<p><b>Combining the Mind Map Technique with the Creativity Triggers Technique.</b></p><p>The novelty of The Better Mind Map is in the <b>custom triggers</b> tailored to a specific challenge. It is a template that provides structure for your early thinking  and customizable to suit your purposes.</p>

The Better Mind Map

<ul><li>Write your <b>design challenge</b> or <b>problem</b> in the center of a <b>blank piece</b> of paper and <b>circle</b> it. </li><li>Add the following five <b><i>Topic Areas</i></b> around the central challenge: <b>User needs, Inspiration, Constraints, Commercial drivers, Service design triggers</b>.</li><li>In the <b>Service design triggers Area</b>, Pick 3 triggers from <b>Entertainment, Simplified/light, Adaptable, Economical, Integrated, Durable.</b><br></li><li><b>Consolidate</b> what you know about each topic area into 3 triggers each.</li></ul>

How The Better Mind Map works

From your mind map:<br><ul><li>Divide a piece of paper into <b>six</b> sections.</li><li>Dedicate each section to a sketched idea, based on a <b>single trigger</b> from your Better Mind Map<br></li></ul>

Sketching ideas

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<p>For many years I've used mind mapping&#8202;-&#8202;a simple, effective method for thinking through a problem and organising thoughts. It's an incredibly useful technique, and couldn't help but wonder if it could be used to introduce some structure to the messy process of coming up with ideas. So when it was time to do my masters dissertation, I set out to explore this possibility.</p>
<h3>A bit of context</h3>
<p>I'm a User Experience Designer, which means I design how software works. It's my job to understand the end users (a geeky word for customers), the business goals, and what's possible with the software technology to design a solution that makes it fit real people. To do this, there are a few things I will do to set myself up for success when I begin a project:</p>
<ul>
	<li>Clarify and reframe the design challenge or problem</li>
	<li>Conduct upfront research to empathise with end users</li>
	<li>Understand relevant trends</li>
	<li>Identify out of category inspiration</li>
</ul> 
<p>This is a lot of stuff to think through and I felt as if I might not be making the best use of all this information. I also thought perhaps it was just me&#8202;-&#8202;but as I interviewed other designers for my dissertation research, I found they were having the same trouble I was. All of us could be better about how we make consistent use of the information we are so careful to collect, especially in the critical phase of idea generation.</p>
<h3>Improving on the traditional mind map</h3>
<p>A traditional mind map (notes or ideas connected with lines in a freeform, organic structure) is excellent for visually thinking through topics and relationships. The beauty of a mind map is in the flexibility to support many different use cases. For example, a mind map is great for brainstorming what is known about a particular topic or idea, noting down thoughts connected to the central topic.</p>
<p>The Better Mind Map is different to a traditional mind map as it was developed specifically for organising information to inform generating ideas. The Better Mind Map summarises considerations for a particular design challenge on a single page, and rather than random associations, there five suggested topic areas to consider.</p>
<p>Remember those things I do before begin a project? These are also consistent with what designers across creative industries do and they form the basis for the suggested topic areas. By considering these key topic areas in the Better Mind Map, you can be confident in widening your thinking. In design, we call this idea "divergence"&#8202;-&#8202;a fancy way of saying considering a variety of ideas.</p>
<h3>Adding structure to spur creativity</h3>
<p>In my experience as a consultant, I've often felt that there is an opportunity to be more creative. Of course many effective creativity techniques exist, but I have had trouble applying them in my projects, whether it be due to short timeframes, lack of skilled facilitation or trying to persuade others. I was motivated to find a simple way to introduce creativity in a way that is adaptable and easy to use within an existing process.</p>
<p>The Creativity Triggers technique is a personal favourite of mine, spurring a new flow of ideas based on questions or keywords. For example, a trigger might be, "durable"&#8202;-&#8202;how can I make my solution more durable or long lasting? Through this simple trigger, I am encouraged to think about my problem from a new angle and come up with a new set of ideas.</p>
<p>In my own work, I've found Creativity Triggers to be very useful, and I had a hunch that combining the mind map technique with triggers could be cool.</p>
<h3>Without further ado, I give you The Better Mind Map</h3>
