The Many Kinds of Mind Maps

It’s possible that the ideas connected with the creation of mind maps are presented to the public in a way that creates misconceptions. When this technique is explained, it is generally always described similarly. “Write down a word in the middle of a page,” the explanations go, “and then write all the ideas you can think of that relate to the word, radiating around that idea in the middle.” This is indeed the first sort of map people create when they start their mapping training. But in fact, this is just one kind of mind map, which is called a spider map, yet there are other constructions people can use as well.

Take the fishbone or flow chart mind maps, for example. These would be considered more as concept maps, which are more complex. Not every idea radiates from the center, especially in flow charts, which tend toward sequential thought. A fishbone map, on the other hand, might show several concepts feeding into a central one. This type of map would be used for things like showing the possible causes or factors that lead into one event. Those are not always sequential, nor do they cause each other, so this type of map would picture them as branches that angle in toward a single line, which in turn leads to the event itself.

Other mind map examples might be those viewed as chains or circles. A chain might be just a series of loops, one after the other, showing events or causes that are connected to each other. Or it might involve loops descending from each other in ever widening branches, like the roots of a tree, as a single event creates a cascade of repercussions. Another type of map displays itself as an actual circle, and would illustrate certain things that go in repeating cycles. These mind maps, especially the chains, can probably fall into the flow chart category as well.

Visual mapping allows people to find and illustrate relationships between all sorts of ideas. Whether you’re talking a spider map that encourages random brainstorming, a fishbone map that illustrates factors that contribute to an end result, or a flow chart that demonstrates a series of cause-and-effect chains, these many different kinds of mind maps rise to whatever the occasion demands. Users of these maps are able to discover and organize important information in a visual way that can be grasped quickly and intuitively.