Using images in your Mind Maps is one of the fundamentals of Mind Mapping and using iMindMap, this is very easy to do.

The reason we use images is firstly, we think in pictures so it is only natural we should organize our thoughts in the same format.  Secondly, it is much easier to present information in a visual form so that it is more engaging, easier to understand and stays in the memory for far longer.

There are four sorts of image types in iMindMap:

1. Branch Images
2. Floating Images
3. Sketches (using the sketch tool)
4. Icons

In this short video I will show you how to easily add images to your branches and how to access the impressive in-built image library that has thousands of pictures you can use to illustrate your maps.  There is a very cool feature of the library that allows it to automatically select an appropriate image for your map which is described at around 2:13 in the video.

So press play on the video below to discover how to illustrate your mind maps or perhaps read our fully illustrated tutorial on The Quickest Way To Add a Branch Image.

Technorati Tags: iMindMap, video tutorial

A few weeks ago we reported the release of the new iMindMap iPad App amongst all the fanfare and hoo-hah that typically comes out with the launch of these sorts of apps.  Well my sources at Buzan HQ tell me that the app very quickly rose to at least #3 in the itunes downloads on its release which is an impressive result.

So have you got yours yet?

Well if not let me whet your appetite with a few of the reviews that have been coming out since its release:

Kyle Flanigan from 148Apps.com gives it a 4 start rating and says:

iMindMap is very easy to use. There’s not much to learn and what is to be learned can be picked up quickly. A focus has been placed on actual usage of the mind map rather than how pretty it looks, meaning precedence is given to your work

iMindMap Mobile HD for the iPad is an easy and accessible application, the development department of ThinkBuzan has done a great job. It’s a pleasure to work with and it’s also a pleasure to look at.

Perhaps one of the most powerful applications of iMindMap and Mind Mapping is the generation of new ideas for creativity and innovation.  First of all let’s just get those two terms right in our minds.  For the contenxt of this post, “Creativity” is the generation of ideas and “Innovation” is the implementation of ideas to solve a problem.

So why is Mind Mapping such a powerful creative tool?

Association

Well it boils down to the the way a Mind Map is structured – it consists of a radiant flow of branches and sub-branches emanting from a central idea.  This structure mirrors the way the brain organizes its information which is through relationships by association.  Now there are two ways association is organized within the brain (and the Mind Map).  The first is through chains and the second is through hooks.

Association by Chains – if you think of one idea and allow you mind to freely associate, it will think of another, then another, then another and so on.  The connection between the two might be very tenuous, it might be obvious.  It does not really matter because for some reason your brain triggers each idea stimulated by the previous idea.  Imagine it is like walking through a long corridor and each time you generate a new idea, you have to open another door to go further down the corridor.

Association by Hooks – The other way we organize our associations is using hooks.  One idea can trigger several related ideas, each one associated to the original theme.  Using our door analogy again, imagine standing in a circular hallway that has multiple doors leading off from it.

The brain then combines these two processes to create its “map” of its information and this is reflected in the way iMindMap structures its representation of information.

The Generation of Ideas

Generating ideas is really very simple – all we need to do is let the mind do what it naturally does and then capture whatever comes to mind.  Okay that is a bit of a simple way of looking at it but in reality that is all you need to do provided you have primed the mind to focus on a particular challenge or problem you want to solve, stimulate it with ideas generation activities and then capture the output.

When you use Mind Mapping to do this what happens is the capture of the ideas in Mind Map form triggers the generation of yet more ideas which compounds leaving you with a staggering burst of creativity.

The Speed Mind Map Mode

Capturing the generation of ideas by hand is possible but can lead to problems deciphering what you have written with messy handwriting that you can’t read later on (remember you will be scribbling the ideas down as fast as they come!).  Fortunately in iMindMap, it has a speed Mind Mapping mode to help you with this (more about this in another post).  You can access by going to the Mode Icon in the menu bar.

