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A data-mom's look at her kids' ever-growing LEGO® collection.

Tools used in this project
A data-mom's look at her kids' ever-growing LEGO® collection.

About this project

About the Data:

This dashboard was prepared using a database created from my kids' personal LEGO® collection. I created the database by collating the kit numbers and names from all the build instructions they had been saving since the very first kit of a LEGO® City fire truck gifted to them in 2004.

As I did not have a source for the date each specific build kit was added to their collection, I used the release date for each build kit as a proxy.

And as a point-in-time analysis, it's important to point out that this collection continues to grow... I am already planning an updated version after 25 + years, as their passion for LEGO® build kits is still strong.


If you're interested in reading more details around my process for creating this fun and creative dashboard, check out this Medium article I wrote: How Reviewers Can Level Up Your Data Viz. In the article I walk through the numerous iterations that happened on the route to the stylized tree-map/waffle chart in the middle of the dashboard... and most importantly how engaging reviewers in your data visualization process can really help you develop your skills.


Key Learnings:

1. Our kids' interest in LEGO® building kits has spanned [literally] decades.

  • Over a twenty year span there was only one year where no new build kits were added to their collection.

2. Even though they've tried many different LEGO® themes, Star Wars™ has consistently been a favorite.

  • A very cool aspect of collecting LEGO® are the different themes of the build kits.
  • Star Wars™ themed build kits are the single largest group in our kids' collection, representing just over 1/3 of all the kits they have in their collection.

3. As they've gotten older, they've enjoyed putting together the more complex LEGO® build kits with >500 pieces.

  • Most (>75%) of the build kits in their collection are 500 bricks or less.
  • But as they've gotten older, they seem to prefer taking on fewer but more complex build kits as opposed to doing many smaller kits when they were younger.

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this analysis.

Additional project images

Discussion and feedback(3 comments)
comment-793-avatar
hiral modi
about 2 months ago
stylized treemaps/waffle chart is incredible! That too with Lego brick with exact count ? would it be possible to share ideas how you create that one ?

comment-972-avatar
Stacy Giroux
Stacy Giroux
Project owner
23 days ago
Project owner
Thanks for the kind feedback Hiral! This was a really fun topic which opened up the opportunity to lean into the theme with the stylized treemap/waffle chart. This visual you see here is static... and that worked great because my goal in this project was to provide a point-in-time explanatory analysis. To create this one I used shapes (circles and squares) in Excel and organized them into the patterns you see presented. Just recently, I revisited this visual and challenged myself to re-create the overlapping look but that would update dynamically based on the selection of the user. For that I used an X,Y scatterplot. I've included details in that project write-up about how I made that work. See my project called "An interactive look at the dramatic increase in LEGOR(R) subthemes form 1990 to 2009" for details on how I did that!
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