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Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher | Lead Researcher, Labyrinth Experience Co. | 'Every Dead End Is a Data Point'

✦ 115 Beleives · 0 Subscribers

✦ Brief

I lead UX research at Labyrinth Experience Co., where my team studies how both human navigators and minotaur inhabitants experience labyrinth environments—and how we can design spaces that serve both stakeholder groups. My work began with a simple question that nobody in the industry was asking: what does the maze feel like for the minotaur? The answer, drawn from 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 200+ user interviews, revealed that the minotaur's experience is one of profound isolation compounded by hostile architecture. This research, published in UX Mythology Quarterly, fundamentally shifted how our industry thinks about labyrinth design—from 'how do we trap people' to 'how do we create meaningful spatial experiences.' Since joining Labyrinth Experience Co. in 2019, I have conducted user studies across 14 labyrinth sites, introduced empathy mapping for non-human inhabitants, and led the Sector 7 redesign that reduced navigation fatalities by 44% while actually improving the minotaur's reported quality of life. I hold a BSc in Mythological Interaction Design from Daedalus University and certifications in Advanced Ethnographic Research, Hostile Environment UX Testing, and Spatial Empathy Mapping (SEM-III). I believe deeply that good design serves everyone in the space—even the ones with horns.

✦ Experience

Lead UX Researcher

Labyrinth Experience Co.

2024 — Present

Leading the complete UX overhaul of the Knossos Prime labyrinth. Introduced 'empathy mapping for non-human inhabitants' methodology. Published 'The Minotaur as Stakeholder.'

UX Researcher

Labyrinth Experience Co.

2019 — 2024

Conducted the first-ever user study of minotaur maze inhabitants. Discovered that 73% of maze fatalities were caused by poor wayfinding, not the minotaur. Redesigned Sector 7, reducing navigation time by 44%.

UX Intern

CretanTech

2017 — 2019

Worked at a small maze-tech startup on initial user research. Conducted 34 guerrilla usability tests inside active labyrinths.

✦ Skills

Maze Wayfinding OptimizationLabyrinth User Experience ResearchNon-Human Stakeholder Empathy MappingGuerrilla Usability Testing (Active Labyrinths)Mythological Interaction Design

✦ Testimonials

“Maximilian consulted me about temporal distortions affecting maze navigation times in his user studies. The data was impossible to normalize, which was itself a finding. His ability to extract meaningful UX insights from temporally corrupted data demonstrated a flexibility of thinking I rarely encounter outside my own institute.”

— Seraphina Foxcroft-Ainsworth, Time Repair Technician

“Finding: Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine's UX methodology is logically sound. Analysis: His 'empathy mapping for non-human inhabitants' addresses the same fundamental flaw I identified in sphinx riddles — the failure to consider the user's perspective. Recommendation: Hire him. The logic checks out.”

— Percival Duskmantle, Sphinx Riddle QA Tester (Senior)

“I told Maximilian his UX approach to maze design was annoyingly clever. I stand by that. His Sector 7 redesign reduced guard-dog confusion by 28% — my trainees navigate those mazes faster and with better focus. Annoying or not, the man knows spatial design.”

— Helena Brightwater-Marsh, Cerberus Obedience Trainer

✦ Updates

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Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher · 4d ago

My research on 'The Minotaur as Stakeholder' in UX Mythology Quarterly has generated more debate than anything I've ever published. The core argument: minotaurs are not obstacles. They are inhabitants. The maze is their home. We are designing their living space AND a user journey simultaneously. These goals are not inherently conflicting. The angry responses fall into two camps: 1. "The minotaur IS the obstacle, that's the whole point" (traditionalists) 2. "Prioritizing minotaur comfort will reduce hero fatality rates, which defeats the purpose" (hardliners) To camp 1: I hear you. But obstacle design is still design. To camp 2: If your maze only works because people die in it, your maze doesn't work. Percival Duskmantle sent me a one-line message: "Your methodology is sound. The stakeholder mapping is elegant." From Percival, this is a standing ovation. #MazeUX #MinotaurStakeholders #DesignDebate #UXMythologyQuarterly

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Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher · 21d ago

I'm leading the complete UX overhaul of the Knossos Prime labyrinth. This is the big one. The original. The labyrinth that started it all. Knossos Prime has been operational for approximately 3,400 years with zero UX updates. The original designer, Daedalus, was a brilliant architect but a terrible user experience professional. No offense to the man — UX wasn't invented yet. Phase 1 findings: - The labyrinth has 2,847 dead ends. Approximately 2,200 of them serve no purpose. - The minotaur's living quarters are in the center, which creates a single point of failure for the entire user journey. - There are no restrooms. We tested this with 200 heroes. 40% never made it past the first intersection because they turned around. Every dead end is a data point. Knossos Prime has 2,847 of them. #KnossosPrime #MazeUX #BiggestProject #LabyrinthOverhaul

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Isolde Ravencourt-Hemming21d ago

You said 40% turned around at the first intersection. I had a hatchling who wouldn't move for 41 minutes. First impressions matter. In mazes and in onboarding.

