Mind Mapping

Prior to my assignment for Design Studies I had never used mind maps. I had used spider diagrams on many occassions, thinking that they were the same thing, but I have since learnt that they very different. Mind maps can be very creative, with the use of colour and imagery encouraged inorder to help the user distinguish between the information and also to remember as many facts as possible.

For Assignment 1A I had to use Tony Buzan’s Mind Mapping technique to produce a summary of The Tipping Point. Doing this is intended to help us "learn a method of summarising complex information that is useful for everything from remembering the content of books and lectures to planning essays and making notes in briefings and tutorials."

The Designs Studies Module Handbook advised a twenty minute time limit for this task which I tried to stick to. This was an individual project but it was recommended that you work collaboratively, as talking to others can help you remember sections of the book which you may have forgotten about. Firstly I wrote the book’s title (The Tipping Point) in the centre of an A3 sheet of paper, then drew branches for each of the six chapters. I went on to draw branches from each of these six headings, each line of thought contained information on the main topics from each chapter. I tried to complete this section of the Assignment from memory alone. However after discussion with my classmates I was reminded of other sections of the book, which I went on to add to my mind map.

For Assignment 1B I had to pick a chapter of the book which I found interesting and complete a more indepth Mind Map. I decided to look at 'The Law of the Few' as I found this section of the book quite fascinating. This time the Handbook suggested a time limit of fourty minutes, however I was allowed to use the book for help if I needed to. I tried to do as much as I could from memory but I did have to look through the Tipping Point adding any information/ theories/ research that I had forgotten about to the mind map.

"The third part of the assignment revolves around the idea of evidence. Nothing Gladwell writes is based purely on his opinion, but on what he has found out, and that in turn is based on research based evidence." I had to go through the chapter of the book, that I had chosen to look at, and highlight names of authors, researchers, or any papers which had been mentioned and add these to my Mind Map. I was surprised at how many different names and research programmes I discovered during this section on the task.

The final part of the assignment is to complete a blog (which you are reading just now!).

Reflecting back on this assignment I have to admit that I enjoyed using the Mind Mapping technique. Having never used this before I found the instructions very easy to follow and the technique easy to pick up. One of the most important elements for me was colour. I found using a different coloured pen for each chapter of the book really helped to separate the information and facts I had written down, aswell as showing a clear line of thought.

Using uppercase writing made the information presented much easier to read. What was also helpful was the use of different sized lettering; large words for the title of each chapter, medium sized characters for sub chapters and then smaller text for all other information. This made finding key pieces of information amongst the vast amount of words much easier. Finally I felt that being able to work with others on this assignment very helpful. Discussing the book and the Mind Maps themselves with my peers made me remember sections of the book that I had forgotten. Amending my Mind Map by adding these forgotten facts helped spark of more topics which otherwise would never have been mentioned.