Mind Maps Are Just Outlines in Radial Form

Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 2:45 pm. 0 comments

Okay, so it’s not that big of a leap, I guess, but I stumbled across Tony Buzan talking about the miracle that is mind mapping (not), and as I watched, I couldn’t help but think that it’s just a well marketed and not so interesting variation on an outline. Do curvy lines help with information? Um, that’d be a no. Go ask Tufte and he’ll give you a whack upside the head (or a failing grade) if you have anything in your information design that is not contributing to the comprehension. If the thickness and curviness of the lines is conveying information, then great! But if it’s just because “the brain likes curves”, then stop kidding yourself - it’s chartjunk.

I often use MS Word to do outlining. I’ve got a simple generic template for MS Word that I use, and you can use tab and shift-tab to move sections in and out. Well, most of the time. Sometimes things get mucked up if you hit tab in the middle of a line. Try highlighing an entire line or three and hitting tab, or having your cursor at the beginning of a line.

Anyways, I tend to brainstorm project ideas, requirements, designs, anything, in outline form. And then everything is numbered, easy to move around, copy, paste, edit, delete. And now, I feel so proud that I’ve been doing mind maps all along! I don’t need any new-fangled online mindmap tools! MS Word, for me thanks! Or Google Docs does just fine, too, actually, if you don’t want to spend any buckage.