February 6, 2013

Concept Mind Mapping and Idea Clusters

   On wednesday, one of the important things that I picked up from class was the statement that "over-thinking can prevent ideas from having space to emerge." As an artist, a designer, and let a alone a cancer sign in astrology, it's in our nature to OVER-THINK! We over-think everything, over analyze, over criticizes and scrutinize. But it's a thin line when you try not to over-think things when we are programmed to really look deep into a subject critically in the art world.
   In class we watched a simple video about Idea Creations by Paul Foreman. The video showed us how he goes about creating his ideas with mind mapping techniques and idea clusters. Foreman used simple phrases and doodles to express his ideas quickly. I think this method of organizing ideas works great for putting your ideas out there quickly so that you have more concepts to choose from. It's like discovering by sketching. Same goes with gesture drawings when you quickly put your drawing on paper, it increases your drawing skills when you do slow down and start to create. After the video we drew our own little mind map from three choices that Jimmy gave us: 1.) Alien's in your bed, 2.) You win the lottery, 3.) Trade places with anyone from anytime. I chose option 3 and I trade places with a cave women from 3000 BCE! It was fun to get my ideas on paper. I started my mapping with where this cave lady was from, what she wore, and what she did for a living. I then branched out from there. I will try this mind map with my next creative process and keep you updated :)