Create engaging and fun forced perspective banner images for LEGO World Builder’s image library to encourage storytellers on the platform to create exciting new worlds.

This month, we’re looking for banner images that play with forced perspective! Forced perspective is an optical illusion used to manipulate an audience's perception of an image, taking objects and backgrounds of vastly different size or scale, but strategically placing them at unexpected distances and angles so that they actually appear to be interacting on the same visual plane. You can take photos at specific angles to make minifigures look life-size, or even incorporate real objects into a LEGO build. The possibilities are endless when you’re playing with scale! Check out THIS or THIS for a few fun examples. 

A variety of genres, sub-genres, and mashups make up the LEGO World Builder platform, and now is your chance to contribute your ideas. Just take a look at the world tags on the left side of the Discover page. You can choose from Action, Adventure, Magic, Science Fiction, and many more. Forced perspective can come into play with any of these genres - for example, maybe you want your pet fish to be attacking a LEGO pirate ship! 

We’re open to a variety of creative executions, from hand-drawn illustrations to mixed media to stop-motion stills and photographs of your own LEGO sets and minifigs artfully arranged. 

If you submit a banner image to this project, you may not submit the same image to the LEGO World Builder platform as original artwork for someone’s world. 

DELIVERABLES: 

• One 1600x800 JPG or PNG banner image 
• Layered PSD design files for final delivery

TIMELINE: 

• June 1st - June 30th: Initial Design Phase 
• June 30th - July 4th: Evaluating Initial Designs
• July 4th - July 9th: Revisions Phase

EXPOSURE:

• LEGO World Builder’s digital library 
• Across The LEGO Group’s social channels 

TARGET AUDIENCE: Adult Fans of LEGO (a.k.a AFOLs) and the LEGO World Builder creative community. Self-described AFOLs make up a demographically diverse network of communities that can be found in nearly every corner of the world. Their interests vary wildly, from stop-motion brick filmmaking to building custom brick designs. What unites them all is their passion for LEGO and the creative possibilities that come with building and imagining with LEGO bricks. 

TONE: Have you taken a look at the list of world tags yet on the Discover page? If so, then you’re well aware that there are a ton of genres, subgenres, and mashups to choose from when developing your banner image designs. The tone is wide open, just make sure to incorporate elements that touch on the forced perspective theme, whatever that means to you, in the artwork. 

EXECUTIONAL MANDATORIES: 

• DO NOT incorporate real humans into your images. Buildings, landmarks, and nature are fair game, however. 
• Characters, robots, space aliens, etc. that appear in your images should be styled as minifigs, but don’t necessarily need to conform to the minifig spec guide (though it’s a fantastic resource). You’re welcome to take liberties with your illustrations as long as each character can be identified as a minifig. Check out the References in the Background section for more guidance on “off-spec”, but cleverly designed minifig characters. 
• Please avoid the following content:
  • Politics, political figures or candidates, campaigns or other political matter
  • Anything unlawful, harmful, threatening, defamatory, vulgar, or hateful,
• All work MUST be original, and should NOT include or reference any other existing IP. Any persons, places or things rendered should be of the artist’s own creation and should not be referential of other existing properties.
• If you decide to take photos of LEGO sets and minifigs that you own, please only use sets and characters that are fully owned by The LEGO Group. You may not use sets or characters that are under third-party licenses (e.g. Harry Potter, Jurassic Park). That said, you may create dinosaur or wizard-themed images as long as they are distinct from any recognizable IP and franchises. 

At this point, you may be wondering what exactly is a banner image. A banner image is the first thing people see when exploring an architect’s world on the LEGO World Builder platform, along with the world’s title and genre tags – so it’s important that the image itself makes a strong, visual impression and motivates people to click in and explore the world. You’ll notice after visiting the Discover page that you probably feel more compelled to click into worlds with interesting banner images. That’s the sensation you’re trying to bring about with your own work! 

