The LEGO Group History. Dynamics of LEGO® set production over the years

Inspirations and approach to the visual aspect of the report

I approached working on this report as if I had been hired by the LEGO Group to produce a report summarizing their history. Initially, I delved into LEGO Group materials, gathering inspiration to shape the visual components of the report appropriately. Once acquainted with these materials, I outlined a set of fundamental elements to align the report with LEGO Group standards:

• Many PDFs from the LEGO Group, particularly those pertaining to business relationships and transparency, showcased stylized charts constructed from LEGO bricks. Accordingly, I aimed to replicate this style in my charts.

• Drawing from the clear and coherent structure of the LEGO.com website and online store, which facilitates navigation and comprehension of individual elements, I sought to incorporate and adapt certain elements in the report for consistency with the LEGO Group's visual identity.

• LEGO Group visual identification is based on simple colors and shapes - I decided to stick to this style in my report

An additional personal challenge

After years of working as a BI developer, I know one thing - you must be able to build an effective report based only on stock visualizations. In 95% of cases, large corporations for which you can (and want to) work will not allow you to use external visualizations downloaded from the Microsoft Market. Why? Most often, this is explained by fear of data leaks, and in the case of paid add-ons, of course, the cost that the company would have to incur. In the end, no matter how many tutorials you've seen on YouTube about using interesting add-ons, you'll probably end up working with pure Power BI. That's the truth.

Therefore, my supplementary challenge involved crafting LEGO brick-styled visualizations without the aid of external add-ons, such as DENEB, relying solely on creative manipulation of built-in charts.

Report elements worth paying attention to:

1. Main chart showing the number of unique LEGO sets released by the LEGO Group from 1970 to 2020 - styled to appear constructed entirely from LEGO brick elements. This chart is REACTIVE - this means that it is not possible to select (highlight) data on the chart itself, but the chart will adapt the way the data is presented to active filters and other possible selections.

2. Visual indicator of selecting elements from the slicer - stylized as a single LEGO brick. UI element that makes it easier to have active filters in the report.

3. Chart showing the presence or absence of selected categories of LEGO sets in particular years of production and release of LEGO sets.

4. An interactive narrative that is fully shaped by interaction with slicers and visualizations. Play around with slicers and selections to see how this element works.

5. Interactive UI elements marked as "hover here" that provide animated suggestions on how to use and interact with report elements (Power BI needs a few seconds to load this element, so after hovering it is worth waiting 5-10 seconds)

6. The "Build this chart with LEGO®" element, which has no substantive value, but was added to the report as a nod to all the people who (like me) have spent thousands of hours of their lives playing with LEGO bricks.