
Evolution of the Lego Logo - NaOH
http://www.logodesignlove.com/lego-logo
======
matthewvincent
So much nostalgia in those logos! One thing that struck me looking through
those old sets is just how timeless Legos really are. I inherited many of the
70s-80s sets from an older cousin in the 90s, that were subsequently used by
my younger siblings and I all the way through the early 2000s. And they're
still there at my parents house ready for another generation! I honestly can't
think of another toy with such staying power.

~~~
lb1lf
At least here in Scandinavia, BRIO trains come close. They're utterly
indestructible (like most Lego), and to the best of my knowledge any BRIO
thingamajig ever made is compatible with any other; I had a hand-me-down set
around 1980; today, I buy new kit for my kids to go along with the stuff I
had. It all fits perfectly.

~~~
jharger
I remember those! Here in the US in the 80's they used to be at the
"educational" toy stores in shopping malls across the country. I always
thought they were really cool, but my parents never bought me one.

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PhasmaFelis
It's worth noting that Lego didn't invent locking bricks, though they did
refine them. Similar bricks made of rubber had apparently been around for a
while, but the first plastic versions were made by a Brit named Hilary Fisher
Page under the brand name "Kiddicraft".

Lego discovered that Page hadn't patented his bricks in Denmark, copied them
more or less exactly (though they'd improve the design later), and the rest is
history. Page killed himself in 1957, apparently without ever hearing of
Lego's success. Lego bought Kiddicraft in 1981 to solidify their legal claim
before suing Tyco for copying _their_ bricks.

~~~
fattire
Yeah here are a few reports on this:

[http://www.cracked.com/article_20025_5-world-famous-
products...](http://www.cracked.com/article_20025_5-world-famous-products-
that-are-shameless-rip-offs.html)

[http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2014/02/06/kiddicraft-the-
compan...](http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2014/02/06/kiddicraft-the-company-lego-
ripped-off-to-make-plastic-bricks)

They say the plastic blocks WERE patented, but Lego (allegedly) didn't care or
perhaps as you mentioned the patent didn't apply in Denmark according to some
commenters as well.

As the article notes, Lego has been very aggressive pursuing perceived design
violations.

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baxtr
I just love Legos. I spend countless hours in my childhood building whole
cities in my room... I was so excited when we got our baby boy that I bought a
brand new Lego police station right away, which I've stored in the basement of
ourhoise. He's now 2... we'll get there.

That said, I have the feeling that when I was a kid there was a bigger variety
of "joinable" toy systems. Lego has gotten so big that all of them vanished by
now. However, that's just ust based on my gut feeling, I don't have real data
for that

~~~
deadbunny
> Legos

Lego. They are Lego bricks not Legos.

~~~
basseq
I had a ton of legos growing up, and it was always that—legos. Though the
"proper" pronunciation may be singular with a plural noun (e.g., bricks,
pieces, sets, etc.), the vernacular has most certainly evolved to include the
general "legos".

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sriram_iyengar
Lego is always an inspiring story. Another one from bookmarks
[https://blog.hubspot.com/agency/history-lego-
marketing](https://blog.hubspot.com/agency/history-lego-marketing)

~~~
pacaro
Your linked article has the one thing that TFA is missing, one image with all
the logos on it. Thank you

~~~
sriram_iyengar
Yes. (With an aspergers boy and Lego became a necessity during his
kindergarden. It has done and is still doing wonders to improve his attention)

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arketyp
Remarkable similarity between the '39/'40 logo and the logo of the Swedish
wooden toy company BRIO used until quite recently:
[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_BRIO.svg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_BRIO.svg)

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mcv
Cool piece of history, but I notice that a number of photos are more recent
than the years in their caption. The 1970 product line photo shows products
from 1980 (1978 perhaps), and while the first space men may have appeared in
1978, the yellow, blue and black ones are from the 1980s.

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gugagore
I had hoped this traced the history of programmable Lego (the first product
was "LEGO LOGO")

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test1235
I was in the flagship (?) store in Copenhagen a few weeks back, and they have
a selection of these up on the wall as you walk in. Not so many of the earlier
(arguably uglier) ones, but it was interesting to see.

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zik
Pretty interesting article but I had to laugh at this:

> A subtle refinement (a “graphic tightening” in LEGO’s words) of the 1973
> logo for better digital (i.e. internet) reproduction.

Digital/internet reproduction in 1973? The web wasn't invented until 1990 and
didn't really catch on until around 1997. In fact computers didn't exist in
the home and the computers that did exist were text based. The personal
computer revolution really happened after the IBM PC was released in 1981.

~~~
shagie
Rephrased:

> Given the 1973 logo ( [http://www.logodesignlove.com/images/evolution/lego-
> logo-12....](http://www.logodesignlove.com/images/evolution/lego-
> logo-12.jpg) ), in 1998 the image was tightened to make it easier to print
> digitally ( [http://www.logodesignlove.com/images/evolution/lego-
> logo-13....](http://www.logodesignlove.com/images/evolution/lego-
> logo-13.jpg) )

As far as the changes go... look at the removal of white space in the area
between the 'L' and 'E' and within the 'O'. Furthermore, the middle bar of the
E was made more pronounced, and the upper terminal of the 'G' was made more
regular.

~~~
zik
Oh woops. I guess I misread that.