The Secret to Creativity

There is no real hidden secret to creativity despite the heading to this particular section however I can reveal that improvements in your ability to generate amazing ideas is not about doing something extra, but it is about stopping doing something that is holding you back.  You see as you start to generate ideas, it is likely you will judge them as they come to mind and will edit them by discarding them when they appear because they might not appear relevant.

This is a big mistake.  The Secret to Creativity is the generation of a huge QUANTITY of ideas and not lots of QUALITY ideas.  The quality of ideas often come when we think we have exhausted all possibilities and are possibly a combination of two or more ideas that might have been considered poor or irrelevant when they first appeared.  So DON’T EDIT!!

Other Creativity Tools

As we have already pointed out, Mind Mapping is a powerful creative mechanism in its own right so when you combine it with other creative processes (for example De Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats) you can develop a potent idea generation mechanism.

The only way to find out for yourself is to try it.  Let us know how you get on.

Technorati Tags: creativity, Mind Mapping

A Mind Map consists of a central image that radiates out a network of branches supporting keywords and images.  Therefore as branches are a fundamental part of creating a Mind Map, it is probably a good idea we share with you the different ways you can add new branches.

In this short video we will show you 4 ways you can easily add your new branch and these are:

• The Drag and Drop Method (our favorite)
• Right Clicking on an existing branch
• Using your computer keyboard
• Using the INsert Menu

As you will see when you watch the video adding a new branch is quick and easy and with multiple ways of doing it, you will quickly find your own preference that suits the way you navigate software.

Technorati Tags: how to

Here is a very interesting question for all you Mind Mapping purists out there – do you need to strictly follow the rules of Mind Mapping?  Now if you are an evangelist and a Buzan acolyte then your immediate answer is going to be a resounding yes.  You will harrumph a bit, gather together with your Mind Map buddies and consider striking me off your Christmas card list for even thinking of asking the question.

But let us look a little bit deeper at this question.

I was surfing the web the other day looking for some best practice use of Mind Mapping so I could add to my library of applications and find even more examples to share with people interested in improving their thinking abilities.  Whilst on one of my regular jaunts around the web I came across a site for a branding designer.

This guy used Mind Mapping to help him come up with his branding designs.  They were ugly, drawn in pencil on graph paper, didn’t follow the guidelines at all and were more like bubble diagrams.  In fact there were TWO central ideas (if that statement can’t be an oxymoron!).  The closest he got to using color was a highlighter to focus on key ideas.

Please, those of you who are clutching the Mind Map bible to your chests and hoping Lord Tony doesn’t find out, lighten up will ya!

What this guy was doing though worked for him.  He was generating some stunning designs and had a very successful and fruitful process that clearly produced results which if we think about it is the most important thing.

Now could he align himself a little closer to the principles of the technique to improve his process even more by perhaps adding color or the odd image or two which would stimulate more of his brain.  However if what he is doing works for him right now – why should he?

Let’s not trivialize the Mind Mapping guidelines drawn up by Tony Buzan because they are all there for very good reasons and the more of them you adhere to the better the quality of your Mind Maps and the better the quality of your thinking.

However let’s not forget that it is a tool to help us, not something that should take over our lives, and when the job in hand gets done, it is done even if we only use a fraction of the resources available to us.

Hopefully by now you will have seen that Buzan’s iMindMap is a very powerful Mind Map software program.  With all of its capabilities you are able to replicate the hand drawn Mind Mapping process and take advantage of all that has to offer.  In addition you have the incredible potential offered by your computing power and the way it integrates with other software such as Microsoft Office.

With all of that in mind, what are you going to use Buzan’s  iMindMap for?

Well there are a myriad of uses you can put it to and it really depends on where your focus in life is.  There are personal applications, business applications and things you can do with it in education.

The place where this Mind Map software has been embraced the most and the reason there has been a surge in its use is in the professional and corporate world.

iMindMap has enabled busy professional people to increase their creativity, become as much as 20% more productive (according to one recent study) as well has generate improvements in a wide variety of thinking processes.

