#5 in the Effective Mind Maps blog post series

One way to significantly improve the quality of your mind maps and the effectiveness of how they communicate your intended meaning to others is to include a legend in them.

If you frequently share your mind maps with colleagues and coworkers, they may not completely understand the meaning and context of what you’re trying to communicate. That’s because mind mapping lacks a commonly accepted visual vocabulary – a set of de facto standards that governs how mind maps should be constructed, what common icons and symbols mean, and so forth.

A legend in a mind map serves the same function as one does a geographical map: it defines what each symbol and icon means, so that the person reading them can interpret these marks with the proper meaning. In a mind map, legends typically define the meaning of icons or symbols attached to topics. Unfortunately, because most developers of mind mapping software don’t automate the production of legends, most users of these productivity tools don’t realize it’s possible to add them to their maps, or how to create them.

Where should legends be used?

Legends should be used on any map where you are utilizing symbols or icons. This is very important, because your map needs to be immediately understandable by anyone with whom you share it. The meaning of each symbol or icon may have been abundantly clear to you at the time you created your map, but remember: you have the advantage of knowing the entire context of your map, because you’re the one who created it. Others viewing this map may be confused by the meaning of these small graphics and, as a result, may not take away the full meaning that you intended when you added them to your map.

How do you add a legend to your mind map?

Typically, a legend is formatted as a floating topic at the top or bottom of the map; a series of subtopics radiate from it, each one containing an icon or symbol, with the topic text providing the meaning. For best results, I recommend placing the legend above the map, because people tend to read top to bottom, left to right. If the first thing they see looking at your mind map from the top down is the legend, they will fully read it first, which will help them to understand the mind map itself.

When in doubt, include a legend in your mind maps. The people with whom you share them will appreciate it!

#2 in the Effective Mind Maps blog post series

Icons and symbols are small visual elements that you can attach to topics in your mind maps, which add meaning and context to them. These miniature images can be used to depict priority (A/B/C or 1/2/3), types of activities (phone calls, meetings or travel), tasks, and types of information and ideas.

It’s been said that a picture is worth 1,000 words. A symbol or icon, attached to a topic within your mind map, can convey much more meaning and context, which can be quickly understood by your brain. Symbols and icons are also a powerful way to categorize the contents of your map, as explained by Tony Buzan in The Mind Mapping Book:

“Codes enable you to make instant communication between different parts of your mind map, however far apart they may be on the page… For instance, you could use a range of simple codes in all your notes to represent people, projects, elements or processes that frequently recur. Codes reinforce an enhanced categorization and hierarchy to the simple application of colors, symbols, shapes and images. They can also be used to link source material (such as biographical references) to your mind map.”

In many mind mapping programs, icons or symbols can be used to filter the contents of your map to display, for example, only those topics that are marked with a task icon. This makes them a powerful tool for managing the content of large mind maps.

Customizing your icons and symbols

I recommend that you invest some time in exploring the icon and symbol libraries of your mind mapping program. This will spur some ideas on how you can utilize them in future maps. Also, if your needs are specialized and extend beyond the standard set of icons and symbols that ships with your mind mapping program, you may have other options: Some programs enables you to import small images into new, custom icon libraries. For example, MindManager enables you to import icon files in 3 sizes: 16×16 pixels, 32×32 pixels and 128×128 pixels.

Sources of additional icons

There are dozens of sites on the web where you can download free or low-cost collections of icons and symbols for use in your mind maps, including:

• FamFamFam,
• IconFinder,
• IconExperience and
• IconArchive.

Another excellent source is The Noun Project, an open-source collection of over 800 icons in the scalable vector graphic (SVG) format you can download and use. Click here to read my review of it.

The Vector Doodlekit provides a collection of over 700 hand-drawn symbols, which can help to give your mind maps a more organic quality. I reviewed it here. I also list the 6 programs that will allow you to add icons to their libraries (some programs restrict you to only use the collections they provide). Since I published my review of this excellent resource, the developer has launched version 2.0, with inverse versions (white symbols on black background) of all icons, keywords in file names to make it easier to find what you need and free, small bitmapped versions of these symbols that you can use immediately, without messing with high-resolution PNG and SVG files.

Or you can always “roll your own” symbols with an inexpensive icon editing program like IconCool Studio, which provides people who are not design specialists with the ability to quickly and easily create professional-looking icons.

How to use icons and symbols

You should make it a practice to utilize icons or symbols in most, if not all, of your maps, to add color, meaning and clarity and to help you to visually index their contents. What do I mean by this? Let’s take an example: If you designate all of the tasks in a mind map with a checkmark icon, this gives you the abiity to visually scan it and quickly see which items need action.

Another example: Let’s say you have created a mind map of ideas for future consideration. You add numbered icons (1,2,3) or letters of the alphabet (A,B,C) to indicate which are the most valuable, the next most valuable and so forth. Once again, you can visually skim your mind map and isolate those ideas with the highest potential.

But wait – it gets better: Some programs, like Mindjet (formerly MindManager), give you the ability to filter the contents of your mind maps based upon the icons attached to topics. In our previous idea repository example, this would allow you to display only those ideas with a “1″ icon, while hiding everything else. In a large, complex mind map, this type of filtering can come in very handy!

How NOT to use icons and symbols

Don’t incorporate icons into your mind maps unless you also include a legend that explains in a few words what each one means. Just because you understand what a yellow flag means doesn’t mean other people viewing your mind map will be able to figure it out.

Don’t over-use icons and symbols. As with most things, too much of a good thing can diminish the effectiveness of your mind maps. Use them sparingly to emphasize key topics and information in your mind map. Ideally, they should add meaning and context to your map, in addition to providing some much-needed visual interest.

Remember, color and imagery stimulate the brain. So icons and symbols can also make the contents of your map more memorable.

