Legos

What toy has theme parks and a movie based on it? Legos! The plastic blocks that people have used to create sculptures ranging in complexity from a kids Lego house, to an exact replica of a Star Wars X-Wing.

Originally designed in 1939 and first manufactured in 1949, Lego Automatic Binding Bricks were one of the first plastic toy sets to ever be accepted on a large scale

Legos have now become one of the toys that just about everyone has played with in their life. The colorful blocks' ability to reform into almost anything you can think of has made them a staple for young kids and adults to let the imagination flow.

In a world where customization had become the norm its amazing to think that Legos were really one of the first products to ever allow for completely personal customization. The ability to put dragon wings on a car had and has a draw that each of us can recognize. They are really like the app store of toys.

Another way to look at the design of Legos, that separates them from the other building sets, like Erector or Tinker Toys, it that Legos were almost 3-D printing before 3-D printing. You are able to make solid structures and sculptures of just about anything using just the simple blocks. And, while it does take some skill to create complex things, it is no more difficult than learning to use a CAD program.

Lego's also have a unique characteristic from a business perspective. With just a few simple components the Lego Kit designers were able to continually create new kits for those that don't enjoy the creating new things. The blocks basically created a foundation that the company has been able to build off of (word play) since the toys were created. The company never has to create completely new components, though they do, they just have to have new instruction books printed with a set of the blocks.

But with all of those advantages the true secret sauce of the toys is their ability to adapt with the user. An adult can get just as much joy and challenge from a set of the bricks as a preschooler can. The bricks can create as simple or as complex of creations as you want. Legos are a toy that is timeless, because their inherent modularity lets them morph and grow with the user as no other toy or kit has been able to do.

HEXBUG Aquabots.

The HEXBUG Aquabots are another well designed robotic creature that are very similar to the HEXBUG Nano. This is so because they essentially a very simple mechanism, but in their environment they appear to behave just like their biological counterpart.

Whenever you watch goldfish in the bowl you see them nose along the edges and once in awhile they will just decide to do something half interesting. The Aquabots are the same. Most of the time they just flick their tales and nudge their way around the bowl. But they are designed to, every once in awhile, change direction or dive. This is the aspect that gives them the appearance of being alive.

These are a great design because they could replace a kid's first goldfish that will eventually die. Or they can be the colorful display in the office. And they don't soil their tank or ever get hungry. But most of all, they are, through very simple and clever design,  a mechanical facsimile for the real thing. Not complicated but appearing so.

If these principles, which HEXBUG uses, were applied in other product design it could go a very long way. All too often concepts are over-complicated, thus taking away from their function or affordability.