So, I recently published a few videos on how to solve the Rubik's Cube. In making those videos, I learned a lot of things, including that the way I learned may not be the easiest way to learn... But one side effect of creating those videos was a few ideas on how teaching others could be improved.

One of the stepping stones of the Rubik's Cube solving process is learning Move Notations.

I thought there were issues with the many different sources of images you might find online that show you each move. I wanted to improve what was out there for future generations of people who want to learn how to cube.

One thing I already did was provide an animated video to illustrate the 12 most common moves. You can find that video below.

In addtion to this video, I wanted to create easy to read, easy to understand images that demonstrate each move. I wanted the images to have the following features:

  • A cube with the moving face in a partially moved state.
  • The arrows that indicate motion should be curved and not directly on top of the moving face.
  • It should be self-evident which direction the moving face is going even without the arrow. This should be inferred by the colors on the pieces
  • 3 faces of the cube should be visible.
  • Determining which face is the Front, Left, Right, Upper, or Lower (Down) should be self-evident.
  • Different colored background for Clockwise and Counter-Clockwise moves.
  • Different colored arrows for Clockwise and Counter-Clockwise moves.
  • Contrasting colors used between arrows and backgrounds.
  • Arrows and backgrounds should avoid using colors of displayed pieces.
  • Each move could be separated into its own image for copying and pasting into tutorials.

I've already shown you the composite graphic with all 12 moves. Here's each individual move in its own image.

I'm also working on several different graphics that I'd like to share via Creative Commons licensing. I have an illustration that can be used to show the names associated with each face.

Rubik's Cube with all 6 sides visible.
I wanted a way to show all 6 faces. This graphic projects the hidden faces so you can see the colors on them.

I'm crafting other graphics and animations as well. I plan to have every move animated as a YouTube Short and I'll probably provide animated GIFs as well. I'll have the M/E/S slice moves and x/y/z cube rotations, too.

This project is a work in progress, so I'm open to suggestions! What else would you like to see?

🧮 Math/Programming/Technology