LEGO is looking for your input and feedback again. It was recently announced on the LEGO Ambassador Forum that the LEGO.com team would like to get a better understanding of how teen and adult LEGO fans use the LEGO website. LEGO Ambassadors were asked to discuss the topic within their communities, and report back with their findings. If you would like to participate, read on further details. 🙂
Below you will find five questions that the LEGO.com team would like your feedback on. Please keep in mind all sections of the LEGO website that you use, which may include; micro-sites for the different LEGO themes, message-boards, galleries, videos, games, activities, contests, digital instructions and alternate instructions for sets, the LEGO Club Magazine, LEGO Digital Designer, the Online LEGO Shop, customer service, and more. You don’t have to go and dig around the website now, if you are not familiar with some of these features, just focus on the sections that you are already using and familiar with.
- As a teen or adult LEGO fan, how do you currently use LEGO.com? Which sections do you use the most? Please describe your activities on the website.
- How do you use the content you find on LEGO.com to enhance your LEGO hobby? Please give some examples from your own experience.
- As a teen or adult LEGO fans what type of content and topics do you generally search for and take interest in (not only on LEGO.com but also on other LEGO fan-sites that you frequently visit)? Please provide descriptions and examples.
- Do you think there is a difference between what kind of LEGO related things and topics teen and adult LEGO fans are interested in?
- What advice can you offer the LEGO.com team that can improve the LEGO.com experience for teen and adult LEGO fans?
You can post your answers in the comment section below, and I will make sure to share them on the LEGO Ambassador Forum on your behalf. And just like we have done previously, to make this questionnaire a little more fun, we will also do a random giveaway of a full set of sixteen LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 16 to one lucky person who answers the questions above. Your answers must be posted before Sunday, September 25th at midnight US EST. One entry per person. Once the giveaway is closed I will ask my little sister to pick a number between however many qualified entries are there. (So if there are 100 entries I will ask her to pick one number between 1 and 100. Don’t worry; she is old enough to know her numbers!) Whichever number she picks is the winning entry.
I will contact the winner by email, so make sure your email address is correct! The winner will also be announced here. Thank you for participating with your valuable feedback, and best of luck in the giveaway! 😉
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
As a teen fan :
1. Mostly checking out the shopping site page and explore different themes.
2.I watch the videos on the site and use it as building ideas.
3. My favorites are: thebrickblogger.com because I really like the community there and the easy to read articles and also brickfan.com for up to date news and releases.
4. Not really.
5. It would be very nice if the Lego site can add interesting articles about building or just ideas for fun and also hold worldwide contests as well 🙂
1. I have a Lego store conveniently close to me so I use the Lego site primarily for Pick a Brick and Bricks & Pieces. Secondarily, I use it to contact Lego when I have a question, a problem or a suggestion.
2. I don’t really go to the site for content.
3. I survey other sites for good design, innovative building techniques and general information about Lego and Lego-related products.
4. Not sure if this question attempts to differential adults and teens from one another or, as a group, from children. Either way there maybe characteristic differences in goals and methods in each group but I’m not sure what they are or how they’re important. Basically, I think Lego have potential to meet each user at their capacity.
5. I think Legos remain a very creative toy/tool that can meet the exploratory play of children and also very sophisticated ideas of adults. Inspiration and techniques are always welcome but the bricks, themselves, provide more than sufficient potential.
Can I amend my #5?
I think it would be an enormous improvement for adult fans if you could print out a PaB or B&P order in progress. That way, if it disappears before you finish it and place the order, and that’s HAPPENED to me at least 3 different times, you could replicate the order more easily with less chance that something gets forgotten. That’s a BIG issue when the shipping can amount to more than the price of the parts.
Yes, of course. I will gather all feedback on Monday and send them in to LEGO via the Ambassador forum. This is a very important point actually, and I have heard a number of people having issues with their PAB order disappearing, so thanks for bringing it up.
1. I use LEGO.com to stay up to date on the new sets that come out, especially in the Ninjago category. I like to compare the prices and minifigures that come in each set, so I can choose the ones I want and hopefully buy them the next time I go to a local store. I also use the Ninjago website a lot, playing games, watching videos, and reading the new character bios that come out with each season.
2. Like I said before, I like to compare minifigures in the sets so I can get the most I can get without many repeats. When the Ninjago sets from season six came out, I bought four different sets and got all the minifigures I wanted except one.
