Interview with James May
Posted by Huw,
James May, aka poshhammer, worked on numerous sets such as 21327 Typewriter and 21341 Disney Hocus Pocus: The Sanderson Sisters' Cottage during his four-year tenure as a LEGO designer.
He recently left LEGO to pursue a career in other areas of product design, but what's LEGO's loss is our gain because, in addition to launching a YouTube channel, he will also be writing articles for us, promising to spill the beans on various aspects of the LEGO design process and life as a LEGO designer.
Before we publish his first article, I thought it would be worthwhile conducting an interview to find out more about him and his career.
Brickset: James, how did you become a LEGO designer?
James: Like a lot of people, I grew up on LEGO bricks. I remember when I was about 7 deciding that was what I wanted to be when I grew up. But this was seen as one of those crazy unattainable jobs like being an astronaut or an ice cream taster.
While studying engineering at university many years later, I saw that The LEGO Group were taking on design interns. I had got into LDD around this time, so the hobby was back in my life. I applied for it almost as a joke… which I ended up somehow getting. I spent a year doing that, and had such a good experience, that I decided to do a post-grad in product design to boost my skills a bit. Even then, I didn't get in on the first try. I think it was two or three times I applied and finally got in.
How long did you work for LEGO, and what themes did you work on?
I spent one year as an intern and four as a designer. So five years total if you’re bad at maths. As for what themes I worked on, deep breath:
- LEGO DUPLO Frontend (2015-16, worked on concepts for the 2017 DUPLO trains)
- LEGO Dimensions (2016)
- LEGO Creator 3 in 1 (2020)
- LEGO Friends (2020-21)
- LEGO Icons (2021, concept models)
- LEGO Ideas (2020, 2021-23)
And then, for the rest of 2023, I was on 3 yet to be announced themes. On top of this, I helped out the LEGO Disney, City and Animal Crossing teams for a product each.
What was it like being a designer and working for the LEGO company?
Well you can probably tell from my last answer, busy. I was quite surprised when I joined by how much actual building with bricks you do as a designer. Everyone’s desks are just covered with stuff. Innovation House, the building the designers worked in, was just this tiny box of concentrated design talent and the most interesting people which I would be hard-pressed to find anything like elsewhere in the world. At corporate events with the wider company, you could definitely pick out who was a designer from a mile away, Like an enemy Stand user [@Huw can I make JoJo references…?]
Which set that you worked on are you most proud of?
This is a hard one to pick as they all have aspects which could make them my favourite. I would say in terms of true building prowess the 21345 Polaroid OneStep SX-70 Camera looks pretty spot-on to the real thing and getting it to spit a picture out was a real design feat for myself.
In terms of what I think is the best toy? 41714 Andrea's Theatre School. I am so happy with the number of play features I managed to cram into that model, the wow-factor of opening up the front, the brick built backdrops and all the props. If you were a 10-year-old theatre kid in 2021, you were living large.
Are there any that didn't turn out as well as you would have liked?
I can’t go into specifics, even now, but the 40488 Coffee Cart was actually Version 2 of the design. The first version I was really happy with how it looked, but then I saw a MOC online which looked shockingly similar (I won’t say what the MOC was). So I had to do a total redesign to something a bit more conventional because I didn’t want it to look like I was stealing a fan's design. It is still a nice little coffee cart, and I'm happy with the final result, it just wasn’t what I initially envisioned, and its sad people won't see the original.
Why did you leave LEGO, and what are you working on now?
I won't bore you with the exact specifics as to why I left, but I have been looking for a career change that uses more of my design background and is a smaller company. It was hard to leave LEGO Design behind me, but it was better to end on a high early than wait until I have forgotten everything from university and all I would know is how to stack LEGO bricks.
Right now I am working with a UK-based educational toy company, so I’m still making toys, but just for schools now. I am doing a lot more actual design work, and it lets me keep LEGO as a hobby.