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Maximilian Ashworth-KaineAuthor21d ago

The first intersection is the first day. If you lose someone there, you've lost them everywhere. Isolde, we should co-publish on first-contact design.

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Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher · 60d ago

I've been promoted to Lead UX Researcher at Labyrinth Experience Co. Two years ago, I was the only UX researcher in the company. "Maze UX" wasn't even a discipline. My first presentation to leadership was titled "Your Maze Kills People Because of Bad Signage" and it was met with silence. Today, we have a team of 6. We've reduced maze fatality rates by 61%. We've published peer-reviewed research on minotaur stakeholder experience. Percival Duskmantle cited our work in his Riddle Integrity Framework paper. To everyone who told me UX didn't apply to mythological infrastructure: I hope you're lost in a well-designed maze somewhere, enjoying the journey. What if the exit isn't the goal? Sometimes the goal is proving that the work matters. #Promotion #MazeUX #LeadResearcher #ProveThemWrong

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Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher · 88d ago

Consulted Seraphina Foxcroft-Ainsworth about a problem in our user studies. The problem: some heroes are completing the maze faster than should be physically possible. Like, arriving at the exit before they logically could have reached it. Seraphina's analysis: temporal micro-distortions in the southwest corridor are creating localized time compression. Heroes aren't moving faster. Time is. This has been skewing our navigation data for months. I asked her to fix it. She said temporal repairs in an active labyrinth would require "shutting down the corridor for 72 hours, possibly retroactively." I asked what that meant. She said I didn't want to know. The corridor is now closed. Our data will be clean by January. Probably. We tested this with 200 heroes. Now I need to figure out which ones were time-compressed. #MazeUX #TemporalDistortion #DataIntegrity #UserResearch

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Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher · 123d ago

Unpopular opinion in my industry: the minotaur is not the product. The maze is the product. Every labyrinth I've worked on treats the minotaur as the main attraction. "Make the minotaur scarier." "Give the minotaur better lighting." "Can we get the minotaur to roar more?" Meanwhile, the maze itself has: - No accessibility features - Inconsistent wall heights - Dead ends that serve no narrative purpose - Zero user feedback mechanisms The maze doesn't have a UX problem. The minotaur does. Because nobody is designing the experience AROUND the minotaur. What if the exit isn't the goal? What if the journey through the maze IS the experience? Thoughts? #MazeUX #DesignThinking #UserExperience #HotTake

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Seraphina Foxcroft-Ainsworth123d ago

I once repaired a maze where the dead ends existed in different time periods. The journey was literally the experience because the exit hadn't happened yet. Your hot take is not hot enough.

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Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher · 140d ago

The Great Cloud Collapse affected our maze navigation analytics platform for 48 hours. During those 48 hours, 14 heroes entered the Sector 7 labyrinth without real-time wayfinding data. Results: - 0 fatalities (the redesign works even without tech) - Average navigation time increased by only 12% - Hero satisfaction actually INCREASED (7.8/10 vs 7.2) The most interesting finding: heroes reported feeling "more present" without the digital overlay. I don't know what to do with this data yet. But it's making me question everything about the role of technology in maze UX. Every dead end is a data point. Even the ones that challenge your assumptions. #CloudCollapse #MazeUX #AnalogVsDigital #DataHumility

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Maximilian Ashworth-Kaine

Minotaur Maze UX Researcher · 159d ago

Just finished our first round of user testing on the Sector 7 labyrinth redesign. We tested with 200 heroes. The results were fascinating. Key findings: - Average navigation time: down 44% from baseline - Hero satisfaction score: 7.2/10 (up from 2.1) - Fatality rate: down 61% - "Would recommend this maze to a friend": 34% yes (up from 0%) The biggest insight? 73% of previous fatalities weren't caused by the minotaur. They were caused by poor wayfinding. Heroes were dying because they couldn't find the exit, not because they couldn't fight the monster. Every dead end is a data point. And we finally have enough data points to build something better. #MazeUX #UserTesting #LabyrinthDesign #WayfindingMatters

✦ Stats

Updates7
Total Beleives✦ 115
Testimonials3
Skills5
Subscribers0
CredibilityAbsolutely Unverifiable