While watching the American version of the LEGO Masters competition TV series, one thing that stood out for me the most is how often Amie Corbett and Jamie Berald – LEGO Senior Designers and judges of the show – emphasized the importance of color. They encouraged contestants to use more colors, use colors to tell a story, and to combine colors to highlight important details of a LEGO project (photo below by Nathan Francis).
Since watching the show, I have been paying a lot more attention to colors in my own builds, and I’m also paying more attention to how color is used in official LEGO sets. So I thought to talk about this topic a bit and ask your opinions and experiences as well.
In the early days of LEGO, there were only a handful of colors. White, tan, yellow, orange, red, blue, green, grays, black, and some translucent colors were introduced back in the 1950s and ’60s. LEGO fans (and LEGO’s own designers) were limited to this narrow color-palette. The downside of this was that they could not make their models very realistic; everything from houses to spaceships was built with the same few colors. On the positive side, children could focus on play, and did not have to spend much time thinking about color theories. (Just for the of historic accuracy, I would add here that the old LEGO Modulex line with tiny bricks that was specifically developed for architects did include some beautiful earth tones and subtle hues.)
Through the following decades, more colors were added. Some were short lived, while others we still have to this day. By adding more colors, LEGO also started using colors in a more strategic way. Baddies got dark and scary colors like dark-red and black, good guys got what kids usually consider awesome colors like gold, girl-oriented sets used pastel shades, and sets for the youngest kids stayed with bright primary colors. During these years, LEGO sets and custom models started to look more sophisticated, but they were still clearly recognizable as LEGO.
Things really started to change when LEGO introduced some of the more subtle colors like sand-blue and sand green, and many shades of the same color including yellows, oranges, blues, greens, purples, etc. In particular, the great variety of greens, blues, and browns allowed building landscapes that rivaled Thomas Kinkade paintings. It was LEGO fans who first started experimenting with this realistic style of building. When you see thumbnails of such builds, you will think it’s a photograph or painting. LEGO mosaics also greatly improved by the addition of so many subtle hues. Although LEGO introduced many new colors, official LEGO sets still tended to stay with a somewhat childish building style of bright colors and strong contrasts.
However, just a few years ago, LEGO also started to release sets with more mature and realistic color combinations (and techniques!). The LEGO Modular Buildings and the LEGO Architecture series are prime examples, as well as sets like the #21310 LEGO Ideas Old Fishing Store, and #21318 LEGO Ideas Tree House. These sets are mostly targeting adult LEGO fans, and adults have a greater desire for realism. They also tend to use LEGO as a creative medium and home/office décor rather than a toy. With LEGO’s ramped-up focus on their adult fans, and the new 18+ oriented collections, we will continue to see more of these types of refined sets.
Interestingly, the color combination of kid-oriented sets also greatly improved in the past few years. For example, take a look at LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Monkie Kid, LEGO Hidden Side, LEGO DOTS, and the LEGO Chinese New Year sets. They all use carefully selected color palettes that match the theme and tell a story. LEGO Friends is another interesting theme worth paying attention to. LEGO Friends introduced many of the new colors that later spread to other themes, but the way they are combined is often considered a hit or miss (at least from an adult’s perspective). On the other hand, an offshoot of LEGO Friends, LEGO Elves, was universally praised for its pleasing color combinations and beautiful details.
So how can we take advantage of all these new colors and learn how to combine them? We can start by recognizing where we’re at and what we want to achieve. Many older LEGO fans who grew up with a limited color selection continue to build with just a few colors and feel intimidated or confused by all the colors available today. There is nothing wrong with using basic colors as they have their own charm. At the same time, we may also want to expand our color palette or freshen up our own builds.
Even those who grew up in a more colorful era in LEGO’s history, often limit themselves to their favorite colors and color combination. This is often evidenced by LEGO fans making all their spaceships, landscapes, and buildings by reusing the same colors that worked for them in the past. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, but if we want to learn, we will have to step out of our comfort zone and acquire new skills.
One of the easiest ways to learn new skills is by watching the masters. As I mentioned at the beginning, LEGO designers Amie and Jamie talked a lot about the use of color in the LEGO Masters TV show. It was interesting that even the super skilled contestants sometimes stuck to their favorite colors without taking advantage of other options (they had access to practically unlimited LEGO bricks!), and overlooked the importance of color to make their project stand out. You can also learn by studying the models of LEGO fans via their photo albums or social media accounts.
Another way to learn about the use of color is to study the colors of official LEGO sets. You may not even be interested in the theme or the set itself, but you can look at how LEGO designers pull together colors for a pleasing effect. You could be building a spaceship, and you may find a LEGO Friends house that has the perfect color combination for your ship. So don’t just look at sets for the cool designs and unique minifigs! Pay attention to the colors too! Once you find a color combination that you like, practice with it, and see how you can adopt it to your own model.
If you spot a color that you would like to work with, but you aren’t sure how to combine it with other colors, look at the Color Guide in the Bricklink Catalog. It will show you all the sets the color appears in, and you can study their color combinations. The Bricklink Color Guide also shows you all the pieces made in that color, so you know if you can get everything for your project.
My current favorite sets for learning color combinations are LEGO DOTS, LEGO Monkie Kid, the LEGO Chinese New Year sets, and some of the LEGO Friends sets (although as I said, LEGO Friends is a hit or miss).
What about you? Do you pay attention to colors and color combinations in your own builds? Are there any LEGO sets or themes you really like for their color combinations? What is your favorite LEGO color? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!
If you want to learn more about the history of LEGO colors, I recommend the following resources: