I love hand-drawn mind maps when they are well done.  You’ll see many in our Mindmaps Directory.  I sometimes do them by hand myself - in meetings or when I don’t have a computer to hand - but mine are rough.  Very rough.

Usually I move on to a computer-based one pretty quickly for three very good reasons: To make them look better; to make them easier to modify; and to get more content in conveniently - because the mind maps I do mainly have a business focus.  If I’m building a big mindmap, or a mind map to organize information, of course, I use 3D Topicscape.

Paul Foreman, who I’ve blogged about here a few times, and who shows up a lot in the Mindmaps Directory, has an entirely different approach.

His mind maps are all hand-drawn, whether on paper or on a computer screen, and the visual impact is an important part of getting the message across.  Most of them you would not categorize as business maps, either.  They are life-skills or coaching oriented, some are almost philosphical explorations. And all are colorful, exuberant and artistic images.

Now, Paul has made a how-to-do-it e-book to give away some of his techniques and ideas.  Well, maybe I should say ‘reveal’, because he’s not exactly giving it away - he charges £5.95 or about US$11.50 at present.  It’s called “Drawing Tips for Mind Mapping”

[Updated: now 110 pages] 

Most how-to-mind-map books tell you the process of mind mapping.  Rightly, I think, because above all, 2D mind mapping is a process.  But few tell you how to get the drawing part right.  Paul Foreman’s e-book does, and I think he’s found a niche that needed filling.  Paul advises on pens, stencils, paints and paper, and on making artistic mind maps with computer-drawing software.  He shows how to draw simple shapes and objects, step by step and suggests how you can practise.  He covers the essentials of color balance.  The one thing I did miss was something about lettering, especially the colorful, curved lettering that can look good on educational and inspirational mind maps.  [Updated: Paul took this comment to heart and added a whole section on Lettering.]

He even gives hints on how to “stop thinking”, to let creativity flood in.

Roy

Disclosure:  Paul sent me a copy free, but without being asked, and without any hint that I should blog about it.

I’ve mentioned in a few places that I use MindManager and I have been asked about this a few times and how I use it, given my association with Topicscape, so here’s the answer.

I use MindManager when I have a small, discrete area, project or topic I  want to map.  A concrete example - I’ve got a telecon tonight with an  academic who wants to discuss a couple hundred licenses.  I have only had  inquiries about academic licenses from individuals before and they were  easy - a straight discount if they had an email address with .edu, .ac or similar in it.  (Not surprising really, as we have a free student edition.)  But for a bulk purchase I needed to think  through all the options about support; academic + bulk discounts; who owns  the license; sell a subscription or sell a license; and a few other things.

This can be done in Topicscape, but I knew it was probably going to be no more than  20 or 30 nodes.  A 2D mindmap is fine, and if it becomes bigger so that it no longer fits on my screen, I’ll import it to Topicscape, which can read a MindManager .mmap file directly and translate it to 3D.  Even as I’m  writing this I realize I need to think about how the subscription would be  implemented if they like that option, how the web site needs to change to  deliver this, how we would renew a subscription – I’m mapping that as I write.

Then it becomes the basis for developing future academic pricing policy,  based on experience with the first one, sales plan to reach out to tertiary  education institutes, and development plan to meet specific educational  needs.  Or it might become an anchor for a post mortem discussion - why did  we not get this sale, how will we change, sales plan again?  Because it’s  not in the bag yet.

None of this is very Buzan.  It’s more MindManager-style business mapping.  Long  phrases per node, an occasional relevant web page.

But once I start gathering information, making concrete notes, planning the actual implementation, I’ll be importing the mind map into Topicscape and using it as the mind mapping information organizer it is.

Another example is different.  I’m planning a new web site on a specific  area of use of Topicscape.  I am slowly building a more Buzan-like mind  map over a period of weeks, visiting it  only occasionally as new areas come to mind.  No pretty colors though - I’m not trying to learn something, or show related  areas to other people - but one word per branch (two at most).  Because I find  that sometimes, just sometimes, that really makes thinking a topic through  more rigorous and opens up pathways that would get blocked by longer  phrases.

It’s unlikely that I would ever put that one into Topicscape.  Hold on … having  written that, I might, just to see what effect it has on my thinking.

Often I start in Topicscape straight away, especially if I know it’s going  to grow quickly, or I already have files, websites and notes to pull together, or a hierarchy of folders already organised that I just want to see more clearly, and more at once.

Sometimes, with my developers, we sit round a table with a piece of A3 paper  in the middle and map on that, or with clients I map in front of a flipchart,  but more often with MindManager.  I just did the latter with the developers,  looking at how we would implement the subscription model.

Roy