Client study - LEGO

The name LEGO needs no introduction. This Danish company has been making their best selling toy for 70 years.

A few years ago I spent some time as a freelance designer in LEGO's Slough-based UK headquarters.
Having been a fan of the toy since a child this was an awesome experience for me. Sadly, moving to Leeds meant I had to stop working on this contract but while I was there I was able to create some good work and get a peek into the inside workings of this company.

Trade advertising
A large part of my work at LEGO was the creation of what were known as Trade Adverts. These were product promotionals for inclusion in publications such as catalogues for other companies (ie. Argos) all over Europe.
As is to be expected, there is a tight corporate identity in a company such as this. There are plenty of rules to pay attention to. Each product group has a specific set of backgrounds, logos etc. The box's radiused corners are a specific size and the colours are strictly regulated.
In contrast the briefs were relatively freeform. They would often contain the publication details - name, page dimensions and any printing specifics - the product numbers, accompianing text (translated if necessary), prices plus any other required elements. Much of the rest was left to the designers discretion.
LEGO have a very well organised product image database. The products are photographed in Billund, Denmark at the main LEGO HQ. An item can be searched by product number which will reveal a list of images consisting of group shots and photos of individual parts on the larger sets. As a designer we would pick a selection which suited our needs and get to work.
The layout was set in Photoshop. This was necessary due to the various product images flowing in front and behind the curved boxes. The files were pretty large with many, many layers.
Once finished the images were loaded into Quark and the text added.

Other work
As the Slough building was near Legoland Windsor there was plenty of Legoland work to be done to. This was wide ranging and included everything from large scale banner flags to restaurant menus.
As a company creatopia is versatile and it is a background of jobs like this that make us so.