Designing the fun into play. Meet Divyen 👋
Divyen is one of our Digital Product Design Managers. His LEGO® journey began with a simple bucket of bricks shared with his brother. Now he’s bringing the physical play experience that inspired him in so many ways to curious minds in the digital space.
“I grew up in a family where we didn't have a lot of LEGO sets. What we did have was a big bucket of bricks. I have no idea where they came from. But I really enjoyed playing with it. I guess it felt like a time when my brother and I would play together collaboratively. So I have really fond memories of us just building stuff together.”
These days, Divyen’s work focuses on enhancing the digital experience for LEGO builders, but he emphasises the importance of the physical play experience:
.png?width=30&quality=50&crop=4:3)
"Everything is still about the physical play experience. I see myself as someone that helps get bricks into the hands of children. As someone who works in digital design, it's really important for us to be able to come up with new and different ways of doing things. We solve problems and create special, memorable experiences. We want to empower people to explore.”
“Technology opens up a whole new world of possibilities. The important thing for us is to make the most of these with integrity. It means walking a fine line. What we do tends to be driven by customer need. It’s also about our desire to empower curious minds to explore. The team I work in focuses on using data to take the pain points out of choosing the right products and serving up content that fits with the choices and possibilities available.”
So can you tell us more about how this looks in the real world?
“Oh sure. One of the things I worked on last year was the launch of LEGO Insiders. It’s a membership offering that enables us to deliver exactly what I’ve just described. We had a big, rebranded relaunch and I helped to create the range of digital experiences available to customers who sign up.”
.png?width=30&quality=50&crop=4:3)
“For me, it's really about how many people I can bring the joy of play to, be that grownups or kids. There's a lot that comes from simply picking up some bricks and building. It’s really important to bring that experience to as many people as we can.”
Why do you think this is? Can you tell us more about what you think people get from it?
“That's a good question. I think there are many different answers as there are so many elements and ways to engage with the experience. Personally, I feel like I get a lot of focus from it. I think it helps bring your mind into doing one task. And while you're doing that, you tend to forget about things that are less helpful. It allows our brain to relax. So there’s an element of mindfulness there. But also, it's just fun. It's fun to play with tonnes of stuff.”
.png?width=30&quality=50&crop=4:3)
“It’s something we learn from as colleagues and as a business too. If you value other people's input equally, you will ultimately create a better outcome. It's about talking, it means bringing people in from, say, finance, operations and customer support. The more perspective you have, the more we have to play with in the design process.”
As children, we're always looking to build and it's nice to have that continue through into adulthood.
Just imagine your LEGO® career.