In this short video, we share with you the top 20 popular uses that Mind Map software, like Buzan’s iMindMap is being put to in the professional world.

iMindMap is really very easy to use and after a while once you have got the basics under your belt, you will want to start using some of the more sophisticated and advanced features.  You may well discover how to use them yourself after a bit of trial and error, but the chances are you will dig into the help files and user manual that come with the software.  If you do, there is some terminology that might be useful to explain.

You will find that when talking about the organization of branches you will see these terms “Parent”, “Child” and “Sibling”.

The meaning of them is commonsense once you orientate yourself to the terms in the context of the branches on your Mind Map so let me explain by first of all showing you a Map.

Parent Relationship

When a branch has other branches coming off from it, then that branch is said to be the Parent of those branches.  So in the Mind Map above, Sibling 1 is the Parent to Child 1,2 and 3.  Technically speaking the central image is the Parent to the main branches but is rarely referred to as that because it is an important entitiy in its own right.

Sibling Relationship

Where branches emanate from the same point – either from the main central image or the end of the same branch, then they are called sibling branches.  So in the above Mind Map the branches labeled Sibling 1,2 and 3 form that relationship.  However if you look at Child 1, 2 and 3, because they originate from the same branch they are also in a sibling relationship with each other.

Child Relationship

“Child Branches” is the term given to sub-branches i.e. those that emanate from the end of the same  branch and are shown as Child1, 2 and 3 in the above Mind Map.

All of this is very straightforward and once it clicks you will understand and the terminology will simply roll off your tongue and these ideas will be the talking point next time you are at the bar with your friends.  Of course if you are under 18 (or 21 in some states) then you won’t be allowed in the bar to talk about this so you will have to find a small coffee shop or juice bar to gather.

If you don’t have a copy of iMindMap then we suggest you download the free trial version to try it out for yourself so you can see just how easy this is to use.

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If you go back to the guidelines for Mind Mapping, you will see a very strong emphasis in the use of color when you generate your maps.

It is suggested that each main branch and subsequent sub-branches has its own color so that just looking at the branch structure of your Mind Map, it might look like this:

So Why Is Using Color Important in Your Mind Maps

Well there are a number of key reasons that you should ensure you have color.  On a practical level the Mind Map suddenly becomes far more interesting to look at which means it is going to be more engaging and is far more likely to fulfil its intended purpose.  For example, compare the same Mind Map drawn in Black and White:

As you can see the difference is staggering with the colored version very much more striking than the second version.  In fact technically speaking the above image is in greyscale which means there is still a distinction between the branches by the shade of grey.  If it were true black and white (or monochrome meaning a single color) it would be even more boring.

Another key reason why color is vital is that it stimulates the right side of the brain meaning the activity of Mind Mapping is a whole brain exercise.  This means far more of your brain is engaged in the thinking process which means more of your mind’s resources are brought to bear on whatever it is you are applying this technique to.  And the result of that is the quality of your thoughts together with their effectiveness will be vastly improved.

When you start looking at the map you create, you can also begin to see the benefits of using color.

Clearly when you look at a  Mind Map such as the one above, the different colored branches represent different aspects of the topic under consideration and so it allows you to differentiate between the individual topic themes.

Another way you can use color is for classification.   For example if you are going to be using Mind Maps to record the minutes of meetings then the red branch might always be used for action points.  Over time if you are consistent with this strategy when you look at the record of your previous meetings, you will know exactly where to look to see what was supposed to be done after each meeting.  This will create an efficiency that can be an important time saver.

And finally a real great benefit of having the different colored branches is that it is just one more thing that allows it to stand out in your memory which will assist in the recall of information.

