Adding 'designed by' field to sets

Si_UKNZ · June 2011

Given that some of the set designers are becoming well-known, and that the single thing which most determines how good or bad a set is is the designer, how about having an extra field for each set for the designer?

Being able to search by designer would be sweet!

SapmiSatan · June 2011

I agree, it would raise designer awareness.

Huw · June 2011

That's the sort of thing BrickLists could and should be used for. I thought about starting one for Mark Stafford and maybe now he reads this forum, he'd be a good one to start with particularly as I don't have a definitive list.

jgadget · June 2011

^ I like this idea.
Previously, I had only found one type of bricklist useful and that was for the newspaper promotional sets.
Of course, if I lived in the USA, I would also have found a brickmaster list useful.

drdavewatford · June 2011

Yep - great idea, although how easy it'd be to actually get the designer information is another matter.

Si_UKNZ · June 2011

Maybe the 'collaborative bricklist' feature which has been talked about might be useful for this.

Enbric · June 2011

This is a bit random, but I wish Lego supplied this kind of information on their boxes or the manual or something. Not only would it be nice to know for collectors, but it could also be someone for kids to look up to a little.

I like how the designers are getting videos for some big sets (I'm thinking the Imperial Shuttle and Pet Shop off the top of my head) and I think these designers should get some recognition, assuming they want it.

As for the actual suggestion, I like it. I'm not sure I like it in the form of a Bricklist, I rarely read them since a lot of them are not maintained or incomplete (yes I realize there's a list of most popular/helpful). In my opinion it would be more helpful if it was where the barcodes live now, on that right sidebar, so the designer can be attached to the set he or she created.

bmwlego · June 2011

After listening to Jamie Berard at Brick Fair 2010, and if memory serves right, it seems as if many many designers work on a set. Each set may have a lead designer but sets pass through teams of designers to ensure quality, instruction clarity, sticker design, mini fig design, etc.

Listing who designed each set could be problematic in this regard and as others have mentioned, how would Brickset go about acquiring this info?

Maybe this can be more easily done for recent, current and future sets?

Si_UKNZ · June 2011

how would Brickset go about acquiring this info?

We could just ask the designers directly, I dont think they'd mind telling us. Or maybe go through our ambassador (or whatever he's called) direct to lego. I dont see why they wouldnt tell us, especially since the videos on their site tell you this kind of thing anyway. We do live in the cult of celebrity after all :)

We could just list the lead designer, or just have a multiple entry field and list the whole team - probably depends on the info thats available.

bluemoose · June 2011

... it seems as if many many designers work on a set.

That's my understanding, for most sets. There will be a theme lead, a set lead, and others that contribute. Sometimes, a set might be +90% the product of an individual, but I think that's unusual. The D2C sets seem to be a little different, where it seems that individuals do have more influence, more routinely.

... {some stuff} ...

As for your comment about asking through the Ambassador programme, I think it's been asked before ... I'll go check, but don't set your expectations high.

bluemoose · June 2011

OK, latest feedback is (26th April 2011) ...

Well, this is proving to be a difficult task as most sets are a colloborative effort so highlighting one designer over another would be unfair. The design team will take a further look into this to see if anything can be done.

Yellowcastle · June 2011

^^ "(some stuff)" = too funny

Si_UKNZ · June 2011

^ Thanks.

^^ Brilliant, let us know when you hear more. Did you ask specifically about crediting designers on brickset?

Matthew · June 2011

After listening to Jamie Berard at Brick Fair 2010, and if memory serves right, it seems as if many many designers work on a set. Each set may have a lead designer but sets pass through teams of designers to ensure quality, instruction clarity, sticker design, mini fig design, etc.

Yes that's right, it's touched upon in this documentary I posted a while back -
http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/126/new-documentary#Item_1

bluemoose · June 2011

^^ No, it was about making the information widely available to the AFOL community in general.

LEGO_Nabii · June 2011

For many of the reasons above, I can't see this working.

Sets and themes are incredibly collaborative and it's very hard to say what is mine for example and what came into a set because of other designers input.

