What is mind mapping?

Learn all about mind mapping and the benefits of mind mapping in Ayoa

Mind mapping is a visual thinking method used to help capture information, improve memory, organize and brainstorm, or brainsprint, ideas. It is a graphical diagram centered around a topic, combining keywords, colour and images to help trigger associations in the brain to spark further ideas. This tool has been used worldwide for a variety of tasks and is proven to boost both productivity and creativity. 

How can Mind Mapping improve your project and task management?

The ideation stage of a project is vital to it's progression down the line. Before being able to complete tasks you want to make sure you're getting started on the right track, so that when it comes down to it, you're creating the right tasks. 

Mind mapping is the perfect tool for expanding your mind and exploring thought. It can be especially effective for overcoming those frustrating creative blocks that we all experience.

Give yourself a break from looking at linear lists and use mind mapping for a fresh perspective on your work. The unique experience of mind mapping can greatly energise your motivation and inspire new ideas!

Not only does mind mapping unleash your creativity, but it will allow you to find clarity among an array of thoughts. Creating map branches to indicate clear themes will help to split your map into manageable segments that are easy to read, organise and develop.

What is mind mapping within Ayoa?

Ayoa is supporting your project life cycle from the very beginning. Although meeting your end goals is important, how you go about creating your goals in the first place is key. 

The opportunity to collaborate on mind maps in real-time ensures no ideas, big or small, are missed and can be developed to their fullest potential before being actioned into tasks. Idea generation is at the tip of your fingers, whether you're working together in a meeting or remotely half way across the world from your colleagues. Underpinned by time management and task assignment features, Ayoa is a one-stop project management tool with particular focus on creating and developing ideas.

With a sleek and professional interface, Ayoa's mind mapping is quick and easy to use! 

Your first mind map

To begin creating a mind map, you will first need to know the key elements; The central idea, branches, keywords, colours and images. 

Your central idea represents the topic that your map is going to cover. This is the starting point where your ideas will grow from. Within Ayoa, you can adjust the size and shape of your central idea to focus attention. Adding an image that reflects your topic will help you to find further associations for you to add to your map. In Ayoa, you can even hide the text leaving only the image visible to let it take centre stage on your canvas.

Next are your branches, where you will highlight the key areas of your topic. From these, you can create child branches to add further detail. 

On each of your branches there could be a keyword to trigger associations, sparking further ideas. It is far more effective to use one or two keywords per branch to maximize the number of associations rather than using long phrases. By using singular keywords the mind  maps become the perfect tool for problem solving, decision making and digesting complicated information in bite sized chunks. 

Colour coding your branches will allow you to categorise, highlight, analyse information and identify even more connections!

Adding images to your mind map will not only make your map more visually appealing, they will also help to convey complex information that the brain can instantly process.

Following these steps will ensure you build an effective mind map, boost your thinking and fuel your creative problem solving!

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