Mind Map Bundle

Alex Faickney Osborn, an American advertising executive first used the term "brainstorming" in 1953. While devising methods for creative problem solving, he came up with the idea of a brainstorming session (originally dubbed a “think up” session) to bring together new and creative ideas.

Brainstorming refers to the general task of generating ideas and doesn’t necessarily require drawing a diagram or mind map. Ideas are written down on large sheets of paper, sticky notes, whiteboard, or flipchart, with the goal of as many ideas as possible.

Tony Buzan, a British psychology author and TV presenter popularized mind maps in 1970s. Buzan made this method of brainstorming, also known as “radiant thinking,” better known. His mind mapping technique was inspired by similar methods used by Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Joseph Donald Novak.

Mind maps enable visual organization of your thoughts to work through complex problems, identify correlations, and see the big picture. They are great tools to organize ideas, thoughts, or concepts and see how they are interrelated. They are especially useful for brainstorming sessions, problem solving workshops, or note-taking. Documenting different ideas associated with a concept and placing them on the mind map also boosts productivity and inspires creativity.

Mind maps are great tools to:

You can create a mind map using any of the templates provided with this bundle. It includes 8 unique designs with each template available in colored as well as black, A4 size and US Letter (32 printables).

There's a template for monthly mind map activity as well as setting goals. Other templates can be used for project plan, business models, product design, strategic thinking, study planning, financial management, brainstorming new ideas,  project kick-off, marketing ideas, outline articles, prepare essays and papers or any other purpose.

Follow these steps to create a mind map:

There are numerous benefits of using mind maps:

Organizing information using mind maps enables easy recall of key ideas and themes. Filtering long content into shorter mind map topics using images, colors, shapes and connections helps our brain process and memorize large amounts of information. By focusing on key ideas written down in your own words and looking for connections between them, you can map knowledge in a way that will help you to better understand and retain information. Research shows that using mind maps to study can boost retention by 10-15%. Small drawings and illustrations also help with memory especially when used as a study aid.

Mind maps enable you to make connections between new and existing ideas. They also help in solving complex problems by breaking down the main idea and structuring it using sub ideas and key points. Adding new ideas to your existing knowledge and organizing them in a mind map strengthens your understanding of the concept thereby making learning fun and easy.

Developing a mind map stimulates your brain which fosters creative flow of ideas. It also enables you to draw ideas and knowledge from different domains which prevents you from getting sucked into linear thinking.

Using a mind map, you can break down large projects into manageable chunks, which makes you plan effectively without getting overwhelmed. Being able to communicate ideas with ease, learn faster, brainstorm complex topics and collaborate effectively saves you tremendous amounts of time thereby enhancing your productivity.

Consider these examples of mind mapping: