemed impossible,” Gómez tells Design Week, adding that he has loved the bricks from a young age (though LEGO was not widely accessible because of the country’s closed economy). He joined LEGO in 2013, after completing an online application. Born in Columbia, he moved to New York to study toy design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Luis Gómez has been a product designer at LEGO for seven years. It also targets a range of ages, from the toddler-focused DUPLO range to the advanced building sets of Creator Expert.
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There are now more than 40 ‘themes’ of the toy, from its Architecture series to Batman, Super Mario to Star Wars. Its name is derived from the Danish words leg godt which translates to ‘play well’. The toy company was founded in 1932 in Billund, Denmark (where Innovation House, LEGO’s design headquarters, is still located) by Ole Kirk Christiansen. In 2015, LEGO became the world’s largest company by revenue, taking in sales of £1.6bn.
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