So to summarize then, here are the reasons why you use color:

1.  It makes your mind maps far more interesting

2.  It stimulates more of your brain thus engaging more of your thinking resources

3.  Color allows you to differentiate between different themes in your topic

4.  You can use color to classify

5.  Colored Mind Maps stimulate the memory and are easier to recall.

Fortunately, iMindMap takes care of all of this for you and every time you generate a new main branch it will draw it in a new color for you which you can change later on if you so wish.  If you don’t have a copy of iMindMap then click on the button below here to download a free trial version and see for yourself how valuable this software will be for you.

Technorati Tags: Mind Mapping, mind maps, using color

Getting started with creating your first Mind Map using iMindMap is very simple indeed and in this brief video tutorial, we will show you just how quickly and how easily you can get started.  You can also read an illustrated tutorial on how to do this in a post entitled “How to Start Your First Mind Map”

The steps are really quite simple:

1.  Create a new Mind Map.

2.  Select your central image from the ones on offer (you can add your own but more of that in another video).

3.  Label your central image with a keyword or short phrase (though if you are going to be a Mind Mapping purist then it is just a keyword).

4.  Draw and label your first main branch.

5.  Draw and label any more detailed sub-branches (though the technical iMindMap term is “child” branch)

6.  Rinse and repeat.

Now you can add pictures to your Mind Map but we are not going to cover that in this post.  If you want do see a quick tutorial on the quickest wayto add a branch image then we do have articles and iMindMap videos elsewhere on our site that cover that.

So here is the video which is called:

Creating Your First Mind Map Using iMindMap

Technorati Tags: iMindMap, Mind Mapping, video tutorial

Perhaps one of the most powerful characteristics  of Mind Mapping is its use of images to represent ideas and concepts.  There are a number of reasons why this is such an important feature.

First of all as human beings we think in pictures.  Of course we can think about words and we communicate our thoughts and ideas in streams of words wrapped up in the syntax and grammar of our language, but ultimately those sentences are shaped around the ideas we see in our mind.

So when you start using Mind Maps, this is just one of the many reasons your thinking seems to take a performance leap – you are now using a tool that is more in tune with your inner software.

Another reason that images are useful is the old adage – “A picture speaks a thousand words”.  It is often far simpler and much quicker to illustrate something with a picture than it is to write about it.  This is another reason why using Mind Mapping creates such an efficiency in your thinking.

And finally, a liberal sprinkling of images around your Mind Map makes it far more engaging and interesting to look at.

So the addition of images is a vital part of the success of this great technique.

Sadly one of the barriers many people have when they encounter Mind Mapping is that because it is something that is “drawn” and because you have pictures on it and because most people are convinced they cannot draw, they reject the concept.

Fortunately the introduction of Mind Mapping software means it is very easy to add images to your maps.

iMindMap is no different and images can be added in just a few clicks of your mouse either from your own computer or from the extensive image library this software has.

Here is how to do it.

Step 1 – You start with the branch you want to add the image, suitably labelled with your key word.

Step 2 – Click on the branch with your left mouse button to bring up the floating branch menu and click on the “add image” icon.

This will bring up the image library.  You will see at the top of the image libray pane, iMindMap has automatically populated the search box with the name of the branch and will automatically bring up images related to that term.  If you just had a blank branch with no keyword, you would have to type in the image you were looking for manually.  This is a really useful time saving feature.

Step 3 – Select the image you want by clicking on it with your mouse.  You will see a blue rectangle appear around the image you have chosen.

Step 4 – Click the insert button at the bottom of the image library pane to add the image you have chosen to your branch.

Step 5 – Position and resize your image around its branch by clicking on it and dragging and dropping it exactly where you want it.  You can resize it by putting you mouse on the small white squares around the image and then dragging them until it is at the required size.

That is how easy it is to add an image to your branch.  There are other ways to access the image library using the menu bar or drop down menus but this is the quickest way to do it.  Try out the other ways to find the one that is the easiest for you.  You will find that even though there are many different ways to add the image, you will end up sticking with just one or two ways of doing it.

If you would like to try this out for yourself, but don’t have the software then you can get a free iMindMap download by clicking on the link below.