Mind Maps Sketch #1

MIND MAP #2

MIND MAP #2

MIND MAP #1

Upon starting my mind map I had zero idea on what my central idea and problem was going to be. This forced me to sit down with my sketchbook and think about what sort of problems I currently have in my life. This only took a moment as I realized what dilemma always arises here at Roger Williams. This dilemma is money. I thought about how much I am paying to go here and how I even need to watch how I spend my money here in order to stay in sufficient funds. I still want to have fun with all my friends so I decided to make a mind map that may help make me realize a solution on how to save or make a little more money. I started going off with the ideas and reasons that put me in this problem. I realized that things such as my smartphone, trips, food, and weekends have taken up the majority of my bank account. After I had found out these problems I became stuck on how I should solve my dwindling bank account. I left the sketchbook for an hour and then came back with a clear head. I then realized in my "AHA! moment" that a vast majority events in which I spend money all draw back to school. I then made numerous connections to what happens on campus and realized that a lot of things connected to each other. I achieved solutions such as spending less on food, sharing with friends, and music.

MIND MAP #2

For my second mind map I decided to take the problems of "Pressure of RWU" that derived from my money problems map. I decided to do this because at some points during the year I become overwhelming stressed with the multiple events in my schedule. I wanted to see if I could find solutions or answers as to why I feel this way. I thought maybe I could even find a way to control my stress during my mind map experience. I started with four main controls that I thought where most of my stress comes from. These subjects were doing well, procrastination, peer comparison, and self appearance. As mind maps work, I just started listing off words or ideas that came to my head when I thought about these stressful thing. The only problem I found when I looked at all my words is that I did not really see an overall connection. I was a bit frustrated as I thought I would have seen an overall correlation right away. After looking at the map a second time, I had an "AHA!" moment and realized that a majority of the things that caused me stress would all give me a life lesson. While I struggle with these things now, scenarios like this in the future will not be a problem for me. I achieved my goal of finding the origins of my stress and how I will benefit from the current stress.


CONCLUSION

From this first mind mapping experience, I realized I can use this tool to find solution and find messages from my subconscious. I thought that in doing this exercise that I would not actually find things I did not know. My current issues of money an stress is now probably going to dwindle in severity. I hope to use mind maps in my sketchbook for the future as I found it to be a great success. The "AHA!" moments were very cool and I wish to have many more of them. Overall, this was a nice beginning to my sketchbook.

Affinity Map Sketch #2

AFFINITY MAP CLOSE UP OF MIDDLE CONGESTION

AFFINITY MAP

Affinity Map Sketch:

Now on my second assignment, I was really excited to begin a new prompt and to let my mind function in a different way. After a long time of deliberation, I decided to go with an affinity map, as I believe I would have the most fun creating it. I had a hard time figuring out what topic I wanted to discuss never mind the control on my axis would be. I contemplated certain activities and other various things but finally ended up focusing my map on beverages. I thought that I could find a lot of units to add to my map and I immediately thought of what my variables would be. I chose the two extremes of youth and elderly plus the extremes of healthy and unhealthy. I was excited to start because a bunch of different ideas were just flowing through my head. The idea was simple and I like it as I got to understand how and affinity map worked. I encountered a problem with how general I wanted to get with my beverages. I did not know if I wanted specific names of beverages or just general names. I sat there distraught wondering what direction I wanted to go. Upon this contemplation I had an “AHA!” moment and thought that I would just find drinks that would correspond to age then it would fall into categories of unhealthy or healthy. This made this much easier to figure out and I was then able to finish my map. I achieved my goal of understanding an affinity map.

Conclusion:

This assignment was to help me better learn how an affinity map works and I believe I have achieved this goal. I knew that if I chose something different that I choose something different I would not benefit from the assignment as much. I knew that going into this course I wanted to learn more of the informational process. I learned all of the basic aspects of an affinity map and would consider the assignment a big success.