What’s working
Growth at scale: revenue up 12% to DKK 83.5B, and the company says it grew more than twice as fast as the toy market. The 2024 identity refresh is rigorous, and the mobile menu’s top level is clean: Shop, Discover, Help.
Independent brand study · 2 Oct 2026
A–Z isn’t
a strategy.
LEGO has one of the best-run identity systems in the world and just posted its biggest year. Its shop still files 47 themes alphabetically, so LEGO’s own worlds sit between Nike and One Piece.
By Zahin Sultan · built from public sources and live observation
Shown for identification. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the LEGO Group.
The verdict
Strong brand. Unfinished shelf.
What’s at risk
One layer down, “Sets by theme” is a flat A–Z list that mixes LEGO’s own lines, partner franchises and product formats, with legal marks on 31 of 47 labels. The brand system says “system”. The shelf says “list”.
My one move
Replace the alphabet with four editorial shelves, strip the marks from labels, and test it against the current list with a tree test before touching production.
What the brand says it is
The system, read from the source.
Colour, from lego.com’s own tokens
- Bright Yellow
#FFD400 - Bright Red
#DD1A22 - Bright Blue
#006CB7 - Bright Green
#00AF4D - Black
#000000
Read from --ds-color-brand-* variables on lego.com/en-us. The site defines far more than five, including an “extended” range.
Type and idea
- LEGO Typewell A custom geometric typeface, built with Colophon. The name nods to “leg godt”, play well.
- System in Play The 1955 principle behind the 2024 refresh: bricks from any era fit together.
- Who built it Interbrand and LEGO’s in-house agency, over two years.
- Visual language Comic-book frames and speech bubbles, angular brick-shaped glyphs, motion that drops and builds.
Source: Creative Review. LEGO’s full brand guidelines are not public, so this study works from what the brand publishes and what its site shows.
What I found
Four findings, with evidence.
1
The shelf is alphabetical, and half of it isn’t LEGO.
What I saw. Under Shop → Sets by theme sit 47 links in A–Z order (one slip: Friends sits ahead of Fortnite). NINJAGO, a LEGO original, is filed between Nike x LEGO and One Piece. Technic is followed directly by The Legend of Zelda.
What I counted. By my classification, 22 are LEGO’s own lines and 25 are partner worlds (7 games, 13 film and TV, 3 kids’ shows, 2 brand and anime). Partner IP is a growth engine. But in an alphabetical list it also gets the same weight as LEGO’s own storytelling.
Why it matters. The 2024 refresh is built on one idea: pieces from any era fit together. A flat list expresses the opposite, a pile of separate worlds. It also makes the shopper do the sorting.
I could be wrong because licensing deals may require equal placement, so A–Z may be a deliberate fairness rule. Age and Interests routes also exist beside it, and I haven’t seen the click data.
22 LEGO’s own lines
25 partner worlds
2
31 of 47 labels carry a legal mark.
As they appear today
- LEGO® Pokémon™ SMART Play™
- LEGO® DUPLO® Peppa Pig
- LEGO® The Legend of Zelda™
- Star Wars™ SMART Play™
- NINJAGO®
42 ®/™ marks across 47 labels. 20 labels start with “LEGO®”.
What I saw. 20 of 47 theme labels begin with “LEGO®”, repeated in the one menu that sits under the LEGO logo. One label, “LEGO® Pokémon™ SMART Play™”, carries three marks.
Why it matters. Voice starts with names. A brand whose promise is “play well” shouldn’t read like a trademark schedule in its own navigation. The marks add length and noise to every label, and they bury the word the shopper is looking for.
I could be wrong because legal teams often require the marks at first use, and that can include navigation. The fix is a rule for where they live (see the fix), not removing them blindly.
3
The front gate splits the family in two.
What I saw. First visit to lego.com/en-us (US session, 2 Oct 2026): a gate with two doors, LEGO.com (“shop, get support & more”) and THE PLAY ZONE (“play games, watch videos and more”). A Play Zone button then follows you into the menu.
Why it matters. LEGO’s biggest growth stories live across that line: LEGO Fortnite has passed 1 billion player hours, and SMART Play connects bricks to screens. The split is probably deliberate (children’s content has different rules), but the bridge between the two doors isn’t designed yet. Today it is a theme label in the shop list.
I could be wrong because I only saw the US gate, and the split may be required for children’s privacy. I’m flagging a missing bridge, not arguing for one door.
4
The new typeface is loaded. The old one is doing the talking.
LoadedLEGO Typewell
RenderingCera Pro
What I saw. The page loads LEGO Typewell, the 2024 flagship face. But the six H2s, four H3s, body text and buttons I checked on the shop homepage all compute to Cera Pro. Headlines also switch case, from “Find the perfect set” to “GIFTS THAT AWAKEN THEIR JOY”.
Why it matters. A new identity is only as real as its smallest component. If Typewell is reserved for the logo and campaigns, that is a choice worth writing down. If it isn’t, the migration isn’t finished.
I could be wrong because Typewell may render in components I didn’t sample, or be reserved for the Play Zone. I checked computed styles on one page.
The fix · my proposal, not LEGO’s
Four shelves instead of an alphabet.
Same 47 links. Grouped by who they’re for, with labels cleaned up. Switch views and watch every theme move.
Label rule
Say “LEGO” once, in the logo. Put ®/™ in a footnote line under the menu. Show the franchise name and nothing else.
| Today | Proposed |
|---|---|
| LEGO® Pokémon™ SMART Play™ | Pokémon · SMART Play |
| LEGO® DUPLO® Peppa Pig | DUPLO · Peppa Pig |
| LEGO® The Legend of Zelda™ | The Legend of Zelda |
| Nike x LEGO® Collection | Nike x LEGO |
Order rule
- Play worlds first: LEGO’s own storytelling lines, the reason the brand exists.
- Build for grown-ups & makers second: the system-led lines.
- Partner worlds third, grouped by type so a Mario fan and a Bluey parent each find their own.
- Schools & work last, with its own door.
Type rule
Write down where Typewell and Cera Pro each live. One sentence in the guidelines: display and campaign in Typewell, interface and body in Cera Pro, sentence case everywhere in the shop.
What I’d do first
Three moves, tested before shipped.
-
Tree-test the two lists
Ask shoppers to find a gift for a seven-year-old and a display set for a collector, once through today’s A–Z and once through the four shelves.
Measure Success rate and time to first correct click. No target set until there’s a baseline.
-
Agree the label rule with legal
Move marks to a footnote line and confirm it holds in every market. Roll out where it passes.
Measure Menu scan time, and zero legal exceptions.
-
Publish the type roles
Audit where Typewell and Cera Pro render today, then write the rule into the guidelines.
Measure Share of headline components rendering in the specified face.
Method and limits
How I know, and what I don’t.
- Counted live. Links, themes and labels were counted from the lego.com/en-us page in a browser on 2 Oct 2026. Layout and content vary by market, device and time.
- My classification. “Own line” versus “partner world” is my judgment. Some lines (Speed Champions, Ideas) blur the edge.
- No inside data. No analytics, no interviews, no user testing. Findings are hypotheses with a test attached.
- Type. Fonts were read from computed styles on one page.
- Tools. Research and code were built with AI assistance. The analysis, judgment and recommendations are Zahin’s.
Sources
- LEGO Group 2025 full-year results (10 Mar 2026)
- Creative Review: LEGO’s new design system
- lego.com/en-us, observed 2 Oct 2026
LEGO®, DUPLO®, NINJAGO® and the LEGO logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group, used here only to identify the subject of commentary. This study is not affiliated with or endorsed by the LEGO Group.
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