Which leads me to the other cool thing I am working on, which is my new YouTube channel, TUBESIDE! My interest in social media has grown over the years, so this is something I have wanted to do for a while. Myself and a few other designers would mess about filming test stuff to pitch to the social media team that didn’t really go anywhere… But now I have left The LEGO Group, I can publish content like this and even if it doesn’t take off, it will be a nice project to document my journey through LEGO Design.
What will you miss most now you've left?
I’ll miss working with fellow designers the most, I think. Going back to the “real world”, I had forgotten how unique and interesting everyone in LEGO Design was by comparison. It's a bit like the line from The Incredibles: “If everyone's special, no one is”. I do still see a lot of them outside of work since I still live in Denmark, so I guess I don’t miss them too much... So the next most missed thing was the coffee machines. Not having coffee instantly at the touch of a screen is no way to live.
Do you have any tips for prospective LEGO designers?
My go-to answer for this is always make sure you work well in a team. Everything you do in LEGO Design is working with other people like graphic designers, element designers, building instruction writers, etc, and being a fun person to work with for all these people will get you further than raw building skills.
Finally, what's the story behind your name here at Brickset?
Ahhhh yes... So "Posh Hammer" is from the 20-year-old BBC TV show "The Mighty Boosh" in the episode "Charlie". They are a throw-away character that was on-screen for 3 seconds and is never seen again. Since I got an Xbox back in 2007, I have been using it as a username for everything I can ever since, despite it now having zero cultural relevance in 2024...
James, thank you!
Now, it's over to you: do you have any questions for James about working for LEGO, the sets he designed, or general questions about the design process? Let us know in the comments and we'll consider them for forthcoming articles.
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34 comments on this article
Very interesting interview, I am looking forward to reading more of him!
And I have to concur: The friends theatre (71714) is an amazing set! My daughter's godmother works in a theatre and so my daughter is really a theatre kid - so she loves this set!
Captain Slow sure has changed!
Cool to get insights from James. I have some of the sets he designed, and they're great. Curious for that first draft coffee cart, though, if it was even better than the one we got. It's been in my Christmas display annually ever since its release.
I wonder when the Jeremy Clarkson interview will happen now?
Good news!! Is he going to design a model of the Dacia Sandero??
I'd held out hope that he would move to the Speed Champions theme, but the closest he got was 60395.
Charlie come
A bubblegum nightmare
Pink Mr. Doom
Ahh, The Mighty Boosh, a true classic.
Welcome to BS. I look foward to more Stand disclosures about life as a Lego spirit force. Your set resume is interesting. I have made a lot of those purchases.
Friends Theatre set is the perfect way to display the muppets mini figures...
I really hope every article I do doesn't just have Top Gear related comments... :')
@TheOtherMike said:
"I'd held out hope that he would move to the Speed Champions theme, but the closest he got was 60395."
I did actually work with Chris Stamp on that so I got a crash course in toy car design.
@TheRichrocker said:
"Very interesting interview, I am looking forward to reading more of him!
And I have to concur: The friends theatre (71714) is an amazing set! My daughter's godmother works in a theatre and so my daughter is really a theatre kid - so she loves this set!"
Thank you!!
@geve said:
"Friends Theatre set is the perfect way to display the muppets mini figures..."
On my copy of the set, I changed out all the friends colors to make it more city-like, put Statler and Waldorf in the balcony, and added the Phantom on the Opera (and Willie Scott from Indiana Jones) to the stage. It's a fantastic set, made spectacular when you remove the teal, pink, and bright light orange.
"And then, for the rest of 2023, I was on 3 yet to be announced themes." One is Animal Crossing right?
@poshhammer said:
"I really hope every article I do doesn't just have Top Gear related comments... :')"
Now that I've made my reference, I, at least, will refrain from more. I can't speak for the rest of Brickset, but some of us just can't let go of a joke, considering some of our memes like Dreadflipper and "But how does it compare to the shadowbox version?"
Excellent interview and a fascinating video about the making of the Polaroid Camera, my favourite set so far this year. So accurate. Just needed a sound brick to fully capture the classic sound!
Looking forward to further Brickset articles and YouTube videos.
Why do you have green hair? Are you the Jonkler?
