MIND MAPS: PICTURES AND WORDS IN SPACE
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Pictures and words in space:
- Comics = pictures and words diagrammed in space
- Blackout poems = words in space
- Mind maps = pictures and words diagrammed in space
What I’m trying to do when I make a mind map: I’m trying to construct a 2-D memory palace on paper. By making notes in a non-linear manner, by arranging images and words in space, I can SEE connections that would otherwise be impossible with just words written in sequence.
I use mind-maps for several things:
1) Brainstorming
Generating ideas, rather than just preserving them.
2) Taking notes on books
(Oddly, I have only attempted non-fiction, never fiction. Not entirely sure why this is.)
3) Taking notes on documentaries
4) Recording meetings and events
5) Remembering conversations
Note: this post was a response to the Vizthink prompt, “In what unique way do you use Mind Maps?“
July 15th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Wow! Your mind maps are works of art in themselves. Very nice. When I was in eighth grade my horribly boring history teacher used mind maps and I found it a horrible way to learn. However, when I entered college mind maps worked for me as both a note taking method and a way to get ideas for art projects. My senior design thesis project in fact was a mind map that I kept refining over and over again until it became a huge photo college / typographic poster. Anyway, I’m blabbing on now. Thanks for the post.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I’m delighted to see your mind map site. You may be interested to know that I was one of the first mindmappers. If you’re not familiar with my book Drawing Your Own Conclusions: Graphic Strategies for Reading, Weiting, and Thinking (Boynton/Cook - Heinemann), which is still in print after all these years, you might want to have a look.
Best,
Fran Claggett
July 18th, 2008 at 7:34 am
I’ve been using Personal Brain for my mind maps - it works OK, but I find I’ve been using my notebook more and more for paper sketches. I don’t always find the right way to represent what is happening as ‘ideas’ - I find myself bogged down in the details. A problem, I know, but I can’t be the only one, can I?
July 18th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
but then what happens?
July 29th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Here’s a great example of using a map format to tackle fiction - On The Road, in fact - although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a “mindmap”, as it visually represents the rhythms and constructs of the text itself vs. the context of the narrative. Still looks pretty cool, though…
http://designmind.frogdesign.c.....rds_01.gif
July 30th, 2008 at 8:46 am
thanks, y’all!