There are some updates and changes from LEGO Ideas, which the LEGO Ideas team wanted to make sure the community know about. Some of the changes are bigger and more significant, while others are minor. Below, we will discuss the changes and what they mean for LEGO fans.
➡ LEGO IDEAS EXPLAINER PAGES: Over the past year, the LEGO Ideas team expanded the definition of what LEGO Ideas is. It’s not only about product ideas any more, but your creative ideas overall. In the past, the How It Works pages and general explainer pages have been very focused on product ideas, so all of that was revamped to give you a clearer picture of all the challenges you can participate in on the LEGO Ideas platform. Check out the new explainer pages for How It Works and Product Ideas.
➡ LEGO IDEAS PRODUCT IDEA SUBMIT FLOW: The product ideas submission process was simplified and streamlined and done away with some of the previous clutter. The image upload and cropping functionality was also updated. One of the more noteworthy features of the new submit flow is the Intellectual Property (IP) Question. LEGO Ideas welcomes submissions based on intellectual properties (designs copyrighted by someone else, i.e. movies, bands, real-world buildings, vehicles, etc.), however there are many IPs which are already off the table for various reasons. Some of the examples given are as follows: overlap with currently commercialized LEGO products (Star Wars, Ferrari, etc.), have already been commercialized through LEGO Ideas (Beatles Yellow Submarine, Voltron, etc.), don’t fit the LEGO brand (Game of Thrones, Call of Duty, etc.), or contain a known license conflict that prevents commercializing the IP (Monopoly, Transformers, etc.).
It’s always been a bit challenging to know which IPs were allowed and not allowed On LEGO Ideas, so now you can easily look up an IP and get an immediate response. (Please be aware that LEGO Ideas maintains an even stricter policy than the rest of the LEGO Group about which intellectual properties are allowed on the platform. An IP that may be denied via LEGO Ideas for any reason may well still be considered internally by the LEGO Group’s design teams in their regular product development process.)
➡ LEGO IDEAS PRODUCT IDEA STATISTICS: Another very useful new feature is the Product Ideas Statistics available to anyone who submitted a product idea to the LEGO Ideas platform. The statistics give project creators more understanding of and control over their promotional efforts. The two graphs available now show total project support over time and project support by day. Other useful graphs may be added in the future based on feedback from the community.
➡ LEGO IDEAS THEMES/TAGS: Themes and tags were also updated to make it easier to find projects on LEGO Ideas. Now each theme is built upon multiple relevant tags, so if you look in the theme “Cars” you will see submission tagged with car, sport car, race car, and more. It is also now a requirement that product idea submissions have 1-10 tags to improve categorization and search results.
All of these are very positive changes that make the LEGO Ideas platform for those who submit projects as well as those who are searching for them. So, look around the next time you visit LEGO Ideas to test out the new features. Speaking of looking around, I highly recommend checking out the results of some of the recently finished competitions, like the LEGO Overwatch Junkertown Contest. And, if you want to give yourself a fun challenge with the potential to win amazing prices, the LEGO Harley Davidson Contest and the LEGO Voice Experience Contest are still running. If you prefer smaller challenges, the LEGO Ideas Activities section is currently asking fans for ideas for brick-built pets.
In addition, you can also search for LEGO Ideas projects to see if there is a product idea you would like to support with your vote. And of course, you can also take a look at the currently available LEGO Ideas sets at the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? How do you like the changes made to the LEGO Ideas platform? Which projects would you like to see becoming official LEGO sets? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!
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