<p>Now that you've got a bit of context, let's discuss how to use The Better Mind Map. The novelty this technique is in the custom triggers tailored to a specific challenge. In other words, it's a template that provides structure for your early thinking&#8202;-&#8202;and it's customisable to suit your purposes.</p>
<p>Here's how it works...</p>
<h4><strong>Step 1</strong></h4>
<p>Write your design challenge or problem in the center of a blank piece of paper and circle it. Let's use an example challenge from <a href="https://challenges.openideo.com/challenge/future-of-highered/impact">OpenIDEO</a>: reimagine higher education for the needs of all learners. Check out a page from my notebook below:</p>
<h4><strong>Step 2</strong></h4>
<p>Add the following five topic areas around the central challenge, just I've done in the image below for the OpenIDEO challenge.</p>
<ul>
	<li>User needs</li>
	<li>Inspiration</li>
	<li>Constraints</li>
	<li>Commercial drivers</li>
	<li>Service design triggers</li>
</ul> 
<h4><strong>Step 3</strong></h4>
<p>Consolidate what you know about each topic area into triggers (one or two keywords), three triggers for each topic area is optimal.</p>
<p>The keyword format of the triggers is important for ease of reference. Try to keep them simple and short so that it is easy for you to review when you are coming up with ideas. I'll use the OpenIDEO example again to explain how this process works for each trigger:</p>
<h4><strong><em>User needs</em></strong></h4>
<p>Who is your user? In this case we could think about it from the student, teacher, or even educational institution point of view.</p>
<p>In this example, I chose to focus on the student, who might need mentoring, financial accessibility, high quality education, customisation, and training. If you're an advocate of the User-Centred Design process (like me) this should come from research with your end users.</p>
<h4><strong><em>Inspiration</em></strong></h4>
<p>Looking at similar or completely different services is a great way to stretch thinking and borrow good ideas from other industries.</p>
<p>When considering educational models, Lynda is an excellent example of remote learning which could inspire ideas related to remote access. Thinking about inspiration outside of education, the culture and environment of companies who embrace play and encourage creativity like Google and IDEO could be an interesting angle to view the problem. My third trigger in this category references Bauhaus, a design school embracing the arts and crafts approach of the early 1900s designing nice stuff from cheaper materials.</p>
<h4><strong><em>Constraints</em></strong></h4>
<p>Are there any known boundaries you should be thinking about?</p>
<p>In our higher education challenge it is important that is accessible for all users, possibly accessed anywhere. How might we think about that access?</p>
<h4><strong><em>Commercial drivers</em></strong></h4>
<p>More than likely there are some business goals which are relevant to your challenge.</p>
<p>The triggers for the higher education challenge include making money (of course colleges and schools still need to make money somehow), competition for quality, and employability&#8202;-&#8202;students want to leave their education with the skill-set and portfolio to get a job.</p>
<h4><strong><em>Service design triggers</em></strong></h4>
<p>This is where the technique of Creativity Triggers fits into the Better Mind Map. Rather than coming up with your own triggers in this category, I ask that you choose three from a set of six pre-determined triggers. These six triggers are based on positive qualities of innovative products and services, summarised below (check out the <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7765509/?reload=true">research</a> here).</p>
<ul>
	<li>
<strong>Entertaining</strong>: extend your solution with a feature that makes it fun or captivating</li>
	<li>
<strong>Light</strong>: try to simplify your solution, to make its structure slighter, more lightweight</li>
	<li>
<strong>Adaptable</strong>: can you replace multiple products with one adaptable product?</li>
	<li>
<strong>Economical</strong>: try to update your solution so that it consumes less resources</li>
	<li>
<strong>Complete</strong>: make your solution more integrated, more comprehensive</li>
	<li>
<strong>Durable</strong>: find a feature that makes your solution durable, long-lasting</li>
</ul> 
<p>In the OpenIDEO example, I have chosen to think about the problem through the lens of the triggers "light," "durable," and "entertaining."</p>
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For many years I've used mind mapping - a simple, effective method for thinking through a problem and organising thoughts. It's an incredibly useful technique, and couldn't help but wonder if it could be used to introduce some structure to the messy process of coming up with ideas.

The Better Mind Map: a quick technique to organise thinking and boost creativity