So last week we seen the first 5 rules for great mind maps. Here's a quick review:

1. Always use a central image
2. Add a background for extra punch
3. No sentences please
4. Keep your mind maps DRY
5. No branch lists

Let's not hang about and see what the next 5 are!

6. Use different colours

What do mind maps do? They convey information, but they do it in a visual way that linear notes can never do. A way to emphasize this is to use different colours in your mind map.

Colours not only convey if branches are grouped together or belong to one another, but they can also convey other things. Heat, cold, envy, anger, relaxation, stop and go are all things that can be conveyed using a colour.

Not only does colour help convey information, but it can set a mood for your mind map that makes it more interesting than a page of black and white text.

7. Use different fonts

Remember those whacky superimposed words from the 60's Batman TV series that appeared every time there was a fight scene? Right, I might be reaching back a bit, but it's a great example of how a change of font can convey something different. The same idea can be applied to your mind maps.

Using different fonts, you can convey emotions, emphasis and more.

Fonts are under-used in most mind maps I see. Users simply stick to the defaults supplied with their mind mapping software and don't do anything else. These defaults are sometimes only slight variations of the same font.

To make things easier, find out if your favourite mind mapping application allows you to setup your own fonts for each different level in your mind map. Experiment with different fonts and try a different font for each level of branches on your mind map.

8. Link it up

If there's one thing that software mind maps do well, it's interaction with the outside world. Today's mind mapping applications almost all have the ability to link to resources on the Internet.

The great thing about this is that you can provide reference material and background material to your mind maps using links to these types of material on the Internet.

Interacting with mind maps is a great way to get a user involved in your mind map, so don't forget to link up your mind map where and when you can!

9. Create a legend

If you're publishing a mind map for a wider audience then you need that audience to understand the mind map quickly and easily. To do this we make extensive use of colour, fonts and even map markers to convey our ideas and thoughts in a way that is easy for our audience to consume.

The problem we can face here is that not everyone's interpretation of a mind map is the same. The majority of people will agree on the message in the mind map, but there are some who still might end up missing the message in our mind map. Enter the legend!

Traditionally, legends are a way of describing the symbology of a map. Similar to maps, we use map markers in mind maps to add contextual information to our branches. If the map markers you are using in your mind map are open to interpretation, then why not add them to a legend with a short description of what each of the map marker means.

This will clarify the message in your mind map and allow for more people to consume your mind map in the way that you originally intended.

10. Group your thoughts with boundaries

Sometimes we need group ideas under a theme or topic. This is easy really, create a parent branch for the theme and add our ideas to the parent branch as sub-branches. What do you we do when we need to group ideas further though?

Boundaries are common feature now in mind mapping software. Quite simply they are a way of adding a border to a group of branches in our mind map. The great thing about boundaries is that they can indicate if a group of branches are important or need special attention.

So there you have it, my 10 rules for great mind maps is complete! Are there any additional rules you would add to the list that help you create great mind maps? Let us know in the comments below.

Happy mind mapping!

Mind mapping with software is such a great time saver over hand drawn mind maps, but sometimes we take things for granted and our software mind maps suffer due to a lack of input from our part.

In order to help you produce consistently great mind maps using your favorite mind mapping application, I've put together 10 simple rules that will steer you in the right direction.

1. Always use a central image

Mind mapping software makes lots of things easier than using paper mind maps, but probably none more than adding or changing your central image. Checking out the majority of public mind maps on the web, it's sad to see that many of them don't utilitise this feature in their mind maps more.

With a number of free image libraries and out there, it's hard not to see why more people aren't including a central image in their own mind maps. Even the Google Image and Flickr search allows you to search for images that are free to re-use and publish.

So have a scout about and see what you can find.

2. Add a background for extra punch!

How many mind maps do you see online that have a stark white background? Probably lots, but why not have something more interesting there in order to make your mind map pop out more?

Mind mapping software today has some great features, but one that is common amongst most of them is the ability to change the background. As I mention in my post about dimensions, texture can be an important aspect of your mind map and having a different background can really set your mind map apart.

Web designers have lots of free backgrounds that they share for other designers to use, so why not use these as backgrounds for your mind maps?

3. No sentences please!

Mind mapping laws state that each branch should only use keyword per branch. So why are seeing whole sentences and questions in mind maps?

With mind mapping software, the temptation is always there to simply keep on typing. Stop!

Just because you can do this doesn't mean you should. Instead start getting into the habit of using 1 or 2 keywords per branch. This will make your mind map better to recall and also stop it from spreading out too far horizontally.

4. Keep your mind maps DRY

Recently I seen a mind map of a meeting agenda on a public mind mapping site. In the central topic the author put the name, date and time of the meeting. Then in a separate branch they entered the same information. If you already have the meeting information, why duplicate it?

A popular acronym amongst programmers is DRY which means "Don't Repeat Yourself". This acronym encourages programmers to re-use existing code they have written in their software project so that they have less to maintain and test.

