Reinterpreting Tradition to Digitalize: Framing the Design DNA of LEGO House

In this paper, we study how designers reinterpret the framing of previous successful products and new digital products to design products that make sense of new technologies. Through an in-depth case study of the ‘City Architects’ attraction in LEGO House, we provide insights into the process of reinterpreting a firm’s design tradition, their core design DNA, to reframe it and renew in light of digitalisation. The study illustrates how designers: 1) analyse the firm’s past successful products to frame the core design DNA, 2) reframe outdated elements of the core design DNA, 3) identify the framing of digital aspirational products and 4) reframe principles of digital aspirational products to update the core design DNA. As such, the study contributes to design and innovation research by displaying how the design process may be understood as a reinterpretation where a firm’s past products and aspirational technology products are framed and reframed.