Info on LEGO Colour 005 – Brick Yellow

At the recent CEE department meeting in Billund, Denmark the entire Community Support team had the opportunity to attend a truly informative presentation by a few of our colleagues in Materials and R&D (Research & Development). This presentation focused on all the materials that comprise the LEGO element portfolio. Information varied from molecular makeup of each plastic, the reason for utilizing different plastics, legal policies & procedures across the globe, and colour.

During the topic of colour, Kevin Hinkle (Community Manager – Americas) brought forth a question we have been asked numerous times: What’s the deal with LEGO colour 005 – Brick Yellow? The AFOL community refers to this colour as tan and I can certainly understand the confusion regarding our internal naming. So I asked if there was an answer I could share with our fans… and here it is:

“The name Brick yellow comes as a direct translation of the Danish name for the colour: “Tegl Gul” – tegl meaning Brick (or mursten – not sure of other English words for it). Back then all colours were named in Danish and then later translated. The colour Brick Yellow was implemented back when Modulex was a part of the moulding at LEGO and at the same time the colour 004 Brick Red (Tegl Rød) was also available. As I also mentioned yesterday the original use was for brick walls for houses – so to imitate red or yellow houses.”