DBIX, The evolution of the LEGO® building Instructions

The LEGO Building Instructions are an iconic element of the LEGO® brand, recognizable and highly appreciated  by consumers. How to upgrade the Building Instructions experience has been always a factor of attention at LEGO® and at some point was evident the next step would be digital.

Early 2017 I joined a hand picket team of specialist across the LEGO Design organization with the task to define how LEGO Building Instructions should enter in the digital space, keeping the same experience quality of the paper printed Building Instructions with a single interaction solution working as a platform solution able to generate and deliver digital building instructions across the entire LEGO portfolio.

This project involved as stakeholders all the departments in the product development line at LEGO®, from Element Design to Retail. The first batch of the new generation of Building Instructions, was called Instructions PLUS, were released in June 2018, in 100 novelty boxes across LEGO City, Friends, NinjaGo, The LEGO Movie 2, etc.
In February 2022 version 2.0 was launched and re-branded as LEGO Builder.
Since then all the LEGO® products have a code that delivers either e-paper instructions or the fully interactive 3D instructions LEGO Builder.
The implementation will be progressive with the ambition to have the entire LEGO® portfolio available in fully interactive format over the next years

Due to his interactive nature, Instructions PLUS gives the user a higher level of control on his building experience flow, being able to start by the model of his preference, to zoom, rotate and fully explore the model to have a better overall understanding of what he is doing and why, at every step of the building process.

The new LEGO® Digital Building Instructions were greatly appreciated by consumers. User test and analytics have confirmed Digital Instructions not only keep the consumer satisfaction from the classic printed instruction, but also helped to reduce the classic pain points of printed building instructions. Digital Instructions greatly improve the element shape and color recognition steps, and in general upgrade the mentorship role of Building Instruction when learning how to build with LEGO

In summer 2022 LEGO® Builder included the new feature Build Together, Digital Instructions now allow several users to build the same model at the same time, adding a layer of social interaction at the LEGO building experience that was completely inconceivable with printed paper

Company: LEGO System A/S
Product: LEGO® Building Instructions
Teams: Digital Building Instructions Platform / Digital Consumer Engagement

More information about LEGO® Builder and the sets available here