Why do LEGO minifigure not have noses?

A child had the chance to ask a question of LEGO CEO Niels B Christiansen – and enquired as to why minifigures do not have noses.

If, as a child, you had the opportunity to ask the CEO of the LEGO Group, what would you ask? When a Time journalist gave his eight-year-old the opportunity to do just that, Niels B Christiansen was asked a very child like – but also very good – question.

Max asked Niels why LEGO minifigure characters do not have noses, with the CEO explaining:

“It’s because we can do most of the impressions that we want with the mouth and eyes, whether they smile, whether they wear glasses or not. It’s also to keep things as simple as possible while still providing diversity and creativity. I guess there’s been no reasons for noses.”

Of course there have, on occasion, been minifigures with noses over the years – but they always look a little odd, and the iconic minifigures have two dots for eyes and a line for their mouth. As the CEO noted, glasses are featured on faces with no nose to sit on.

To continue to support the work of Brick Fanatics, please buy your LEGO sets from LEGO.com and Amazon using our affiliate links.