Faces, Not Bricks

Ask what LEGO makes and you'll say bricks. Its catalogue disagrees.

When I started exploring the dataset, I expected to find a story about parts, sets, and construction. Instead, I found a story about people.

Faces, Not Bricks is my attempt to answer a simple question: where does LEGO spend its imagination? Using fifty years of Rebrickable data, I discovered that LEGO's innovation is concentrated not in the structural elements that hold models together, but in the faces, identities, and characters that bring its worlds to life.

To tell that story, I chose an editorial, long-form scrolling experience rather than a traditional dashboard. Each section builds on the last, combining narrative, visual design, and data to guide readers from a surprising first insight through to a final conclusion. My goal was to create something that felt closer to a data-journalism feature than a report, allowing the story to unfold chapter by chapter.

The report combines native Power BI visuals with custom Deneb visualisations, using each where they best support storytelling, clarity, and accessibility. Throughout the experience, I focused on communicating a single idea: LEGO standardises structure, but endlessly reinvents identity.

After the story concludes, readers can step Backstage into an interactive exploration experience where they can meet the cast themselves. This companion page allows readers to search, filter, and explore more than 16,000 minifigures, turning the audience from observers into participants and extending the story beyond the final page.

In the end, the data led me to a simple conclusion:

The brick was finished in 1958. The people are still being invented.

I hope you enjoy exploring the story as much as I enjoyed discovering it.

Cheers,
Oliver 😊

Source: Rebrickable LEGO Database (rebrickable.com)