I've been feverishly working on this most recent project, of which has been in the planning and executing stages for several weeks now. While I am eager to show it to you with full access to all of its details, I also want to compliment the images with a commentary worth reading. For some time I have wanted to create a cohesive Thought-Map or Mind-Map that was both useful and enjoyable to look at.
Close up on Deem Theme Artist Map, 2016. Digital Artwork.
THOUGHT MAPS
Many thought maps are made with the aims of bringing order to a plethora of free-roaming ideas. The plan being that by mapping all the influences on a certain subject, a person could glimpse some larger meaning or theme. The fault with most thought-maps is that their appearance has an inherent chaos of branching and fractal-like appendages. They look like invasive roots, each in search of their own space, or a shrewd tussle of knots on the end of a mop.
This is partly because it is a difficult task to put thoughts in order and space. Each idea leads to another and another, yet they all seem to connect to each other. It takes some moving around and categorizing to get similar thoughts together, but eventually patterns emerge.
Check out http://www.mindmapart.com for some public examples of thought maps; you'll soon notice a consensus to use branching as a means to connect ideas.
To avoid the trap of constantly splintering categories, I resolved to contain all the ideas in a circle, concentric around a single idea that I reasoned had influence on every other subject matter. I followed rules of fractions in order to divide the circle into rings, which are each divided into balanced categories that can be easily measured in degrees.
DESIGN
After deciding on rings and segments for each idea, where each small category is in contact with it's larger category as well as its subsequent ideas, I drew several drafts and versions through the weeks.
Deem Theme Map Version II, 2016. Graphite.
I quickly realized that the amount of detail and number of written words meant I would be best off making my final version a digital artwork instead of a hand-inked negative on tracing paper as I am often prone to doing. Editing would give me the most flexibility, and so I was resolved and opened Photoshop.
DIGITAL EDITING
My first attempt was stylistically eye-catching, but I was turned off by its resemblance to a bulls-eye. I was hoping for a carved-stone, engraved and textured look, but not to this extreme. The round form encouraged me to follow a mandala method.
My second design was more in tune with my website theme, with easy earth tones and smooth surfaces. Only after I began laying the word-work did I notice how obscure the structure became and how all the words tended to bleed into one another. This is when I introduced the four color quadrants, to help the eye separate the largest of categories.
I intentionally left the central categories their original brown tone, which becomes muted next to the brighter colors around it. This creates an interesting optical effect, where when one stares intently on the center circle the saturation of the surrounding colors begins to dry up. Phenomenologically speaking, this is because the color register in the eye is predominantly at the spot of focus.
Truth rests in the center of the Mandala thought-map, and when staring at this circumpunct, the surrounding colors seem to fade into Black and White. This apparition is a suggestion to the way we perceive our surroundings and what we consider to be true. As the eye wanders from the center and the certain Truth, it discovers that truth varies and exists in many forms. All of the mandala is an appendage of Truth.
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This thought map will become useful for me in the coming days, and I intend to use it for my next few projects. Furthermore I hope it delights or inspires other people as much as it does for me, and want to thank anyone for viewing.
By making a large digital file, I'll be able to print this large and place on the wall for reference, and the digital file can always accomodate additions later on down the road. I also intend to dedicate a separate page on my site where you'll be able to zoom and peruse the whole file, so keep posted!