If you are creative, you probably have thousands of ideas when the muse is active. You might write them all down. Even if it is for a single project, you might come up with several paths or solutions to present to the client. The problem is keeping track of them all. That is where a mind map comes into play. But, What are mind maps and what benefits do they have?
If you want a tool that can help you control and organize all the ideas you have about a project, or several, this topic that we are going to discuss will interest you. Shall we go for it?
What are mind maps?
Mind maps, known in English as mind maps, are actually a graphic representation of your ideas, all those related to a main topic. To make it easier for you to understand, imagine that you have been asked to do a book cover. You have the title and the client has given you some information about the plot and what they would like to have on the cover.
So, you have a lot of related information that you need to sort out along with the ideas that have occurred to you.
This mind map acts as a graphic representation so that, at a glance, you can see the different ideas and information you have.
For example, continuing with what we have already told you, the cover will be for a children's book and it should have a football. Among the many ideas that could occur to you are placing a goal and a boy trying to shoot at goal with a goalkeeper who is a woman. Another idea could be a heart in the background and a ball next to it, turning red as if love were entering the main character.
You could develop all of this through the mind map, taking out subtopics that branch out until you organize all the ideas that have occurred to you. In some cases, you could even include sketches of these results to make it more visual.
This technique It was developed by Tony Buzan, known for his books on mnemonics, which he used to improve brain performance and help to have a more trained memory.
What is a mind map for?
As we have told you before, the main use of mind maps is to serve as an organization. However, in reality, they have many more uses. For example:
To generate ideas, because It will stimulate your mind to give you new ideas and even to connect them together. creating a solution or outcome you may not have thought of.
Take notes, because with them it is easier to capture the essence of what you are hearing and relate everything that is said under a single idea.
Stimulate memory, because it is much easier to remember something visual than if you had to memorize the entire content if it were in plain text.
How to organize a mind map
If you are starting to feel encouraged to create mind maps for your work, the first thing you need is to know what the essential elements are in it. To do this, parts of a main idea. This should be in the center of the page and, whenever possible, you should add a representative image.
Secondary ideas emerge from this central idea, which always revolve around it, preferably in a clockwise direction. Each of these ideas can be further divided into others.
For example, if you are building a book, the title would be the main idea and one of the secondary ideas could be the characters. From this, a third level would emerge with the names of the protagonists, or a division between protagonists and secondary characters, to continue dividing until reaching the end.
However, it is important that the information contained in a mind map is concise and synthesized. It is not about developing everything, but rather using specific words that represent that idea.
In addition, in order to achieve a visual impact, you must use colors that help your memory to activate when seeing the changes in tone.
As for their structure, the truth is that you can find mind maps in many forms, from circular, tree-like, honeycomb-shaped, brainstorming... Each person feels comfortable with one type or another. So we recommend that you learn more about them to see which one is most suitable for you.
Benefits of mind maps
As you have seen, mind maps are a good option if you have a creative profession, because they will help you organize yourself much better. And it has a series of benefits that make this tool an essential one that you should master.
One of those benefits is the capacity for creativity that is released in your mind. In fact, many experts say that a mind map works just like your brain, so if you stimulate it, it will make you have more ideas. What's more, making mind maps helps you use both sides of your brain at the same time, the right and left, or in other words, the logical part and the emotional or creative part.
Apart from this, it is also a tool that breaks mental blocks. In fact, it is what is recommended when a person feels that they are not coming up with ideas, because seeing the project visually activates the brain.
Finally, a mind map is like a visual summary of your project. When you have to handle a lot of information, having something like this helps you to have a very short and visual summary. That doesn't mean that you only focus on the information in it. In fact, this summary will make you remember all the data.
It's similar to when you were studying. If you had a very long syllabus, the normal thing was to make a summary, and from this an outline. But when you saw the outline you knew what you had to talk about in each section, even if it wasn't there.
Well, something similar happens with that map, it is a scheme that allows you memorize the information and relate it both in that mapping and in your own mind.
Now it's your turn to get down to business making mind maps and reaping their benefits. Have you ever made one? How did this technique work for you?