LEGO explains how world-building will unlock the future of Friends

The LEGO Group says world-building in Heartlake City has allowed it to plan years of assortments for its revamped Friends theme.

Next year will see the theme given a coat of paint (across both sets and packaging) and a refreshed character roster, with the core five Friends phased out in favour of a new generation of mini-dolls. Beyond just rethinking the characters and stories behind LEGO Friends, however, the LEGO Group has also added to the theme’s lore by diving deeper into the geography of Heartlake City.

Previous waves of Friends sets were never really cohesively tied to particular areas in Heartlake City, the fictional location in which the sets are based and the stories take place. But LEGO Friends Design Director Fenella Charity says the relaunched theme will also introduce a new, mapped-out version of Heartlake City that encompasses various districts – and will allow the theme to better evolve its characters.

“We have thought about [the evolution of the theme] a lot, even more so than we ever did in the beginning of Friends before, because we’ve got a lot of experience to lean back on,” Charity tells Brick Fanatics and other LEGO Fan Media. “One thing that the team has worked really hard on, which is super inspiring, is world-building Heartlake City. For the first time, we actually have this map in our minds.

“In a physical sense, saying, ‘This district looks like this, and this district looks like this, and this is going to be somewhere that we will go in two or three years’ time,’ is really exciting from a product development perspective. It’s allowed us to plan out assortments and have ideas for models that we might reskin because they’re just in a different district next time.”

The use of visuals to communicate the various districts in Heartlake City also speaks to LEGO Friends’ wider brand identity, which will be refreshed through new packaging, a new logo and even the colours of bricks used to create its sets. The first five of those models will launch in January 2023, and it’s through their colour schemes and styles – and those of any sets that follow, even if they’re just recycled models with new colours – that we’ll start to get a feel for Heartlake City’s districts.

“We tested loads of different versions of these models with kids,” adds LEGO Friends designer Ellen Bowley. “The colour palette is quite moved along from where it used to be, in terms of the different colour combinations we’ve used on the models, and this is something that came through in testing with kids.

“It’s new and vibrant. [The kids wanted] more things they could add to this city that were different from the old ones, so we could really explore further and go quite far out with the different districts we have, in terms of if it’s super modern, artsy, or retro. We can really explore and that’s something that the kids wanted.”

You can check out the first wave of LEGO Friends sets arriving in 2023 by clicking here. Head here to read more about the redevelopment of the long-running theme.

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