Mind map maker

Because the point is speed, the editor is built so that one drag makes both the next idea and the line to it. Curved connectors keep it feeling like thinking rather than like drawing a diagram.

Where a mind map helps

• Planning an essay, a talk or a piece of writing before you outline it
• Revision, where making the map is most of the learning
• Getting everything out of your head at the start of a project
• Running a brainstorm and keeping the result

Growing a mind map

1. Put the subject in the middle. Keep it to two or three words.
2. Drag a dot from the centre out to empty canvas. A new branch appears, connected, ready to type.
3. Keep going outwards. Sub-branches come off branches the same way.
4. Set the connectors to Curved in the right-hand panel if you prefer the softer look.
5. Give each main branch its own colour so clusters are obvious at a glance.
6. Export a PNG to drop into notes, or an SVG if you want to keep editing it elsewhere.

Getting more out of a mind map

One idea per branch

Short labels force you to decide what you actually mean. A branch that needs a sentence is really several branches.

Colour by theme, not by level

Colour is most useful when it groups related ideas, not when it just repeats how deep in the tree something is.

Do not tidy too early

Get everything down first. Rearranging is one drag per branch afterwards.

Cross-links are allowed

Connect two branches on opposite sides if the ideas relate. That link is often the most valuable thing on the page.

A worked example: planning a talk

Put the talk's title in the centre. Draw four branches for what the audience should leave with, say the problem, what we tried, what worked, and what to do on Monday. Under What we tried, add three twigs, one per attempt, and under each a single word for why it failed.

The map is finished when every twig is one or two words and nothing on it is a full sentence. At that point each first-level branch is a section of the talk and each twig is a slide, which is the real payoff: the structure of the talk falls out of the map instead of having to be invented afterwards.

Mind map questions