Excellent interview. Good luck with the new career James! Looking forward to reading your articles.
@Trigger_ said:
"Why do you have green hair? Are you the Jonkler?"
Why is Jenner mean to Bateman if Bateman hero? Is he stupid?
Great interview !
James - if you read this - im wondering how often making sure official products don’t look like existing MOCs is a part of the process? Does everyone do it if it’s something common like a coffee cart or maybe a popular Star Wars scene?
@R1_Drift said:
" @Trigger_ said:
"Why do you have green hair? Are you the Jonkler?"
Why is Jenner mean to Bateman if Bateman hero? Is he stupid?"
Who is Bateman? I only know Man.
@BoldRaccoon said:
""And then, for the rest of 2023, I was on 3 yet to be announced themes." One is Animal Crossing right? "
I don't think so since he named Animal Crossing at the start of the article. Depending how much time passed between the interview and publishing it could be Peppa Pig. However, there are three new themes that have already been leaked that I think would be more likely. I don't know if I should say them here, but if you want to know, I would recommend checking the usual areas of Lego leaks for their names.
Appreciate the interview and the Jojo reference :)
@poshhammer - When the three unrelease themes come out will you be able to talk about their development process?
While the whole interview (and the journey) are both interesting in their entirety, my main takeaway is: three(3) yet unannounced themes.
Since the interview is recent and Animal Crossing is already on the shelves, I would assume that this is really 3 NEW themes we have never heard of (maybe Peppa pig is in there - hopefully not).
I got to meet James and spend some time with him as part of one of the 2022 inside tours. Took me a while to figure out the Top Gear reference as not part of shows I was familiar with being from Canada. Congrats to James on his new endeavours!!
@poshhammer
As many here, I also got 41714 for the Muppets CMF, and these two went on sale almost at the same time. Did you think it'll get used as that ? or something you thought on/noticed only after the fact?
He may have the name of Captain Slow, but has the hair from Kishibe Rohan!
Looking forward to some nice content!
@Trigger_ said:
" @R1_Drift said:
" @Trigger_ said:
"Why do you have green hair? Are you the Jonkler?"
Why is Jenner mean to Bateman if Bateman hero? Is he stupid?"
Who is Bateman? I only know Man."
he is from dee em cee too fetures dante and desel cloth
Loosing you as a designer is such a disaster!
@lordofdragonss said:
"Loosing you as a designer is such a disaster!"
They seem to be dropping like flies... Tiago, James May, maybe more?
Great interview, it is interesting his comment about how LEGO designers do a lot of actual building with bricks, and since he now works for an UK-based company but still lives in Denmark, I am understanding that his work is now mostly remote. How was the adaptation to work remotely as a designer?
Awesome to hear from you about your time at LEGO! And sorry it has come to an end, though hopefully it will pave the way for many more opportunities in your future!
Were there any sets/themes you would have liked to work on during your time at LEGO, but didn't get the opportunity to do so?
Did negative feedback from fellow adult LEGO fans (such as the many negative reactions to the BTS set) ever feel frustrating or alienating for you? Conversely, how much feedback did you get from kids on the stuff you designed for younger builders, and was that feedback ever surprising or enlightening to you from an adult perspective?
Outside of the job itself, what have been your favorite and least favorite things about living and working in Denmark? Was it a big adjustment to move there? Are there any things from "back home" that you especially miss?
@Aanchir needs to run all future Brickset interviews. :o)
Hi everyone! Thanks for all the support and the questions! I will be doing a Q&A video on my TUBESIDE channel and I will answer as many questions as I can there, so keep a look out for that. :D
Wonderful work all-round! 41714 is an absolute TRIUMPH; as well as being a stand-out toy for playing (my nephews have nearly worn out that trapdoor as every scene ends with the disappearance of at least one actor!) it also looks fabulous on display, open or closed.
Here's a question which I don't think I've seen answered before: did you have to learn Danish, or is English just the lingua franca?
All the best for your new ventures!
@bananaworld: I realize that I'm not the person you were asking, but I'm pretty sure I've heard that Lego does, in fact, use English in-house.