Mind maps are a brilliant way to help you organise information on just about any topic. This became clear to me last year when I was asked to create a mind map for ocularists, Paul and Jenny Geelen.
‘What is an ocularist?’ I hear you ask. Well, ocularists create artificial eyes for people. As you can imagine, when someone goes to an ocularist they are likely to be feeling pretty overwhelmed and distressed. As studies have found, the amount of information a traumatised individual can take in becomes severely restricted.
That’s why Paul and Jenny approached us. How could they convey all the information they needed to on how to adjust to losing an eye without leaving the client feeling overwhelmed and even more distressed than when they first walked in?
Here’s the Artificial Eyes Mind Map we came up with.
As you can see the ‘Adjusting and adapting to eye loss’ mind map has a fun feel to it. Don’t get me wrong, by no means were we trying to make light of a serious subject. Certainly not.
The use of colour and pictures was to help individuals focus their attention and assist them in processing new ideas that would help them to adjust and move forward.