For mind mappers the same rules apply. Repeating yourself in your mind map is simply duplicating the same information over again. The downside to this is that you're using up space in your mind map that could be used for something another idea or thought. Space counts in any mind map you produce so it makes sense to re-use existing branches in your mind map.

To re-use branches, link similar branches with relationships to indicate that two branches are related on the same topic. Just about all mind mapping software lets you create relationships between branches, yet it is something that is sometimes over looked when creating a mind map.

5. No branch lists!

Ever seen a mind map where a branch contains more than 20 topics in a single level under a single branch? At this stage the alarm bells should be ringing. You're now creating a standard list which goes against the core idea of mind maps, radiant thinking.

As easy as it is to do this in mind mapping software, it's not something that should be encouraged. Mind maps are flexible yes, but when you create a branch like this, then your not utilising the full potential of mind maps and it's organic structure.

If you have a list such as this, then try and break it down further into smaller branches. Try grouping your list under different branches so that you never have more than 5 or so items on the same level under a single branch. Mind mapping is all about radiant thinking and to aid our thought process we need to maintain an organic structure in our mind map. Smaller groups of branches are also easier to consume and manage than a big list.

Well that's it for the first part of my 10 rules for great mind maps. Next week we'll look at my last 5 rules for great mind maps. In the meantime, happy mind mapping!

On the Systems Wiki blog, I read an interesting article regarding a new contextual analysis feature in the online mind mapping service, Comapping. What this feature does is analyze an attached document or URL and creates new branches in your mind map using keywords extracted from the document or URL.

This is an extremely helpful feature for information gathering, but I can't help wonder on the dangers of allowing technology to make these decisions for you, and especially when it comes to a thought process like mind mapping.

Everyday Decision Making

Everyday we allow technology to make decisions for us and influence our decisions. Probably the biggest decision maker today is the search engine. From millions of articles and references on the Internet it decides which results would be the best fit for the query you have entered.

This is okay for things that are clearly impossible for a single human to do, but when it comes to analysing a document or website then use these forms of automation with caution. For example, you don't always assume that the first post returned from a search engine is the best fit do you? Of course not!

Mind Mapping is Your Thought Process

You see, mind mapping is a process of getting information from one place to another. Part of this process is deciding on which information is important to you and should be included in your mind map.

As a long time mind mapper, I have taken a number of different sources of material and mind mapped the information that was important to me. Each time I did this, I made decisions that would be of benefit to me. Some of these decisions were made based on emotion or irrational thoughts. Can a machine make such decisions? Of course not.

Always Review

Tools that automate processes for us are great when we tell them exactly what to do, but when those processes employ a form of decision making in your mind maps, take some time to do a review.

If your software application employs such automation and returns 5 keywords from a business proposal, don't automatically assume those are the right keywords.

Scan the document yourself, and compare the keywords you have extracted with the keywords your mind mapping software has extracted.

You'll more often than not, create similar lists, but there might just be an important piece of information that your mind mapping software has missed.

What do you think? Is the process of information gathering for your mind map something you would rather do, or are you quite happy to delegate this process to your mind mapping software? I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

It was interesting to read Chuck's post about the iPad being a game changer for mind mapping software. Exciting times are ahead for mind mapping software, but what is so exciting about the next generation of mind mapping software?

10 years ago mind mapping software was truly innovative software that could be used for a number of things, but it never felt as easy to use as pen paper.

However, fast forward 10 years and I'm still seeing limitations on mind maps that I saw 10 years ago. Too many mind mapping applications still adhere to the horizontal display of branches. It seems that while we get all these great new features, we still need to limit ourselves on the way our mind maps look.

The mind mapping software that has broken this mould however is iMindMap. Its ability to draw branches with keywords at any angle you want means you get more freedom with your mind map. This is something that any next generation of mind mapping software should offer.

But why stop there? With the iPad, software makers should be envisioning the iPad as a smart piece of paper. Don't like the mind map you're working on, shake the iPad to remove all your branches and start again. Moving branches, could be as simple as dragging those branches with your finger. There are just so many more options with device that knows when it's being moved or touched.

With a device such as the iPad, we will have a more natural device for creating mind maps. Instead of fiddling with a mouse, we can rely on simple hand gestures and the use of the iPad's accelerometer to allow us to mind map in a more natural way.

It will be interesting to see how the mind mapping software market plays out over the next couple of years and to see how innovative software makers will be, harnessing the the gesture features of devices such as the iPad.

For me, the best mind mapping software will be the one that gives complete and unrestricted control over my mind map. It's why I started mind mapping with pen and paper in the first place anyway!

In the last few weeks, I've been reviewing a number of software mind maps online and I've noticed a pattern with some mind maps (and including my own!). Some mind mappers are not taking advantage of the features in their mind mapping software and utilizing those features to produce better mind maps.