Boost Your Creative Thinking With 3D Mind Mapping
A quick guide for utilizing Virtual Reality to transform the way we think.
The first method that pops up in search results for “creative thinking techniques” is mind mapping. Creative thinkers should be reasonably familiar with the concept. Still, for anyone who has never created a mind map, mind mapping is a visual thinking tool meant to break the linear thought process¹. Instead, it separates information and ideas into webs that expand from broad themes to specific details.
How To Mind Map for Creative Thinking:
Let’s cover the foundational steps to creative, effective mind maps. Grab a piece of paper and pencil, or open a blank page on your go-to creative software (such as Sketch):
- Pre-mapping: Clearly define and establish what you are solving or creating. If you don’t have a crystal clear understanding of what you are mind mapping, it can lead to problems in your solutions down the road.
- Summarize the idea that you are creating a mind map for and add it to the center of your page. You can use anything from a single word to a full sentence.
- Brainstorm keywords or ideas that relate to your central theme that you want to expand upon or explore. Draw a line from the central idea in any direction and add individual thoughts as they come to you.
- Continue branching off individual ideas/themes/points on your mind map until you have explored all areas of your main idea and see a connected structure or “map” of your thoughts. There aren’t any rules about how much or what to write down in this form of mind mapping. As long as it is a part of your creative thinking process, jot it down!
Here are the base concepts² of a mind map:
There is no doubt that mind mapping is an essential tool for creative thinkers, but how can this technique be enhanced?
The answer: Virtual Reality!
Mind Mapping with VR:
Virtual Reality is a rapidly growing technology that has more practical applications to its uses than ever before. For anyone unfamiliar, virtual reality creates simulated 3-Dimensional environments that immerse the user in the experience using a headset and controllers to explore the world around them³.
By transforming the 2D mind map into a 3D experience, you can surround yourself with your ideas by creating “thought neighborhoods”, tangible representations of your thoughts, and interactive spaces to think. This technique is advantageous for visual learners and creators.
There are several options to choose from when it comes to what software to use, but any VR drawing application would be suitable for creating 3D mind maps. While there may be a slight learning curve to the software, you only need to know the basics for our uses. Most VR drawing applications and the maps you create should be lightweight enough to run on even the lowest tiers of standard VR systems that offer the applications.
Immersive Maps
Start by opening a new project in your VR Drawing software and choose an environment. There are different options based on the software you choose, but the most effective mind mapping backgrounds should be highly contrasting against the pen colors, so they are easy to read from various distances.
Once you’ve taken a look around and gotten a bearing for your VR surroundings, start by creating a flat surface perpendicular to you to write on. The best way to do this is by expanding a rectangular polygon tool and writing on the polygon’s plane. If you find yourself needing more room, elements are easily expandable and shrinkable.
Once you have your first collection of thoughts, group them to be moved and edited as a single piece and decide where it will live in our environment!
You can create domes that cascade over you or around you, or even just walls of text with the groups you make.
There is no right or wrong way to create a mind map in VR, but the two primary ways are:
Free Hand — Similar to freehanded 2D mind maps, use the pen tool to design the entire mind map. Draw circles around main themes, connect thoughts and highlight ideas by hand.
Structured — Similar to using online software to create mind maps, use the polygon tool to make dots at each point, and connect them using straight edge or polygon tools.
Mind map using the technique that works best for you!
Thought Neighborhoods
While conventional mind mapping is a great tool, maps can become messy and overcrowded, and thoughts can get lost in the webs. This is where my concept of the “thought neighborhood” comes in. A thought neighborhood can be thought of as an area on your VR mind map plane dedicated to a particular theme, thought, or direction that branched off of your central thought that has become its own map. So when you take a step back from your initial mind map and want to add new related maps, break the main map into sub-maps, or want to organize your ideas into your top few options, give it its own space that you can expand upon in greater detail.
Not only does this add more depth to your virtual mind map, but you also create thought bubbles that you can physically walk through, look up and around at, and build-out.
You can give these neighborhoods their own themes to further immerse yourself in the creative thinking process and inspire new ideas. You can make these as relevant or irrelevant as you feel, as long as your creating thinking gears are churning! For example, if you are brainstorming ideas for a book you are writing, you can create thought neighborhoods for individual characters. Mind-map their personalities, story arcs, physical attributes, etc. Import drawings, pictures, or concepts you have outside of VR or create 3D sketches that capture the character you are building.
Take it a step further and take advantage of VR's technology to create a forest that towers over you or build an underwater ecosystem to mind map in. Having small creative breaks from your main work can help to spark new ideas and prevent exhaustion.
Tangible Ideas
Adding the element of a third dimension to words, doodles, and maps can open new possibilities to how you think about them. Being able to walk around something, pick it up and move it, or shrink and expand things transforms your thought process into something (nearly) tangible.
Try using the different tools available within the VR drawing software to bring your ideas to life. For example, in Tilt Brush, you can write and draw with pencils, inks, paints, but you can also use animated brushes such as vibrant lightning strikes, wiggling lines, bubble streams, etc.
Use polygons and 3-D shapes to create entire objects such as trees, houses, characters, etc., to develop larger-than-life-sized representations or mini-model-sized creations.
Collaboration in Mind Mapping
How can we take this even further? While mind mapping is a fantastic tool for the individual creative thinker, the best way to improve a mind map is to continue expanding it. Diverse thoughts and perspectives are a crucial component in creating the best possible solution or idea possible. For many of us who find ourselves working in a team setting, whether on a school project or your team at work, collaborative mind maps can allow you to think about and expand upon ideas you may have never thought of. Some VR drawing applications allow multiple users to create and draw in a “multiplayer” mode.
Try It Out
Whether you are trying to find a solution to a business problem, creating a new mobile app, or even planning an essay, try taking your creative thinking to the next level by creating a VR mind map.
If you are interested in learning more about mind mapping, VR, or VR drawing applications, check out these great resources:
How to Use Mind Mapping for Better Thinking by Rafiq Elmansy. Designorate, 04/21/2015
Virtual Reality 101 by Nick Pino. Techradar, 06/13/2020
Tilt Brush Tutorial Playlist by Google AR & VR
[1]: Warren Lynch, 03/29/2019. Mind-Map — A Practical Tutorial With 30 Examples https://medium.com/@warren2lynch/mind-map-a-practical-tutorial-with-30-examples-b248d543ca8a
[2]: Jessica Greene. Get Inspired With These 13 Mind Map Examples https://www.mindmeister.com/blog/mind-map-examples/
[3]: Joe Bardi, 03/26/2019. What Is Virtual Reality https://www.marxentlabs.com/what-is-virtual-reality/