3. Ninjago is my favorite Lego series, and I love surfing the website for little fun facts and fan videos. The Asian themes in the sets make me really happy, and since I follow the show quite closely, the minifigures are always a great bonus!
4. It really depends on where a person’s interests lie. I am a teen, and I love collecting minifigures based on popular movies/TV shows. That’s one reason why I’ve never cared for the Lego City or other generic series, because I mostly get the sets for the figures, where other people collect sets for all the different pieces or the vehicles and buildings. That’s where you can’t be sure… people always have their different interests and ideas, whatever their age is.
5. I think it’s great the way it is! But maybe target some teens and adults with series like Ninjago and Nexo Knights, too. There are lots of activities that only little kids can do or are too easy, and sometimes my teen friends and I feel left out.
1. As an AFOL, mostly I shop for items on sale or items that are not available in my local LEGO store or Toys R Us.
2. Research, For instance, I just bought the Holiday Train and used the site to find (and purchase) the Power Function components to make the train run.
3. Finding sets I was not familiar with and in general expending my LEGO knowledge, since I am a relatively new AFOL. The things I search for on LEGO sites are two things: a.) building tips for stuff like scenery, (I am building a LEGO city layout.) b.) information on older sets, such as Monster Fighters, which I fell in love with belatedly and am using the Web to find sets to populate a whole Monster section of my LEGO city.
4. I don’t know many TFOL’s but talked to some at the recent Brick Fest and we seemed to be interested in many of the same things, especially trains!
5. History. Not just of the company but older sets using some kind of Flashback Friday blog (or whatever) to educate people about sets, differences in LEGO parts over the years, as well as building techniques.
1. I use LEGO.com almost exclusively for shopping/browsing prior to shopping. So, of course, I use the shop section the most. Once or twice in a blue moon I’ll check out the pages for themes I’m interested in (particularly Ninjago) or watch a video.
2. I generally use the content on LEGO.com to purchase sets, which obviously expand my building opportunities. When browsing through sets I’m interested on LEGO.com I’m generally keeping an eye out for unusual pieces and/or techniques.
3. I generally spend time looking at other people’s creations, posting my own, and commenting (Flickr and Eurobricks for instance); the goal being both to interact with others in the community and to discover new techniques or ideas. I also routinely visit a couple of the sites that keep up-to-date on the news in the LEGO world (such as The Brick Blogger and Brickset), but I spend much less time on this aspect.
4. I don’t think there’s an essential difference between teens and adults – the difference lies more between collectors and MOCers (and there’s plenty in between!). Of course teens generally have more time to build, but also less money to collect, which makes some difference, but it’s mainly superficial.
5. My personal experience with the non-shopping aspects is that they’re too watered down for me – which is fine; LEGO is a kid’s toy after all! Fan-run sites more than cover that aspect and in fact would provide stiff competition if LEGO decided to run a teen or adult geared section.
Hm, interesting questions….
1. As a teen fan, I use LEGO.com to watch new LEGO videos (specifically Ninjago and SW), occasionally play games, and otherwise to look up info on new sets and themes. I normally use LEGO Shop to check availability, price, and images of new sets.
2. LEGO.com doesn’t really enhance my hobby beyond supplying character to specific minifigs, and listing the parts of sets on Bricks & Pieces, which I use to document most new LEGO parts.
3. I generally search for new videos and parts, but I also look for news about LEGO, regarding sets or otherwise, to keep up with the latest. For that I usually use Brickset.com and theBrickBlogger, and occasionally theBrickfan.com.
4. Differences in teen and adult interests? Interests vary by person. However, I think I can say that younger fans prefer sets with lots of good play functions, while adults may prefer sets that either look good or are accurate to the source material. A good LEGO set should excel in both of those fields.
5. Make LEGO Shop work properly. And continue to update complete set inventories to Bricks & Pieces. 🙂
What e-mail would I use to contact you admin?
Just click the little envelope at the top of the left-hand side-bar under the subscribe button. That will allow you to email me. 🙂
it didn’t work..gave me a delivery system failure…
Hm… I’m not sure why that would be. It works fine for me, and that’s definitely my email address. I just tested it just to make sure there is no glitch. I don’t want to share my email here as I don’t want to attract spambots, but I will send you an email in a sec, and you can just reply back.
Ok, cool I’m trying to get my post to you.
I emailed you a while back. I hope you got it.
I did, and I tried every single one of my emails it didn’t work…I’m gonna try sending it from my phone…
That’s super weird. I’m going to try to email you from my Hotmail account. Just a sec…
Did you get it?
