Creative mind map ideas and examples to boost productivity.

When creating a mind map, with the main concept as the central idea and different related ideas forming an overall view of the topic, your page can easily become messy. Especially when you have a group of people involved. The best way to ensure different perspectives are considered is to use Adobe Express templates and collaboration tools to ensure everyone can contribute ideas. As people work together to identify relationships and make connections between ideas, a sense of order evolves.

Purpose and benefits of mind mapping.

We all suffer from information overload these days, so it makes sense to use whatever organisational tools are available to help with memory retention and critical thinking. Regularly practising mind mapping can improve your memory, enhance creativity and facilitate better organisation of information. Whether you start with a traditional brainstorming technique – ideas first, discussion later – or take a more organised approach with scripted questions or prompts, it's the organisation phase that brings the benefits. Structuring and linking of creative ideas or concepts into a visual diagram helps people communicate ideas clearly and make better decisions.

Mind maps can be plain and unadorned if you use pencil and paper but when you work online you have additional tools, such as icons, pictures, animation or videos to add context and help your team understand concepts quickly.

Mind mapping for students.

Young learners who are under pressure to complete projects and submit assignments will benefit enormously from learning mind mapping techniques. Mind maps help students clarify ideas, develop critical thinking skills and uncover creative solutions. On a practical level, mind maps can be used to develop essay outlines, plan projects, analyse literary characters, sort notes, explore personal development ideas and even plan a vacation. With free access to fun templates, bright colours, quirky illustrations, and videos or animation for background information, Adobe Express helps students achieve visual clarity across subjects and study methods. And we recognise that students like some fun in their lives, our templates incorporate cute mind mapping ideas as well.

Here's an example of using mind mapping to work out a plan to improve a fundamental skill that will help you achieve success.

Start with a mind mapping template and write the topic in the centre, for example "Improve Public Speaking Skills".

• Create branches for different areas of improvement, such as storytelling, voice projection, stage presence and memorisation.

• List practical steps that will help you improve. They don't have to be in any order at this stage. Consider anything that comes to mind, such as listening to inspiring speakers, practising speaking loudly, reading famous speeches, learning how to structure a story, finding places to practice.

• When you have a few ideas put them under the main sections.

• Link ideas together – for example you can learn how to structure a story by reading famous speeches.

Keep adding and linking ideas and you'll soon have a good set of tasks and steps that will help you improve your public speaking skills.

You can also use mind maps for exam revision notes, exploring study techniques, and group project planning. Set up all your mind maps in Adobe Express and use the collaboration tools to share ideas with fellow students or teachers. Students will also appreciate mobile app availability for on-the-go mind mapping so that they don't have to rely on fixed internet access.

Mind mapping tools.

The only essential tools for mind mapping are a pencil or pen, a surface that you can write on and an eraser. But, in an age when we're all hurried and trying to be efficient, it makes sense to use online tools for mind mapping. Starting with a mind map template immediately saves time and working online lets you incorporate data visualisation charts, illustrations, icons and even infographic videos. Adobe Express facilitates teamwork by making it easy for the whole team to get involved. The app is easy to use so less experienced members of the team will quickly learn how to link ideas, explore concepts and make mind maps visually appealing. Remember, every element of a template in Adobe Express can be customised to make it your own. Use your company colours for a professional look and save your templates to use again and again.

How to make the most of these mind map ideas.

Mind mapping ideas.

Here are some of the best (if slightly unusual) examples of ways that you can use mind mapping.

Learning a new language.

Many people find that visual mind maps help them recall information better. This is a real benefit when learning a new language. And while it might seem counter intuitive to use a visual tool to help with vocabulary, an online mind map where you can use images as well as words is perfect. So, start with one new word – something like hotel if you're going on holiday. Put that in the centre with a picture. Then build up related concepts such as ordering a meal, paying the bill and asking for directions. Add timing (order meals daily, pay the bill only once) and people you'll interact with. Soon you'll have a whole new vocabulary that you can visualise and learn. And with an online mind map on your device, you can practice whenever you have free time.

In Adobe Express, it's easy to edit images and add them to your mind map to facilitate visual learning.

Planning a novel or screenplay.

You'll need a big mind map for this one. But don't worry, you can start with broad concepts and then create mini mind maps for each of your main characters. Start with the end in mind. Write down what the heroine will achieve by the end of the story. Then make note of the obstacles that might prevent her from getting there – these are the branches that form around the central concept. Having these in place will spark new ideas – what characters do you need to overcome the obstacles and where will the action take place. All of this can be mapped out over time. And when you do it online, it's easy to change elements if you see that something's not working. To practice this idea, take a favourite book or film and break it down. Seeing how accomplished writers structure stories and screenplays can help you develop your own skills.

An advantage of doing this sort of mind map in Adobe Express is that you can use our amazing colour themes to convey emotion and photos or illustrations to personify characters.

