Concept mapping (method)

Concept mapping is a design synthesis method, best used for:

• building an understanding of a domain
• thinking through and illustrating a complicated idea/concept
• illustrating relationships between people, systems, or objects

It is basically a formal representation of the designer's mental model of a given concept. "A picture of understanding" (Kolko, 2007)

Process for creating a concept map:

• List all terms/entities that make up the concept (actors, objects, actions etc.)
• Prioritize the terms and organize them into a simple hierarchy
• Outline the structure of the map – spread out the terms/entities and connect them with verbs to illustrate relationships

This requires:

• A prior knowledge of the concept, built by doing research
• Using the language related to the knowledge (learned through research)
• Trusting the method, finding meaning in it (which leads to using it rigorously)

Tags: product design design process

ID: 2021-0708-0936

References:

• Kolko – Exposing the Magic of Design, p. 61 (overview of methods), p. 101 (method description)