Reﬂection Assignment - Mind Mapping;

Challenge & Selection:

This tool is helpful in many daily situations of our lives and an amazing way to

make things easier and more eﬃcient. Besides that, mind mapping makes innovation

easier to be applied. I work as a designer in a student association whose mission is

auxiliate in the development of the social sector, personal development of its members

and the awareness of social environmental causes through events, consulting and

incubation.

I often use the mind mapping tool to create more empathy between the

students and our clients. It is really important so we can see many ways to do

something and actually innovate. In the social sector this is so useful, specially because

we have to focus on the people who will beneﬁt from this idea and be aware so we don’t

get lost with the operation part, focusing too much only on the business side and

forgetting what is the real goal. In that way, I often use maps to be able to create a

journey and focus on each step but not forgetting about the “bigger” map.

Application:

I usually start things with mind mapping so we can understand how to create a

good journey for the people who will beneﬁt from this idea. In this student association,

we work with social impact business. For those people who don’t know what this is, I will

explain in a very easy way. They are businesses that have social impact but also operate

according to the logic of proﬁt, which is really diﬀerent from the third sector that people

usually associate when someone talks about the social sector.

In that way, we need to create a journey connected to the social side of the idea

but also think about how we can make proﬁt for the entrepreneur. Therefore, we

extract meaning from data in a way that lets patterns and insights emerge. Patterns and

insights we might otherwise have missed. Usually, we use a Post It or a board to write

the data that we already have and we put the outliers also. Creating a complete mind

map of our client’s business. Sometimes, we even do that in small areas of the business,

trying to make it more detailed as possible. Unfortunately, with the crisis caused by the

pandemic, we had to move all of our activities to the online world. In a certain way, that

was good because now we can reach many areas that we couldn’t before (I live in Brazil,

a very large country and full of diﬀerent cultures) but we had to adaptate our methods.

Now we use Miro or even Google Docs to generate mind maps. We usually start

by the name of the business, following by its goal, people in social vulnerability who will

beneﬁt from this, where the proﬁt will come from and who will buy these product or

service (most of the times, the people who will beneﬁt from this idea are not the same

that will buy the product or service generated by the idea). And then we emerge into

these ideas, studying more about each topic. Besides that, many other topics come

from this initial and main topics. In the end, we usually have a really complete mind

mapping of the business.

We have three diﬀerent areas in this student association: events, consulting and

incubation. I’m an Incubator Design and we have 20 people working in this area, divided

into three diﬀerent clients. Each team has 4 Designers and 1 manager, besides the

management team that don't work directly in project’s areas. In that way, 5 diﬀerent

people make the mind map.

Insight & Approach:

Concluding this, I have learned so much from mind maps and this is such a great

tool for work and also on daily problems that we have to face. It is really important so

we can actually understand each step, do not let anything important go by and focus on

the important thing. Also, mind mapping is looking for patterns and insights. We can get

together all data and ﬁnd patterns, besides having insights that are so important for us and

our stakeholders. Most of the time, it makes us see other ways to do that speciﬁc thing,

innovating and being more successful. Maybe what I think would be nice doing in a diﬀerent

way is making the mind mapping easier to understand for other people that don’t have the

same knowledge about the project. In that way, we can see if it makes sense for them, if

they have new ideas that we didn't have and try to have the concern to construct it in a way

that all people can understand.


Reﬂection Assignment - Mind Mapping ; Challenge & Selection : This tool is helpful in many daily situations of our lives and an amazing way to make things easier and more eﬃcient . Besides that , mind mapping makes innovation easier to be applied . I work as a designer in a student association whose mission is auxiliate in the development of the social sector , personal development of its members and the awareness of social environmental causes through events , consulting and incubation . I often use the mind mapping tool to create more empathy between the students and our clients . It is really important so we can see many ways to do something and actually innovate . In the social sector this is so useful , specially because we have to focus on the people who will beneﬁt from this idea and be aware so we do n’t get lost with the operation part , focusing too much only on the business side and forgetting what is the real goal . In that way , I often use maps to be able to create a journey and focus on each step but not forgetting about the “ bigger ” map . Application : I usually start things with mind mapping so we can understand how to create a good journey for the people who will beneﬁt from this idea . In this student association , we work with social impact business . For those people who do n’t know what this is , I will explain in a very easy way . They are businesses that have social impact but also operate according to the logic of proﬁt , which is really diﬀerent from the third sector that people usually associate when someone talks about the social sector . In that way , we need to create a journey connected to the social side of the idea but also think about how we can make proﬁt for the entrepreneur . Therefore , we extract meaning from data in a way that lets patterns and insights emerge . Patterns and insights we might otherwise have missed . Usually , we use a Post It or a board to write the data that we already have and we put the outliers also . Creating a complete mind map of our client ’s business . Sometimes , we even do that in small areas of the business , trying to make it more detailed as possible . Unfortunately , with the crisis caused by the pandemic , we had to move all of our activities to the online world . In a certain way , that was good because now we can reach many areas that we could n’t before ( I live in Brazil , a very large country and full of diﬀerent cultures ) but we had to adaptate our methods . Now we use Miro or even Google Docs to generate mind maps . We usually start by the name of the business , following by its goal , people in social vulnerability who will beneﬁt from this , where the proﬁt will come from and who will buy these product or service ( most of the times , the people who will beneﬁt from this idea are not the same that will buy the product or service generated by the idea ) . And then we emerge into these ideas , studying more about each topic . Besides that , many other topics come from this initial and main topics . In the end , we usually have a really complete mind mapping of the business . We have three diﬀerent areas in this student association : events , consulting and incubation . I ’m an Incubator Design and we have 20 people working in this area , divided into three diﬀerent clients . Each team has 4 Designers and 1 manager , besides the management team that do n't work directly in project ’s areas . In that way , 5 diﬀerent people make the mind map . Insight & Approach : Concluding this , I have learned so much from mind maps and this is such a great tool for work and also on daily problems that we have to face . It is really important so we can actually understand each step , do not let anything important go by and focus on the important thing . Also , mind mapping is looking for patterns and insights . We can get together all data and ﬁnd patterns , besides having insights that are so important for us and our stakeholders . Most of the time , it makes us see other ways to do that speciﬁc thing , innovating and being more successful . Maybe what I think would be nice doing in a diﬀerent way is making the mind mapping easier to understand for other people that do n’t have the same knowledge about the project . In that way , we can see if it makes sense for them , if they have new ideas that we did n't have and try to have the concern to construct it in a way that all people can understand .