Brainmapping exercise
1.
Allow yourself at least 30 minutes to complete this
activity.
2. Get
several clean sheets of paper and several markers of different
colors.
3. In
the center of a page, draw a small picture of your topic. This can
be either abstract or representational and the purpose is to
jump-start creative thinking.
4. To
generate ideas about your topic, start writing key words on spokes
radiating out from the central picture. Write only single words (not
phrases), and keep the lines connected to the central
picture.
5.
Free-associate rapidly and DO NOT CENSOR any idea. Keep writing
constantly, and try to fill the page as quickly as possible. (Start
another page if necessary.)
6. Use
different colors whenever possible.
7.
When you run out of ideas about your central picture, start
associating ideas from the words you've generated.
8.
After you run out of words, look at the results and try to find
patterns and associations between ideas. Draw arrows and use colors
and pictures to connect related ideas.
9.
Redraw your map. Eliminate any extraneous ideas and group related
ideas into some kind of organization. You should now have several
important concepts related to your topic. You might also have a
rudimentary structure for how to present these ideas. You may be
able to generate a series of questions that will need to be answered
during your investigations.
If
your results don't provide a suitable topic, then walk away for a
while. Return later and select one of your new ideas/concepts and
repeat the exercise. Here is a
Visual
demonstration of a brainmapping exercise
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