A Couple of years ago, the LEGO Group changed the nature of their printed instructions, in the name of sustainability: The duplicated box art was replaced by rendered images, the instructions began to included an avatar based progress marker, and they introduced a congratulatory starburst every time you successfully completed a sub-build. But this reduction in the amount of cover ink used (and in turn the amount of processing necessary to recycle the paper) came at a time when it felt like instructions were getting thicker than ever.

Edit 20th September: the survey appears to have been taken down.

Today, Lego insiders is asking your opinion on paper instructions, and using digital instructions, with a short, and possibly leading, questionnaire. you can find it here: https://www.lego.com/en-au/insiders/activities. It’s worth 50 Insiders points.

I might suggest you do the survey before rereading my editorial from the time. This was one of my slightly more crazy tinfoil conspiracy theories of the time. But let’s take a Quick Look at how some of these things might have come to pass – for better or for worse.

The new instructions, have become increasingly app-like in their user experience (although the app doesn’t spring closed when I take a weight off my keyboard like an Icons instruction manual does).

The explicit hand holding where minimal elements are placed in each step, regardless of the relative complexity does reduce the frustration in misplacing elements, thereby ruining the ‘build experience’, but what about reducing the opportunities to develop resilience, that seemed to crop up so more often Back In The Day.

I have to admit, I do find ‘Instructions plus’ – with a manipulatable 3-D model – does make it easier to work out exactly how all parts in a step are positioned. But this is not available for all sets, and I would have found such facility a definite advantage when putting together the Maclaren P1 a few months ago. I found the ongoing use of the same isometric projection for the majority of the steps made some steps decidedly more difficult, and I would have loved to look at the steps from a different point of view.

We have seen some of the more recent Super Mario sets ship with printed instructions, curtailing the need for the app, but the early days certainly left a bitter taste in the mouth of many. If you go to the LEGO Build App, you have the choice to use the 3-D instructions, or a pdf version.

I have yet to attempt the build party mode on the App, but should do, sometime soon.

In the meantime, the LEGO Play experience evolves: the instructions were simplified in the early 2000s; the books later go from stapled bindings to glue bound, they get appified and homogonised and now they dissolve to a speck of digital dust. There is something to be said for being able to maintain an accessible archive of historical instructions – and I appreciate the fact that the company still have pdf documents available for sets dating back to the 90s. Older instructions are dependent on people archiving their copies, and possibly sharing them with online repositories, whose ongoing commitment might vary and wane as time goes by.

It’s not all badthough: the harsh crinkle of the plastic bags is in the process of being replaced by the warm, analog tear of perforated paper bags.

But, every bag of LEGO elements is becoming a blind bag. Ironic that this happens as the Collectable minifigures are once again identifiable by a barcode on the pack (well, a QR code, but you know what I mean)

The plans to replace ABS with a plant sourced plastic have been frustrated by the inability of any substitute to sound just right, amongst other things. And certainly, the sound of LEGO Bricks is a distinctive part of the childhood (and AFOL) play experience. Something the company has been happy to capitalize on, releasing a collection of tracks based on the sound of bricks on Spotify, back in 2021 Too much change too quickly might be too much to deal with.

But I digress. As I suggested a couple of years ago:

It looks like this might be coming to pass. So, let the company know what you think by completing the survey, and why not.

Are paper instructions an important part of the build experience for you? Have you adapted to digital? Would you miss the paper instructionswhen they are gone? And what about when your internet connection fails and the kids want to build? Leave your comments below!

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!