REFLECTION - MIND MAPPING

1. CHALLENGE & SELECTION :

Mind mapping is an efective way of summarising lots  of information in an easy to understand way, in an or- ganised, interesting and impactful form. It helps in  converting monotonous information into a colorful  and highly organised and simplifed diagram which  simplifes things for our brain exponentially. “Mind  mapping is looking for patterns and insights in the  large quantity of data collected during the explora- tions of what is”.

Our brain is capable of thinking a lot of things at a  time, thus managing our thoughts and ideas becomes  a very difcult task. In cases/ scenarios like these, the  mind mapping tool lets us capture thoughts, ideas and  keywords, thus summarising our concepts by retaining  just the important part.

2. APPLICATION :

According to me mind mapping tool is very helpful in  things like memorising, organisation of ideas, making  presentations, brainstorming and solving of problems. Being a design student, I am going to share a personal ex- perience with all of you which will ultimately prove the im- portance of the tool ‘Mind mapping’.

Last year, we were given an assignment where the entire  class was divided into groups of four and we had to study  a given problematic area and then we had to document  the whole process and provide an alternate solution for  improvement. The problem area was stationery shops and  we started collecting data through research and by con- ducting surveys and interviewing the stakeholders that  were involved. Once we had all the data now it was time to  sort it, organise it and document the fnal approaches, and  that was where we hit a block. The amount of data collect- ed was so extrvagant and we were exhausted just thinking  of managing and organising it all. Tackling this block was  such a task, we tried many approaches, from sorting to  brainstorming but this clutter was not at all manageable.  Then we all sat and started thinking of ways with calm  mind and though of going back to square one and ap- proached the data from a diferent perspective. We started  making mind maps and that helped us to sort, organise  and arrange the huge data into a compilation of aesthetic  and better understanding data.

3.INSIGHTS & APPROACH :

Mind mapping was something I didn’t know about  until I hit the block. One of my group member intro- duced the tool of mind mapping to me while doing  the assignment. While I used the tool in the assign- ment to get my objectives and thoughts organised, I  came to a realisation that mind maps can be used  everywhere and anywhere. Knowing the concepts of  mapping down is an absolute life saver.

Though I am happy that I chose this course as it gave  me a broader and better understanding of how mind  mapping can be used to reap its benefts fully. Mapping is a graphical way to represent ideas and  helps in structuring informaton. It can be applied in  any context and is very fexible. We usually start by jot- ting down the ideas as they come in our mind, basical- ly we brainstorm and then fnd themes and patterns in  the already collected data. This ensures that all the im- portant points are taken into account and the unnec- essary clutter is drained out.