Making important life decisions.

If you've got a big decision looming – deciding whom to marry, wondering whether to take a new job, or weighing up the pros and cons of moving abroad – a mind map can help clarify your thoughts. But before you tackle a specific question, it would probably help to make a mind map of what you want from life. So, start the central concept of "a happy life" and add branches for your basic priorities: health, happiness and prosperity. Plot out what these things mean to you and add ideas about how you can achieve them. As with any mind map, you can go into a lot of detail or paint a broad picture – it's completely your choice. Once you have your ideas for a happy life mapped out, you can use these as a starting point for evaluating those other important decisions.

More often than not, big decisions are easier when you ask others for input. That's easy to do with the collaboration tools in Adobe Express.

Collaborative mind mapping.

Online mind maps are ideal for collaborative work. They allow teams to work together in real-time and share ideas effectively. Follow the steps below to create a mind map with your colleagues or community group.

• Explore the templates in Adobe Express to find one to use as a starting point.

• Begin with the big idea. What would you like to better understand or organise for yourself or your team? Write that in the middle as the concept you'll be working on. Start with a simple idea like time management techniques or your approach to project management to help everyone learn the basics.

• Invite team members to join the project. This is done easily by sending an email message via Adobe Express.

• Ask everyone to write up subtopics that belong under the umbrella of the main topic but have a specialised or focused element to them. Use colour coding to separate ideas and symbols for easy identification. If you find that circles don't work well, try a hierarchical structure instead.

• Work together to connect subtopics as they relate to one another and continue to build upon the map until you feel that you’ve all gained additional understanding of the topic or concept.

Working on mind maps together gives you a visual representation of ideas under discussion. Real time collaboration has its advantages because it's easy to build on each other's ideas. But we all know that isn't possible with distributed teams. And that's why working in Adobe Express gives you an edge. It caters for both real-time and offline collaboration so it’s perfect for distributed teams. Everything is stored in the cloud so it's not necessary for people to be online at the same time.

If you prefer to maximise the advantages of working together by starting afresh with your mind maps (as you would with a blank whiteboard), open a new project in Adobe Express to begin. Pull in some basic shapes or add in a mental model template as a starting point. These can help fill in background information before the mind mapping exercise.

Once you're done, it's easy to share your strategy mind map with other team members who may have different ideas. Collect feedback via comments and then integrate the ideas generated via the mind map into an overall plan for the team.

Tips for mind mapping.

• Mind mapping tools aren't expensive. When you're looking into mind mapping tools online, comparing different offerings and trying to work out which is best for you, you'll probably notice that many are quite expensive. However, unless you're creating highly detailed mind maps that have to be integrated with other parts of your ecosystem – such as product design software – you should look for helpful templates, extensive customisation options, and collaboration tools rather than tech wizardry. With an Adobe Express free account, you can make as many mind maps as you want, whenever you want. There's no pressure to finish everything within a short trial period because all your projects are stored in the cloud which means you have access from anywhere. All for free.

• Best practices for organising ideas. One of the best things you can do to organise your ideas is to find a system that works for you. And make sure your system is useful, convenient and sustainable. Mind mapping can handle anything from simple ideas like planning a vacation to in depth topics such as developing a one-year school curriculum. The key to organising your ideas during a mind mapping session is to have a clear vision of the main concept. For example, "where should I go on my vacation" and "where's a good place for a vacation" are both subtopics of the vacation concept. So, it makes sense to start with the overall vacation concept rather than the timing or destination. Another useful tip is to not be too concerned with organising ideas when you start. This may sound counter intuitive but it's better to have lots of ideas on the board before trying to link or connect them. And finally, use all the visual aids you have at your disposal. Colours, icons, notes, mind maps, sticky notes, shapes and arrows can all be used to help articulate and organise ideas.

• Advantages of connecting ideas visually. We've all heard it said hundreds of times, "a picture is worth a thousand words" and this is so true in the digital age where nobody has time to read any more. Many people find they can grasp complex concepts more easily by looking at an illustration instead of reading a lot of text. So, mind maps work well for them. And those who prefer written explanations are catered for as well because mind maps include explanations along with the pictures.

• Mind mapping works across industries. Different industries can benefit from mind mapping tools and specific mind mapping templates. For instance, educators might use mind mapping for lesson planning, while project managers can leverage collaboration features when planning tasks and progress. A mind map can complement other visualisation tools such as flow charts and it's easy to incorporate industry-specific icons when you create mind maps in Adobe Express.

• Adobe Express is free to use. Adobe Express provides a free plan that you can start using immediately. Get access to many of the amazing features of the paid plans from Adobe Express for free, including professionally designed templates, Adobe fonts and royalty-free media. See our plans and pricing. Adobe Express is packed full of resources like our amazing blog where we share helpful tips, tutorials, ready-to-use templates and graphic design inspiration for social media, marketing and content creators.