MOTW# 25 Redux - National Center for Human and Civil Rights (MOTW#169)

This is my second archived maze that is being re-done. The first was the Museum of the North in Alaska. What is in the archive ? Basically, mazes that few people care about. But I care about this maze, and so I improved it. Here is the original post:

Maze of the Week #25 - National Center for Civil and Human Rights Building Maze

So this is the 3rd time I touched this maze. It was originally only in black and white, then I took the time to colorize it.

Here are the enhancements I made to improve the maze:

1. Changed the Size. Changed the height from 7 to 5.3 inches, which I used to reduce the lawn size ! Then I changed the width from 14 to 13.2 inches and reduced the empty space on the left of the building.

2. New Title Size. I used a new smaller font on title

3. Branding Changed. I reduced the branding size by 15%. On the smaller size the brand was too large.

4. Arrows Changed. I reduced the size of the start and goal arrows by 35% so they weren’t so overpowering.

5. Minor Pathway Changes. I made it so there are slightly wider entrance and exit pathways to the maze.

6. Nook Changed. I used a new shadow technique used on front of the building nook that changes the color to be more accurate (from greenish to a dark yellow).

7. Lawn Changes. I added texture to the lawn. I thickened the reeds on the right side at the exit. I added a new hill on left in the horizon.

8. Windows Changed. I changed front window tiles from black to dark charcoal to be more accurate. You won’t notice.

9. Added the Sky.

Here is the before before and the before and after:

Better ? Yes. A lot better ? Maybe. The change from black and white to the new version is more drastic than the intermediate step.

Some data: The new file is 616MB from 58MB.

I will be replacing the archive with the new maze going forward. You can find the maze download there !

If you like this type of content check out all of my case studies:

A Collection of Maze Design Case Studies to Improve your Mazes

Happy maze-ing !

Maze of the Week 13 Redux - Clayton Theatre (MOTW #168)

This maze update is going to be different from the other options I have done. I like the original maze and wanted to make a new version of it - a view of the theatre at night. When I originally made the maze I remembered seeing pictures of the building at night with colors that were not what I was expecting. I wanted to add those onto the maze and see how it looked. It also allowed me to practice some design techniques. Here is the original blog post:

Maze of the Week #13 - Clayton Theatre Maze

Here are the enhancements I made to improve the maze:

1. Neon added. I added glowing neon lights to top of the sign, blue lights around the C on the sign and around the marque. Basically I added neon lights, then made sure that they would glow.

2. Building glow. That also meant adding sign glow onto the building from neon signs, not just the area directly around the lights.

3. Windows darkened. I should have done this on the daytime version also.

4. Arrows changed. Unfortunately I had to use internal arrows in this maze to jump obstacles. The internal arrows are now 20-30% larger where possible.

5. Posters added. I added The Maze Runner poster to the poster boards !

6. Nighttime. I added a dark night sky and added a deeper grey on everything to show it was night.

7. Size changed. I took an inch off the height to eliminate some empty space.

8. Font Size. I reduced font size on title, with even more reduction on the city name

9. Light added. I added a bright light on the front of the building at the box office.

10. Minor Detail. A new ticket box office color/detail where the ticket seller speaks. Very small detail, but more accurate.

I prefer the night version, but I will keep both on the site. Maybe I should make some of the same changes on the daytime version ???? TBD.

Some data: The new file is 233MB from 112MB.

I will be posting this maze on the homepage in addition to the existing version. You can find the maze download there !

If you like this type of content check out all of my case studies:

A Collection of Maze Design Case Studies to Improve your Mazes

What I've Learned Making Mazes

Happy maze-ing !

Maze of the Week 39 Redux - Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center (MOTW#167)

When I did voting for y maze of the year in 2022 I was surprised how many votes The Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center Maze received. I thought the maze was good (it was a finalist after all) but not top 5. It ended being voted the #2 maze ! I think it is because it brought up memories of childhood. There is something simple about the maze. Black and white. Geometric. But I wanted to see if I could improve it. Here is the original post for reference:

Maze of the Week #39 - Spaceship Earth - Epcot Center Maze

Here are the enhancements I made to improve the maze:

1. Added color. I like the black and white look but wondered if color would be better.

2. Changed Start/Goal. I switched to an internal start and goal written out vs the previous arrows to clean it up.

3. Re-sized. Originally the maze was made on 8.5 x 11 paper to facilitate printing easily, but now it is 8.5 inches square because that fits the structure better.

4. Title Changes. I changed the font for the maze title, and reduced the size of the city font vs. the title font. I also changed the location of title

5. Added branding. To the corner. Might as well get credit for my work

6. New background. I added a sky and the ground so the structure isn’t floating on the page anymore.

7. Base Changed. Previously I had some trouble getting the base right - depending on the photo it changes in shape. I re-did it to match the most common view I found.

8. Added Shadows/light. With an object like this light is always playing with the structure and changing how it looks. I added light hitting the globe on the left side, with shadows on the opposite side. I also added shadows to the right base and onto the ground.

I considered doing each panel with a shadow/light but the simpler updates look good enough.

Here is the before and after:

I prefer the new version.

Some data: The new file is 431MB from 316MB.

I will be replacing the homepage with the new maze going forward. You can find the maze download there !

If you like this type of content check out all of my case studies:

A Collection of Maze Design Case Studies to Improve your Mazes

What I've Learned Making Mazes

Happy maze-ing !

Maze of the Week 94 Redux - BMW Welt (MOTW# 166)

My initial maze of the BMW Welt building in Germany was black and white. I decided to change that. Here is my original post about the building/maze:

Maze of the Week #94 - BMW Welt Building

Here are the enhancements I made to improve the maze:

1. Colorized. Complete colorization that was more difficult than it looks. If you search for this building in images, because it is mostly windows, the color changes based on the weather and time of day.

2. Minor Fixes. When you color a maze it makes you go back and look at the details again. New horizon line on right side, new lines in center, and over a dozen line changes here and there.

3. Branding/Title Changed. Branding and title color switch form black to white to fit background better. The font of brand title also increased.

4. Start/Goal. Start and Goal font was increased by 20% to be easier to find.

5. Pathways Increased. Pathway size increased by +25%

Let’s see the before and after:

So, minor tweaks, but really I just colored this.

Some data: The new file is 564MB from 210MB.

I will be adding the new color version of the maze as an option going forward. You can find the maze download there !

If you like this type of content check out all of my case studies:

A Collection of Maze Design Case Studies to Improve your Mazes

Happy maze-ing !