Sunday, March 22, 2009

Emphasis by Directionality …

As I have made many presentations using mind mapping, one of the things that I think that can help with the visual presentation is to use formatting by directional propagation of ideas as a means to provided emphasis to the picture.

Let me give you an example of this concept … this first diagram is a map created by Mindmanager 8 in the usual organic formatting  style that is inherent in all mind mapping products.  This map is meant to convey several elements 3-22-2009 7-40-57 PMthat are distinct but related as shown on the diagram … if you look at the center, this is the title or the main idea … feeding the concept are ideas that gave birth to the title and that are shown by the two branches on the right (Idea I & II).  The main idea needs implementation and this gives rise to the Metrics we will use to measure success and the various projects that the idea will spawn … I default to 3 items as I find that is really the conceptual sweet spot.  The last branch is Supporting Ideas and examples … in a presentation this makes great sense and you can follow the idea flow and go for it …. BUT …

Take a look at a reorganization of the ideas by simply taking the directionality of the branches and the way you 3-22-2009 7-38-38 PMdistribute the information on the document … you now have the same information but formatted in a visually appealing style that allows for almost instant recognition of the flow and emphasis in the document … 

This one works for me and I love sharing things that may enable better use of our basic tools … hope this gives you ideas …

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