I just checked all my email addresses. I haven’t gotten anything from you. This is so weird. Did you send it to my Cox or Hotmail address?
I sent it to your hot mail and it didn’t send me a notification failure… you know what just go here to copy it and enter the email I used for this comment as the pass word… http://thebricklot.com/2016/09/19/post-for-the-brick-blogger/
He-he… that’s pretty clever… I did finally get your email though. It went to my Hotmail junk folder. So all is good. 🙂
AFOL for two years now.
1. I use the Lego site a lot. I use it to search new models, what the latest give aways are. I mostly use the site for pick a brick as most Lego sets I want to build are retired and on eBay etc for huge prices, so I research which set I want to build and then go about sourcing the bricks and plates needed.
2. I will download the digital instructions for a lot of retired sets and then build. Also use the site to see how I can modify some aspects and add to an existing build, eg: The Taj Mahal set, I have extended the front to include the water, trees, and the big fountain/pond and added micro Minifigures and it looks quite good. I also like to read reviews to see how others build looking at photos.
3. Mostly use site to research past sets, and what’s coming up soon. I also use Brick Owl and Brick Link to research and source hard to find bricks and plates needed to stay true to the original design.
4. I think young builders are more interested in the playability of Lego where as an AFOL I am more interested in the bigger sets for display rather than for play.
5. It would be good if it was possible to submit an order and then add to it if I have forgot some pieces and I wish Lego would bring back some retired sets not available except on eBay and other sites that sell Lego sets,for hugely extortionist prices which put some sets way above what I can afford to buy.
Overall, I think the site works well and I do like the fact that the pick a brick bag will hold my chosen pieces so I can come back to add to it before submitting an order, and often find I need more pieces that I have forgot and would like to add them to an existing order as at ToyPro.
As a tfol:
1. I use Lego.com mostly to order or look at sets in the shop. I also use the main section occasionally to stay caught up on news about the Lego Batman Movie and such.
2. I use Lego.com to look at new parts and unusual techniques to improve my own building.
3. I take interest in new sets, all superhero Lego, and cool mocs, and cool building techniques.
4. I think that teen fans are generally more interested in the main pages than adults. As an older teen, I find myself paying less and less attention to them, using mostly just the shop.
5. I think that some more in depth content on the main pages would greatly improve them.
1. As a teen LEGO fan, I use the LEGO site for browsing and/or shopping, but also generally keep an eye on the Ninjago section (though not all that regularly), and check out the CMF part (particularly the bio’s) occasionally. Primarily, however, my excusions remain in the Shop@home section.
2. The most obvious way in which it enhances my LEGO building would be in providing new pieces and parts from sets, and, every once in a while, adding or suggesting a new building technique for my MOCs. Once or twice, too, I have built MOCs based on content from the Ninjago series or art, and I plan to do some more of that in the near future.
3. Other than on LEGO.com, my LEGO related activity is principally comprised of building and posting my own builds, participating with the online LEGO fan community, following other builders – especially on Flickr and Eurobricks – and trying both to improve my building style and techniques, and help others to improve through constructive criticism.
Besides that, I regularly check in on Brickset and The Brick Blogger to learn about new sets and LEGO related news.
4. To a certain degree, of course, teens and adults are limited by their different circumstances and available time – but other than that, I can’t say that I really can perceive any great difference between them.
5. Excluding the Shopping section – which I haven’t ever experienced any un-fixed problems with – I’d say that the site is mostly targeting a younger audience. But then, after all, if there is some slack there it has been more than picked up by the fan community, so – while I may not actively use it myself very often – I don’t find any great faults with the site in itself.
What advice can you offer the LEGO.com team that can improve the LEGO.com experience for teen and adult LEGO fans?
1. LEGO.com is a great resource and helps to keep me up to date with what is new.
2. Seeing what is new and what is retired.
3. Specials are interesting.
4. Teens may be more interested in what is trending while adult builders may be more interested in MOCs.
5. Advance advice of when sets are about to be retired .
1: to see sales and deals and also check and use my VIP points
2: I buy more LEGO using my VIP points
3: Mainly LEGO news and reviews
4: Not much if the teens we are talking about are MOCers, if not then yes because for teens LEGO is “childish”
5: To provide a service showing what Pick-A-Brick walls have on them at different LEGO stores.
1. I primarily visit shop.lego.com and ideas.lego.com. The first I use for shopping, the second I check to see what other fan designers are doing, and check the status of my own project.