Related posts:

Increase the visual impact of your mind maps with images and color

No offense, but the mind map you recently sent to me really sucks.

It just doesn’t do a very good job of communicating to me what you’re trying to say. The mistakes you made are quite common – a lot of people make them. But I know that, deep down, you have a desire to make your mind maps as clear, effective and impactful as possible. So I hope you’re not too pissed off and will take my advice on how to improve it:

1. It doesn’t have a logical order or “flow” from one topic to the next, or from the parent to the child topics. It just seems to be a jumble of ideas. Perhaps you know in your mind what you meant when you created this visual map, but trust me – it doesn’t translate well to others. You really need to put yourself in the shoes of your target audience (e.g., me!). Who will be viewing this mind map? What level of knowledge can you assume they have about the subject of your map? Choose topic text and organize your topics and subtopics with great care. The burden is on YOU to communicate clearly. That’s always important in any kind of communication, but even more so with mind maps!

2. It’s visually boring. Black and white. No color. Just… dull. After I looked at your mind map, I almost slipped into a coma… The default setting of many mind mapping programs is to produce black and white mind maps. Very businesslike, but not very inspiring. If you’re trying to educate or persuade someone to do something, you need to create some visual interest. Add some color to the branches of your map, in ways that make visual sense and which will direct my eye to the most important elements of it. For example, a topic called “action items” could have a background color of green, because in most cultures, green means “go!” A topic that describes concerns with a project could be colored yellow, which means “caution.”

3. Mysterious images: Several of the images you incorporated into your mind map were hard to figure out. Mainly, I can’t understand what the connection is between them and the topic of your map. Whatever you’re trying to convey with these images, it’s lost on me. If you decide to add images to a mind map, consider carefully who the target audience for it will be. Does the image reinforce and enhance what you’re trying to convey in your topics and subtopics? If not, then don’t use it.

4. Your use of icons was arbitrary. I wasn’t sure why you included them in your mind map. Once again, they may have a certain meaning to you. But I don’t have the advantage of your context when I look at it. Used with care, icons and symbols add meaning and context to mind maps, and help people to visually classify their contents. But these look like they were picked at random and sprinkled randomly on your map’s branches. There’s an easy way to solve this problem: Add a legend to your mind map. That’s a floating topic with subtopics covering each of the icons you’ve used in the map, and a few words on what each one means. Problem solved!

5. Too much text in some of your topics: Some of the topics in your mind map contain a paragraph of text. Seriously? This is a mind map, not a document. Geez! Too much text makes mind maps look cluttered. It’s better to keep all topics to a maximum of 2-3 words, with the rest of your idea formatted as child topics or topic notes. That keeps things tidy, yet your audience is only one click away from being able to view additional detail.

6. Too many boundaries: Each first-level topic of your mind map and its child topics was enclosed in a boundary. What were you thinking? This is confusing to me, because I don’t know where to look first. Boundaries are supposed to be used on a limited basis, to call special attention to one or possibly two branches of your mind map. But you overdid it. When everything is emphasized, nothing stands out. Use. boundaries. sparingly.

7. TMI – too much information: Clearly, your mind map includes some information that I wasn’t meant to see. It may be useful background information for you for this project, but it means nothing to me. Whenever you share a mind map with other people – coworkers, customers, suppliers and others – consider carefully what they need to know and focus your map on delivering only that information and nothing more. Background or supporting information is for your reference. I don’t need to see it. Also, if you send people everything, you may be including some sensitive information that they weren’t really meant to see. You could get fired or seriously reprimanded for that!

The bottom line

When you produce a mind map that you intend to share with other people, don’t just finish it up and send it to them. Take a step back and do this mental exercise: Imagine, for a moment, that you are a representative of the people to whom you will be sending this mind map – let’s say, an important contact at a key customer. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine how they think and feel. Now imagine they’re looking at your mind map. They’ve never seen it before, and don’t really know what it’s about. Will they be able to understand it? What seems to be unclear or potentially confusing? What do I need to explain better? What is the proper amount of detail to share?

If you don’t take this important step, the people to whom you send mind maps are likely to dismiss them out of hand – like I’m about to do with this mess you sent to me.

P.S. In case you haven’t already figured this out yet, I don’t REALLY hate your mind map. I’m just trying to draw attention to poor mind mapping practices, and the antidotes to them.

One way to improve the quality of your mind maps and the effectiveness of how they communicate your intended meaning to others is to include a legend in them.

A legend in a mind map serves the same function as one does a geographical map: it defines what each symbol and icon means, so that the person reading them can interpret these marks with the proper meaning. In a mind map, legends typically define the meaning of icons or symbols attached to topics. Unfortunately, because most developers of mind mapping software don’t automate the production of legends, most users of these productivity tools don’t realize it’s possible to add them to their maps, or how to create them.

Where should legends be used?

Legends should be used on any map where you are utilizing symbols or icons. This is very important, because your map needs to be immediately understandable by anyone with whom you share it. The meaning of each symbol or icon may have been abundantly clear to you at the time you created your map, but remember: you have the advantage of knowing the entire context of your map, because you’re the one who created it. Others viewing this map may be confused by the meaning of these small graphics and, as a result, may not take away the full meaning that you intended when you added them to your map.

How do you add a legend to your mind map?

Typically, a legend is formatted as a floating topic at the top or bottom of the map; a series of subtopics radiate from it, each one containing an icon or symbol, with the topic text providing the meaning. For best results, I recommend placing the legend above the map, because people tend to read top to bottom, left to right. If the first thing they see looking at your mind map from the top down is the legend, they will fully read it first, which will help them to understand the mind map itself.

When in doubt, include a legend in your mind maps. The people with whom you share them will appreciate it!