How to Make a Mind Map

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Create a mind map to organize your thoughts, generate new ideas, and improve creativity. This guide will show you how to create an incredible mind map that fulfills all your needs.

2 minute read

Want to create your own mind map? Try Lucidchart. It's fast, easy, and totally free.

Make a mind map

1. Begin with the main concept

First determine the main purpose of your mind map and write it down. Since mind maps start from the inside and expand outward, your central idea will become the core topic of the diagram. Your main concept could be:

  • A problem you’re trying to work through

  • The project you’re brainstorming

  • A difficult concept that you’re trying to learn

Let’s say you have to write an essay on Benjamin Franklin. In this case, Benjamin Franklin would be the main concept since he is the focus of the essay.

How to Mindmap 1.png

2. Add branches to the main concept

Now that you have determined the main purpose of your mind map, add branches that will outline the most basic subtopics. The branches should help you to begin organizing the information. Don’t worry about including a lot of details, keywords and short phrases will be more than enough.

In the case of our essay on Benjamin Franklin, the main subtopics that you should chart out are the main branches that explain his life. More detail into these initial branches will be included as we continue to add branches.

How to Mindmap 2.png

Want to create your own mind map? Try Lucidchart. It's fast, easy, and totally free.

Make a mind map

3. Explore topics with Collaborative AI

Once you identify the main subjects within your topic, you can use Collaborative AI to generate more ideas or expand with questions to help build upon the idea. You can also use AI to summarize your entire mind map, which makes it possible to share key takeaways and move forward with next steps.

4. Add images and colors

Maintain organization within your mind map by using standard colors for the different levels of thoughts within your diagram. If you are using Lucidchart, the colors will be managed for you. Furthermore, using images will help you to both visualize, and memorize the various parts of your mind map. Images can also be used to link shapes instead of the traditional box shape.

In our example with Benjamin Franklin, we have added more branches until we were ready to write the essay. If we were studying for an exam instead of writing an essay, the icons used could be especially helpful to boost memorization.

How to Mindmap 3.png

Create a mind map in Lucidchart

Lucidchart makes it easy to create and style beautiful mind maps, right in your web browser. To easily create a mind map in your browser, first you will need to sign up for Lucidchart and use our mind map maker to quickly create a mind map. You can also use one of our mind map templates to easily get started.


Additional Resources

Lucidchart is an incredible tool that will make organizing even complex problems very simple. As you continue to create mind maps you will find that Lucidchart is incredibly easy to use for both the beginner, and more advanced users.

Want to create your own mind map? Try Lucidchart. It's fast, easy, and totally free.

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