2. I get inspiration from some of the designs on “ideas”.
3. Reviews, instructions, and part lists of Lego sets. Jangbricks is my primary source for reviews. For instructions I like BrickOwl, and I use Brickset and/or Bricklink for parts lists. I also sometimes check the secondary market value (for both buying and selling) on Bricklink and Brickpicker.
4. I don’t know as I currently don’t have any teens in my life to ask.
5. Less flash more substance on the sites.
1. As an adult lego fan I use the sections “sets”, “exclusives”, “bricks”, “extras”, “discover”, when using these you have to click more now then with the previous site.
2. I like to see what is new and what is on sale. I will buy sets and also individual bricks from Lego.
3. I will cross check individual brick prices for building retired sets that are too expensive to buy. Some are bricks are cheaper through Lego but usually I’ll get a better deal from other web sites or brick and mortar stores.
4. Yes, but not a big difference.
5. Improve the new site by reducing some of the clicks. Example under the “sets” you click on “city” then you have to clear “city” before clicking on “technic”. But when you click “clear selections” and click on “city” both selections will come up. So you have to click clear selections” again and then click on the section you want.
1 – I tend to browse through specific sections of the shop generally via my mobile. I often look at the Lego modulars and the creator sections. Additionally nearer to Christmas I browse the site with my children to try and figure out what they would like Santa to bring them for Christmas. Other than that the only other part of Lego.Com that I tend to look at are the minifigure sites.
2 – LEGO.com allows me to identify products that I would like to purchase, either for myself or my family. Additionally I do like receiving weekly Lego IDEA emails. Personally I prefer the emails as they are targeted to specific areas, as opposed to looking through the entire site.
3 – Outside of LEGO.com I tend to look for specific build instructions that fans have shared, such as Christmas themed items such as baubles, reindeer etc… I also such materials to try and inspire my children to build without the standard lego instructions. Additionally I look at Lego blogs (such as BrickBlogger) as a great source of information about what’s new and upcoming and for more detailed reviews about products.
4 – I do believe that there is a difference between teen and adult demographics. Younger children have Lego purchased for them and tend to favour the main-stream themes. The teen demographic often like Lego and start to have money to spend for themselves. I feel perhaps that demographic starts to move away from the standard Lego that they may have played with as a child and as we all know, are more into videogames and movies, hence models built around such licenses may prove more favourable, the tumbler for example or some of the great comic-con giveaways… (hint hint…). As an adult I have a much stronger leaning towards building rather than play, hence I’m personally a huge fan of the Lego modulars. I especially love the single delivery per year which is thus much more attainable for folk. Although it goes against what Lego have done, I wish that they would re-release some of the past models. I’m now starting to collect the Winter Village series and getting past products is of course difficult due to the inflated non-Lego market prices.
5 – I think the Lego.com team do a very good job in trying to hit all markets and thus can’t really offer advice. Something that has always been very tedious in the past however was pick-a-brick ordering. Lego previously told me that only Internet Explorer works properly. The entire process for ordering PAB is convoluted. I’m not sure if that’s changed with the shop changes. Additionally, I’m not a big fan of using websites to order products, I’m much happier using a specific app that pulls content from a webserver. As such I’d prefer a custom app that provides me with shop content, what’s new information, highlights, and theme sections….
1. (As a teen) Only to browse occasionally, and look at different sets. Shop, naturally enough, because of the zoom feature.
2. I use it to choose which sets I’ll end up getting. Mostly I buy Ninjago, so, for example, I look at Misfortunes Keep and the Lighthouse and decide to get the Lighthouse (usually at the LEGO store).
3. I look for other MOCers to comment on their builds and have them comment on mine, also I am part of several RPGs. This is mostly on image hosting sites such as Flickr and forums like Merlin’s Beard.
4. Not much, but as others have said, teens usually have more time and less money, so that might affect it a little.
5. It’s almost always suited me fine, so not too much, just to keep it easy to navigate.
1. As a teen I use Lego.com to keep me up to date on new sets that have just released. I have been using Lego.com for quite some time now!
2. As I said in question #1 I use it to see the new Lego sets. I also like to see what the community has built. It can give me inspiration on what I should create next.
3. I often search for Space-themed mocs and dioramas of movie scenes. I am really into Marvel and Star Wars so it is really cool to see the mocs people have made of movies.
4. The main difference that I have noticed is that teens, normally have more time to commit to builds, it really depends on the person.
