Lego is great, but have they lost their soul

I was reading an article about Lego and their struggles. Having followed their innovation I sometimes wonder is it self caused or a result of a fundamental change in children’s taste?

I think it was self caused, driven by the quest for growth, and in that quest they lots their soul – let the imagination to the builder not the creator.

I have always had an amazing relationship with Lego. I was always building Lego, surely has affected my personality. Some of my strongest childhood memories are tied to Lego. I still remember when my father built me a Lego camera, with which I was ‘taking pictures’ next to him. He was a renowned advertising photographer in Finland, and I wanted to be like him. My Lego camera made it possible. I was not more than five.

To me it has always been totally clear that my kids will be introduced to Lego. This intro came this spring. Karen was about 2.5 and I decided she should have the classic size, without any prebuilt modules, just a big box of basic bricks. The package said one should be four. At first she was not able to join them, now she creates interesting shapes and adds lots of fantasy to them. A single dot brick can be a person, a chair or food all witin a minute. I am very pleased with my choice to directly go for the ‘classic’ bricks.

There are two things that disturbs me with the Lego product range:

First I think the Duplo and bigger bricks have too short lifespan. Before the age of two the attention span is seems too short, making the bricks bigger does not seem to solve the problems. I must admit this is based on a very small sample Karen and her friends.

Secondly I do not like the kits where everything has been ‘pre-designed’ leaving little to imagination. They are also overpriced. I can see a business case for this in relatives buying Lego for gifts…but that is greed. Their way of linking to hot brands like the Harry Potter range is not adding to their core value.

What I am excited about is:

The fact that Lego is starting to offer classic bricks by the kilo. I think this is great. It is just like buying candy and this is something kids are familiar with. They are getting back to their roots, providing infrastructure for imagination.

What I would like to see is a range of premium ‘classic’ bricks
These would be the classic bricks in new plastic materials and new colours completely compatible with the classic bricks. This would enable construction of very different looking objects. I could even consider ordering some very special colours via the web. The have a bit of this here

I am also optimistic about the Lego “smart” bricks. I could see that one could create ‘computing’ blocks with sensors and plug them together to make amazing machines. Their developer community seems to be growing. This would be the ultimate 'plug and play'.

The Clickits is a very good idea, these jewellery construction set is perfect for small girls. Karen loves her, eventhough I guess she is too small for them.

Finally I am excited about the idea of rolling out theme parks or experience hubs. I am soon looking forward of taking the family there.

I really wish Lego would focus on the core of feeding human creativity.