Methods of Creative Thinking

A mind map is used to represent words, ideas, taks or any other information that is

linked to one another, arranged around a central key word or idea.

Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, andclassifyideas, and as an aid in study,

organization, problem solving,decision making, and writing

By presenting ideas in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, mind maps encourage abrainstorming approach to planning and organizational tasks. Though the branches of a mindmap represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues. This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework.

The mind map can be contrasted with the similar idea of concept mapping. The former is based on radial hierarchies and tree structuresdenoting relationships with a central governing concept, whereas concept maps are based on connections between concepts in more diverse patterns.

An industry standard that implements formal rules for finalizing at least a subset of such diagrams is the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

Mind map About Me