5. I really like it the way it is! Im not sure if they already have this or not, but maybe a place where the Lego group can share alternate build to official Lego sets or building ideas. I think alternate builds are a ton of fun.
1. I tend to watch the stop-motion videos and the LEGO Minecraft and LEGO Creator designer videos. I also occasionally use the message boards.
2. I watch the Stop motion videos to learn techniques for my own videos. I also like to get build inspiration from the LEGO Minecraft Designer Videos.
3. I like to watch the animations on LEGO.com. I tend to go to other sites to get my news, since the news is more in depth and detailed.
4. Teenage LEGO fans are transitioning into being AFOLs. I myself am a teen and I like to spend more time with details and realism. I would say the only difference between the two is that Adult fans have more money.
5. I would love to be able to play the games on Chrome. I also would like to see more alternate builds and build inspiration. I would also like to see more content that adults and teens could enjoy, as well as children. I also would like to see it take less time for the site to load.
Those are just my answers. I’m only in it for the minifigures. 😛
I have started to visit the LEGO site less frequently after I found the online community that I can get info from. I would like to see a dedicated news section on the site.
1. I mainly use the online shop for finding the latest sets, check on sales, and reading reviews. And watch some of the video tutorials, but usually it is easier to find them on the YouTube channel.
2. I just use the site for shopping and don’t really use any of the other sections.
3. I mostly like to read and watch reviews. This site has a good mix of written reviews with an included video. I like that. I also like to see what other people are building. And I like the Lego YouTube channel for tutorials.
4. I think teens are more into the digital stuff. Games, digital building, videos, etc. I’m more old school and just like to build with my bricks in a quiet place with no distractions. Also younger people interact online more. I don’t need so much online entertainment, just getting relevant information is enough.
5. It would be great to have a dedicated section for teen and adult builders. Right now the site is so mixed up with kids stuff, it is hard to find what’s relevant to older builders. Also, it would be great to have a better navigation and sitemap. I regularly hear about sections of the Lego website (mostly through reading articles here), that I never even heard of. The Lego website could have some easy navigation buttons, like if you are an adult builder start here, and have tutorials, previews, reviews, and that sort of stuff.
And by the way thanks for asking. It is nice to see that the company really cares about their fans and asks for feedback. Lego has the best customer service ever.
1. I always go to shop.lego.com. I find it is the easiest way to look at different sets, sort by theme, and see what’s new.
2. I typically look at new sets that I would want to add to my collection, “new” pieces and how they are used (from zooming in on the pictures) and pricing out lego sets compared to other retailers (amazon, walmart, etc.)
3. I look at the architecture sets, modular buildings, and minifigure series. I like sets that have display value, or would work in a lego town. My guilty pleasure are lego trucks from the City line.
4. I feel there is a sort of cycle in being a lego fan. It goes from play, to play & display, to display, and back towards play/display when you have kids you play legos with. As an adult, I feel that I had more time for creativity as a teen, while now I typically assemble the sets and keep them per the instructions.
5. I think the biggest weakness of the lego site is the pick-a-brick section. While more and more pieces have been added over time, I feel that there could still be more of a variety and types of pieces on there. The biggest benefit could be from a better interface on the pick-a-brick section.
1. AFOL, I currently use Lego .com to explore new and upcoming sets. I have a very small minifig collection that I add to when my limited budget permits.
2. Since I am on disability I check prices and realize that most, new and popular items are sold out quickly and then only available at inflated prices. When I can I will buy from Lego.com knowing it is a good price.
3. I follow the new sets of minifigures and all Castle items,. I am building my own Lego Middle Earth MOC slowly but surely.
4. Teens and adults have determined an area to follow and are not necessarily interested in all themes across the board. Kids generally like all Legos until the reach an age to determine a specific theme as a favorite.
5. Not just for Lego .com, but Lego as a whole. The brand has evolved into a money making enterprise for secondary sales, I feel that many do not have exposure to Legos as toys, but only as collectibles..
THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY. Of course you are still free to share your opinion about the LEGO website. 🙂
UPDATE: All of the contest entries have been added up and the winner chosen! There were 20 entries in total. The winning number picked by my little sis was 18, therefore the winner is GingerG. She has already been contacted by email and is ready to receive his prize!
To GingerG, congratulations! And for all of you, thanks for playing! And especially for giving your valuable and thoughtful feedback to LEGO. If you didn’t win this time, look out for further contests/giveaways in the future. Thanks again for participating!