Designer insight: Nathan Clark
Posted by Huwbot,
Many LEGO set designers use our BrickLists feature to maintain a list of the sets they've worked on and often provide interesting insights about their involvement.
Once a week we publish an entry from one of their lists on the home page to increase awareness of this information and to encourage more designers to create them.
Nathan Clark wrote this about their work on 30639 Dog Park and Scooter:
This set was a quick one to design. The brief wanted a minifigure on a scooter with a dog. There wasn’t much more that could be added.
Instead of a tree, we had wondered about adding a trash can with a little poop and a shovel because kids think that kind of play is hilarious, but we couldn’t think of a way of showing those included on the bag front with making it look like she was riding away from the mess her dog made. Nevertheless, I think the tree with a butterfly is a nice alternative.
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13 comments on this article
How many years of experience do you need to be this kind of lego sets designer?
@el_garfio said:
"How many years of experience do you need to be this kind of lego sets designer?"
First day intern
Surely the pinnacle of his Lego career!
All jokes aside, sets like this need to be designed too. And with such limitations, good luck with such an assignment! I think the interesting part of his comment is how in this case the picture on the front was deemed more important than the actual contents of the set.
I like the tree and the butterfly much better than the potty humor it could have been. Good choice, Nathan.
That’s an excellent write-up and insight into the design process! Scoff all you like, but these notes are exactly what I find interesting.
@el_garfio said:
"How many years of experience do you need to be this kind of lego sets designer?"
More than you have?
So instead of her rolling away from her dog's poop, we got a picture of her teasing her dog by rolling away with the dog's treat.
@iwybs said:
"I like the tree and the butterfly much better than the potty humor it could have been. Good choice, Nathan."
Had it been me I would have had both the potty humour and a chocolate Good Humor, too. LEGO: the only place on earth where choco and poop taste the same.
There ended up being more to say about this set than I would have assumed.
His commentary on each of his sets is extraordinary. I wasn't aware of him before but will definitely be following going forward!
Only available on BrickLink in the Netherlands. Why haven't I seen this set before?
Not in the US yet? I'd buy two.
@crawlerbot said:
"Not in the US yet? I'd buy two."
There's a store near me that sells both new and secondhand Lego that I saw this set at some time ago. I regret not picking it up then.