Interview with Ilia Gotlib, designer of 70825 Queen Watevra's Build Whatever Box!
Posted by MeganL,
I provided a report on Bricks by the Bay earlier this month. During that event, Ilia Gotlib was a featured speaker talking about his experiences designing sets for The LEGO Movie 2. Ilia's trip to the West Coast served two purposes: participating in Bricks by the Bay, but also a week's worth of meetings at Disney. Ilia's designs aren't limited to TLM2; his primary role is designing Disney sets.
After his presentation, Ilia graciously sat down with me for a quick discussion, including how he got into designing LEGO sets, how LEGO designers use Brickset, and his advice for aspiring LEGO designers.
You mentioned during your presentation that you’re a mechanical engineer. Where did you go to school, and how did you become a designer for LEGO?
It was sort of full circle. LEGO started my interest in engineering, so I became a mechanical engineer. I got my Bachelor’s at Tufts University and my Master’s at Ohio State University. I think it’s important to be working on something you’re passionate about, so I started checking LEGO’s website regularly. I saw one position in a group called Product Technology – they develop tech elements such as Power Functions and Mindstorms. I called the hiring manager and talked to him about the job. Then I flew out to Denmark and got the job, and just like that, my wife, our pug Oliver, and I moved to Denmark. My wife got a job with LEGO a couple of months later. She’s on the graphic design team.
After two years of working in Product Technology, where I worked mainly on the motor brick that comes in Boost as well as the headlight set for Powered Up, I saw a posting for a designer. I’d been working with some designers and thought “I can do that!”, so I decided to apply.
Did you go through the same process for hiring as a designer as we saw Justin Ramsden go through in The Secret Life of LEGO even though you already worked there?
Yes. There were several interviews as well as a building workshop where we had both individual and group assignments to complete.Teamwork is a theme throughout LEGO. Even in Product Technology, we worked in large teams to get everything done.
Did you go through a dark ages?
No real dark ages, mostly in high school, when mostly I bought less LEGO than before. However during college there was some sets that I still got - 10193 Medieval Market Village in particular….I bought a couple of sets of that. Then there was the 10210 Imperial flagship - that‘s when there was the realization for me that LEGO was for adults as well.
When did you start building MOCs?
I started to MOC at the end of undergrad. It felt like a natural fit…I was in engineering, LEGO was a logical outlet. I joined OhioLUG while I was in graduate school. We did a number of models, including building models for display in the local LEGO brand store. A lot of my MOCs were fantasy themed, and I used a lot of rainbow colours. I was mostly into fantasy and classic themes.
What was the first set you designed?
The first set I worked on was 41153 Ariel's Royal Celebration Boat. Designing is really a collaborative process. One person makes a sketch model, other people contribute, another person finishes it. It's one of the reasons I've avoided having my own inventory list on Brickset. It takes a lot of talented people to create a great product so I have a hard time saying anything is mine.
The first set where I feel I did a lot of the effort was 41157 Rapunzel’s Travelling Caravan. That included recolours of several of the purple parts, which was exciting. I also did some work for the Powerpuff Girls. Especially the small mech princess in 41287.
In addition to The LEGO Movie 2 set, more recently, I worked on 41162 Ariel, Aurora and Tiana’s Royal Celebration. That was a princess anniversary set - the first time multiple princesses were in one set. It was to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Sleeping Beauty, 30th anniversary of The Little Mermaid, and 10th anniversary of The Princess and the Frog.
(30 years since The Little Mermaid??? It was about here when the Brickset interviewer came to the conclusion they were getting old.)
You mentioned getting parts recoloured for 41157. How does that happen?
Every theme gets an allotment of recolours, and there’s always opportunities to trade amongst different themes. Some themes have very complementary colour schemes, so the designers from the two themes can work together on what recolours would work best.
One thing I'm fascinated with is how instructions are developed. How does that process work?
When we get close to the final model, we have the instructions people in as part of the model quality meetings. We meet with them and the quality team and build through the model together. They challenge us if something is difficult to show in instructions or difficult to build for the target age mark. There are times when they make suggestions on different parts to use to achieve the same effect. It's usually because of them that you'll see the brightly coloured brick in the middle of a mass of grey brick - it's included to make sure that it's easy to select from the instructions.
You’ve worked on Disney, Powerpuff and The LEGO Movie 2 sets. What would be your dream theme to design for?
I’m a huge Disney fan, so Disney is really the sweet spot for me. I’ve been to as many Disney parks as I can: Disneyworld, Disneyland, Euro Disney and Japan. I proposed to my wife in Disneyworld. It’s a very nice coincidence that I’m working on Disney sets. It’s great to be able to interpret it through LEGO.
Which theme would you like to see make a comeback?
Castle! I used to build a lot of fantasy MOCs, and I miss having a classic Castle theme.
I have to know: do LEGO designers visit Brickset?
Absolutely! We use it all the time. The database is a great supplement to the tools we have for looking up parts and sets. And it’s great to see when the reviews are posted.
You read the reviews?
We do! Though I notice there haven’t been many of Disney sets……
Ahem…..(taking advantage of Boone Langston and John Hanlon of Beyond the Brick walking by) so, do you watch Beyond the Brick videos?
Who? No (laughs). They’re great to watch. I think they interviewed me back when I was in grad school.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to become a LEGO designer?
There are lots of opportunities! We're hiring on a regular basis. I would encourage people to apply for designer positions. To prepare, try building various styles and challenge yourself to build something you ordinarily wouldn't. Think about what it would take to make a product as opposed to a MOC. Don't stop creating!
Many thanks for talking to us!
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12 comments on this article
What a fascinating interview!
Neat interview! Though I wish you'd asked some more specific questions about the design of this set. I'm really curious how the design process works for a "basic brick set" like this with so many individual builds that use the same pool of parts (fifteen with instructions and even more on the included poster). I imagine it's a lot different from designing a set with one main model or even a set with one or two alternate builds.
Obligatory gushing over 70825-1 from yours truly.
@Lyichir: Like you, I was hoping for a deeper dive into this set given the title, oh well! There's always the designer video (that I bet not a single soul expected there would be for this set; not even I did), featuring Ilia and his colleague Ross: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4LkZN1axq4
Nevertheless, I enjoyed this interview; it's really cool to hear of a married couple both getting jobs at LEGO! Interesting that Ilia didn't quite stop buying LEGO sets. I went 13 years cold turkey! And I do agree, there aren't enough reviews of Disney sets. They are quite the hidden gems, and not just for part recolors either.
I wonder if Ilia has seen my review of this set? (BTW, I really should get around to uploading photos of the set to my site...)
So - more reviews of Disney sets in the offing? :-D
Nice one. Yet another teasing glimpse into the world of the Lego maestros'.
Could be nice for the designers to list their sets with a footnote listing the other members of the team...
@Lyichir That was the focus of his exclusive talk at the con. I guess it was a you had to be there moment lol! ;)
Thank you for this interview! I probably spent 20 minutes quoting and discussing it with my husband. :-)
(first child free night in awhile, and I built an old 70615 and read this interview. Thanks!)
"Headlight set for Powered Up???" Have we seen that anywhere?
@lippidp https://shop.lego.com/en-US/product/Light-88005 perhaps?
Nerd! Looks a bit like McLovin from superbad :-)
A LEGO designer who would like to see Castle make a comeback? I like him.
Thanks for the tips and interview.