LEGO World Builder is a first-of-its-kind story development platform that gives the LEGO fan community and creative talent all over the world direct access to the LEGO creative team to develop stories, shows, and more. The platform, powered by Tongal, lets you explore, create and collaborate on imaginative and original LEGO worlds – like this steampunk time-travel adventure or this zombie rock opera. With so many talented writers on the platform, there’s a need for distinctive cover imagery to help them bring their worlds to life and attract visitors and collaborators with visuals. 

To see examples of these banner images, head to the Discover page and click on any of the thumbnails to view the full-size art (1600x800). As you explore these pages, do you find yourself drawn towards worlds with eye-catching images? So do we! Now, you can see why it’s so important to make a strong visual impression for your world. 

For inspiration, follow these tips: 

• Explore the list of tags on the left-hand side of the Discover page to get a sense of the different genres and potential mashups. 
• Check to see if there are any new creative prompts from The LEGO Group at the top of the Create page. If there are, we’ll likely be looking for images that help convey the theme of the prompt. 
• Skim through the image library on the Create page by clicking the refresh button. See what’s already there and what creative gaps you can help fill.

Here are some examples of cleverly-designed minifig characters that are  “off-spec” from the minifig spec guide. While your characters should be styled as minifigs, they don't need to conform to the official spec guide.

• Space Repair Garage
• LEGO Enchanted Realms
• LEGO Elios

In order to be considered for this project, you must include the below materials in your submission. 

• DESIGN (REQUIRED): One 1600x800 sample of your proposed design, JPG or PNG.

• NOTES (Optional): Any additional information or artists' statement you'd like to provide.

• SOCIAL HANDLES (Optional): We’d love to give credit where credit’s due when sharing the selected images via our social channels. Please include your Instagram and Twitter handles if you’ve got ‘em!

Three designers, at minimum, will be greenlit, and upon submitting the Winner’s Affidavit and the IP Assignment, will each receive $250. 

REVISION REQUIREMENTS: Once the Design Phase has closed, the greenlit submitters will enter the Revisions Phase. Designers will perform reasonable edits on their designs according to the Sponsor’s feedback.

ASSET DELIVERY REQUIREMENTS: You must also provide layered design files in order to submit final payment.

1. If you submit a cover image to this project, you may not submit the same image to a world on LEGO World Builder as a contribution. 

2. Preferred format for upload to the Tongal website is .png or .jpg. 

3. Unless provided otherwise, all work must be your own original creation and free of any copyrighted material. You shall provide detailed information of your work regarding the source, the creator and background information as requested by Tongal.

4. In the event you utilize any third-party materials, you must obtain full written license and consent from the owner of such third-party materials and provide such license and consent forms to Tongal.

5. BY SUBMITTING A DESIGN ENTRY, YOUR SUBMISSION IMMEDIATELY BECOMES THE SOLE PROPERTY OF TONGAL OR ITS ASSIGNEES – SEE OFFICIAL RULES FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT OWNERSHIP OF ENTRIES. YOU MAY NOT PUBLICLY SHARE OR PUBLISH YOUR SUBMISSION IN ANY MANNER AND YOU MAY NOT POST OR UPLOAD YOUR SUBMISSION TO ANY WEBSITE OR HOSTING SITE (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE OR VIMEO), WITHOUT THE PRIOR EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF TONGAL. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS REQUIREMENT MAY RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION OF YOUR ENTRY IN THE PROJECT.

6. Submissions cannot contain any profanity, offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Sponsor.

7. Submissions must not portray Sponsor in a negative way, the determination of which will solely reside with Sponsor.
 

8. By submitting to this project, you acknowledge that your work may become subject to public voting on the Tongal site. Public voting may be used to help the project sponsor determine the final rank order.
 

9. Designs must be in the English language or subtitled.
 

10. Limit 5 submissions per member, per Phase.
 

11. You must be at least thirteen (13) years or older to enter.

12. The Sponsor reserves the right to repost the contest.

13. The Sponsor will be entitled to reasonable revisions on the finished Designs without providing additional compensation.

14. In order to process payment, you must submit the standard Tongal W-9, Winner Affidavit, and IP Assignment.

15. See OFFICIAL RULES for additional contest information, terms and conditions. If there is any conflict or inconsistency between these requirements and the Official Rules, the terms and conditions of these requirements shall prevail.