Let’s take 'my' latest set the 7066 Alien Conquest Earth Defence HQ as an example. The front section and firing missile launcher were from a sketch model (a cool orange and light grey vehicle) by Designer Luis C. I built the first blue and grey version changing the front shape considerably and adding the rear section and stuck my red Vics Viper MOC on the top (I take my MOCs into work to photograph and this one fitted perfectly for what I had in mind). Then while I was on holiday Mike F. built a version, much more greebled and with some really nice additions and a totally different spacecraft on top. I got rid of the new spaceship (I thought it was ugly) but kept a lot of what he did with the rear end. All of this was under direction from our Design Lead Laurence D. who is in charge of making sure the theme hangs together and is consistent in design and colour scheme across the sets.

Though I like to say what I’ve worked on, (see my MOCPages) and give myself credit as ‘Set Designer’ I always try to give credit to those who did sketch models and threw in design aspects in my notes. To undertake a similar task for every LEGO set in a year (or in LEGO history) would be a mammoth task and also be a disservice to the many other people would help put these products into your hands, for example the building instructions are an art of their own and just as crucial to the building experience.

Now I know the people who do the building instructions I can see a certain individual style to these too and I’d argue this could be just a useful to a LEGO connoisseur as knowing who the designer is, but they would never put themselves forward!

sidersdd · June 2011

Perhaps not what the OP requested, but I think it'd be cool at least to capture design history content like what Mark just wrote alongside the set details. It provides insights into the design of the set that I think lot of people would be interested in. Perhaps this goes in the "Info" section?

Matthew · June 2011

Perhaps this goes in the "Info" section?

Yep, there is not a lot of good stuff in there at present, and I have been helping Huw to purge the rubbish, so it would be really nice to see some worthwhile information in there.

BOBJACK_JACKBOB · March 2013

Hi,

First let me say thank you for a great site.

I have a suggestion - I would appreciate if the designer could be named on the set page. Ideally searchable, so that if I really liked a set I could identify others by the same designer.

Is this something that could be done? Are the designers of the sets known?

Thanks for reading.

Bob

Joseph · March 2013

I think your answer is here: http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/946/adding-designed-by-field-to-sets
Nabii summarizes a lot of the problem in this post:

LEGO_Nabii said:
For many of the reasons above, I can't see this working.

Sets and themes are incredibly collaborative and it's very hard to say what is mine for example and what came into a set because of other designers input.

Let’s take 'my' latest set the 7066 Alien Conquest Earth Defence HQ as an example. The front section and firing missile launcher were from a sketch model (a cool orange and light grey vehicle) by Designer Luis C. I built the first blue and grey version changing the front shape considerably and adding the rear section and stuck my red Vics Viper MOC on the top (I take my MOCs into work to photograph and this one fitted perfectly for what I had in mind). Then while I was on holiday Mike F. built a version, much more greebled and with some really nice additions and a totally different spacecraft on top. I got rid of the new spaceship (I thought it was ugly) but kept a lot of what he did with the rear end. All of this was under direction from our Design Lead Laurence D. who is in charge of making sure the theme hangs together and is consistent in design and colour scheme across the sets.

Though I like to say what I’ve worked on, (see my MOCPages) and give myself credit as ‘Set Designer’ I always try to give credit to those who did sketch models and threw in design aspects in my notes. To undertake a similar task for every LEGO set in a year (or in LEGO history) would be a mammoth task and also be a disservice to the many other people would help put these products into your hands, for example the building instructions are an art of their own and just as crucial to the building experience.

Now I know the people who do the building instructions I can see a certain individual style to these too and I’d argue this could be just a useful to a LEGO connoisseur as knowing who the designer is, but they would never put themselves forward!

Si_UKNZ · March 2013

Having recently engaged with the Architecture series, I noticed that the designer is named on the front of the box, so it could work for that series at least.

BOBJACK_JACKBOB · March 2013

@Joseph

Thanks for replying. I didn't know this topic had been raised before. It's a shame it seems unworkable.

Bob

Adding 'designed by' field to sets

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