How to create a stylized, high-impact mind map

Sometimes you want to add a little pizzazz to a report. You don’t want a complex mind map that’s going to potentially confuse the stakeholders to whom you need to share a report. You just want something that’s going to jump off the page, that’s going to command attention AND communicate some useful information, visually. That’s when you may want to consider creating a highly stylized mind maplike the one above. It’s simple, but it packs a lot of visual impact.

In this new Mind Mapping Insiders tutorial, I demonstrate how to create this type of visual map, using SmartDraw VP.

This report is only visible to members of the Mind Mapping Insider program; if you’re a member, please be sure you’re logged in, so you can see the link to the video and its associated resources.

To sign up for the Mind Mapping Insider program, please click here. You’ll open yourself up to a wealth of advanced strategies and techniques that will help you to become a better visual thinker, problem solver and project manager

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A wealth of ways to repurpose your content

Many leading bloggers extol the virtues of “repurposing” your blog’s content – in other words, modifying, expanding or transforming it into a different format to help you expand your influence and thought leadership. But a Google search doesn’t provide a definitive list of the ways in which you can repurpose it, only a collection of articles that each contain a handful of the same ideas.

So I decided to create a comprehensive list (as a mind map, naturally – please click on map image to view a larger version) that you can use to think about your content and how else you can republish it – categorized by format type. This isn’t an all-inclusive list, however. It’s simply the types of content platforms and formats I was able to find in about 30 minutes of research. To make it more complete, I’d like your help:

Please submit your ideas on what I should add to this mind map. I will then publish an updated version of it that includes your contributions.

So please comment below – what’s missing from this mind map?

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Mind map analysis: Visualizing a marketing strategy

For me, this is one of those maps. It features an elegant design that communicates with impact, but doesn’t overwhelm with too much detail or too many adornments. Its content is clear and unambiguous, which makes it possible for anyone to look at it and immediately understand what it means. In this new Effective Mind Maps report, we’ll look at what works well in this excellent mind map, as well as a few areas where it could be improved.

This report is only accessible to Mind Mapping Insider members. Why not make a commitment to make a bigger impact in your life and work? The resources in this program will help you to become a better planner, problem solver and project manager. You’ll triumph over information overload, and discover a clarity that will help you to make better decisions, faster. Sign up today to join the growing group of MMI members who have made selected the option to be more influential and creative in their lives.

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Why be creative in your work?

The benefits, outlined in the mind map above, may surprise you.

Most people are afraid to be creative in their work. Afraid of what others may think. Afraid of making a mistake, promoting the wrong idea, being branded as “weird.” Maybe in the past, creatives didn’t get the respect they ought to. But all that’s changed.

Due to the current economic conditions and a host of other forces buffeting your organization today, its leadership needs your ideas like never before. They’re desperate for people who are willing to step forward and present ideas to solve thorny problems, to see opportunities no one else can even perceive and to generate new products, services and business models that will help your organization to rise above the norm, capturing market share and delighting customers.

If this list, excerpted from Michael Michalko’s excellent creativity book, Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative Thinking Techniques, doesn’t kick you in the butt and get you into creative action, nothing will.

I want to be able to do all of these things. Don’t you?

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Biggest MindMeister upgrade ever closes the gap with desktop mind mapping programs

MindMeister, the innovator in the web-based mind mapping space, continues to advance with the recent release of a major update, which includes a completely redesigned user interface, social sharing of maps created online, new MS Office export capabilities and much more.

Here’s what’s most notable in MindMeister 6:

Redesigned user interface: The first thing you notice when you open a map in MindMeister is that the user interface looks brighter. That’s because the properties panels on the right, which were formerly dark blue, now have a white background color. Also, this panel has been simplified. In the past, it took up the entire right side of the workspace, from top to bottom. Each of 5 sub-panels could be collapsed separately. The redesigned properties panel is now only half as tall, and can be collapsed in a single mouse click, giving you more screen real estate.

Improved notes functionality: One example of how the usability of MindMeister has been improved is the notes panel. In the past, it contained a toolbar, which enabled you to format your notes text. Usability studies must have confirmed that few users did so. As a result, the developers removed it from the panel and instead provided an unobtrusive “advanced” text link – which opens the notes in a much larger pop-over window, complete with a formatting toolbar. Undoubtedly, this also meets the needs of users who didn’t like the tiny text input window of previous versions. This solution meets the needs of novice users, yet gives power users access to more options with a single mouse click – nicely done!

Social sharing: With version 6.0, MindMeister users can now share maps quickly via e-mail, IM and Twitter with a unique link that has been shortened with the application’s new mm.tt link shortner. This was long overdue, considering the growing popularity of social media. You can share maps from either the map editing view or the “my maps” list. In a clever move, the developers consolidated map sharing (inviting people via e-mail to view and/or edit your map) and social sharing (via a shortened link). You need at least a MindMeister Pro account (US$9.95 per month) in order to use this functionality.

Map themes: MindMeister 6 now includes 12 colorful map themes, another feature that was probably long overdue. Almost all mind maps produced using MindMeister have looked the same – a blue central image with with angular connector lines joining topics and subtopics together, topic text on a plain line and a plain white background. Bleh! What a wonder it is to select a professionally-designed map theme, complete with smooth, rounded connector lines, topic box shapes and background colors.  Not only that, but you can click on a “customize map theme” button to further modify the look and feel of your MindMeister maps. With this improvement alone, MindMeister moves the state of the art of web-based mind mapping closer to the experience of using desktop software.

New map exporting options: MindMeister 6 can now export to Word (.docx) and PowerPoint (.pptx) formats. In previous versions, it was possible to share your maps as embedded images, but MindMeister maps were more or less “islands.” You couldn’t easily export their contents to other useful formats for further development and refinement. Now you can. Once again, this is a capability that users of desktop mind mapping software have had for years; it’s nice to see MindMeister making this capability available to users of its innovative web-based application.

Keep-aligned feature: In previous versions, users spent a lot of time dragging and dropping topics to align them with each other. In version 6.0, a new “keep aligned” tool automatically repositions your topics. I tried this on one of my existing right-facing mind maps, which had about 12 topics in moderate disarray, relative to each other. The second I clicked this option, all of the topics jumped into perfect alignment with each other. Not only that, but if I tried to drag one of them out of alignment, it immediately snapped back into position. This tool can be toggled on and off; if you want to have more control over the positioning of your map topics, you can simply switch it off.

MindMeister 6 includes numerous other improvements, which you can read about in the developer’s blog.

It’s great to see a developer listening to its customers and responding with terrific new features and functionality. MindMeister continues to get my recommendation as the top web-based mind mapping application available today.

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