• Dr Buzan’s Mind Mapping Laws

  Filed under Barristers, General, Law Lecturers, Law Students, Practising Lawyers, Trial Lawyers
  Jan 28
  

  The Mind Maping Laws

  As mentioned in previous posts, the genius who codified the concept of mind mapping was Dr Tony Buzan.  

  After some tweaking and improvement over time, Dr Buzan has created a set of rules for mind mapping that he deems to be the most effective way of communicating with your brain. I must admit, I can’t disagree with him … for the most part.  

  Now let me be totally frank here. I said “for the most part” but you do need to take into account that Dr Buzan is the true genius behind mind mapping … so I strongly recommend that you read his book, “The Mind Map Book” [1]. Having said that, I will suggest that a few things have changed since Dr Buzan first codified his mind mapping rules that these changes have made it so much easier to follow his laws and, therefore, it may be time to update the laws through the support of guiding rules. More on this in my next post when I reveal, what I have termed, the “SimCAMM Rules”.  

  Dr Buzan’s Mind Mapping Laws

  First, in this post, let’s look very briefly at Dr Buzan’s laws. In summary, they are [2]:  

  • TECHNIQUES:
    • Use emphasis:
      • always use a central image;
      • use images throughout your Mind Map;
      • use three or more COLOURS per central image;
      • use dimension in images and around words;
      • use synaethesia (the blending of the physical senses);
      • use variations of size of printing, line and image;
      • organised spacing;
      • use appropriate spacing;
    • Use association:
      • use arrows when you want to make connections within and across the branch pattern;
      • use COLOURS;
      • use codes;
    • Be clear:
      • use only one Key Word per line;
      • print all words;
      • print Key Words on lines;
      • make line length equal to word length;
      • make major branches connect to the central image;
      • connect lines to other lines;
      • make the central lines thicker;
      • make your boundaries ‘embrace’ your branch outline;
      • make your images as clear as possible;
      • keep your paper placed horizontally in front of you;
      • keep your printing as upright as possible; and
    • Develop a personal style; and
  • LAYOUT:
    • Use hierarchy; and
    • Use numerical order. 

  It’s not that hard

  At first glance the above list of laws may seem complex and difficult to follow. However, once you start using them and mind mapping correctly, they are not at all difficult to apply and the result is incredibly powerful.  

  In addition – and here I step out on a limb – you don’t have to comply with every law in every mind map to gain major benefits from mind mapping. Better still, if you use the right computer software, most of the important laws are taken care of for you, leaving you to concentrate on rapidly recording the content and rearranging your mind map as necessary to get the most value from it.  

  Look out in the next few posts where I’ll cover the ONE BIG CHALLENGE to mind mappers, particularly if you’re a lawyer or law student.  

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  [1] “The Mind Map Book” by Tony & Barry Buzan, BBC Active, 2006

  [2] Buzan 2006, at pp86-96. The book covers numerous important topics related to mind mapping and you are strongly encouraged to read the entire book yourself … and even mind map its contents.

  Tagged as: Dr Buzan, law student, mind map, mind mapping, mind mapping rules, mindmap, mindmapping, Tony Buzan
  
  1 Comment

One Response to “Dr Buzan’s Mind Mapping Laws”

1. 

   oliver caviglioli said on February 14th, 2010 at 7:30 PM

   I have just read an article about how university students now find studying very hard because of their ‘associative’ thinking, developed through years of clicking on the web with hypertext links. It may well be quick, exciting and explorative but it is not organised. Therefore it is difficult to make the next stage to formulating it all into knowledge. Knowledge is publicly organised bits of information requiring hierarchical categorisation. And that’s exactly what this Buzan-oriented approach to mind mapping misses out. Yes, there is a mention of Basic Ordering Ideas, but it is very poorly and insufficiently explained and never emphasised. As a consequence most mind maps are simply brainstrormed associations. Fine to get going, for sure, but totally insufficient for further development and communication. They lack simple organisation.

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