Do Mindmaps Need Color?

I saw an interesting comment the other day about color in mindmaps, answering this exact question.

My summary of @xk’s points is:

• Attributes like color are processed unconsciously and quickly, good for working memory.

• Attributes like spacing are then processed more thoughtfully and lead to retention.

Color For Rote Memorization

It’s helpful to ground this discussion in why we are mindmapping. If we’re doing rote memorization then all mnemonics are fair game. Spacing will help, pictures will help, color coding could potentially help.

But hopefully our main use for mindmaps isn’t memorization.

Color For Deep Processing

I think the main argument for color is that it enables deep processing by freeing up working memory through chunking.

Why is the left code sample so much easier to read than the right?

• Separation: Atomic units like “lambda” and template” are well separated.

• Searchability: Searching for a comment? Look for gray text.

• Content vs syntax: Structural elements like parentheses and braces are well-separated from content, but also self-conneted through the same color.

Thus it take fewer working memory resources to read and search the colored code on the left, freeing up resources for deep, higher order processing.