Creating Maps to Visualize Meaningful Experiences

Our lives are rich with experiences, yet rarely do we take a moment to reflect on them. As an experiential learning educator, I am constantly channeling John Dewey’s reflective practice through a designer’s mindset.

“We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.”

Typically when we reflect, we journal about it. But what if we were to take that information and visualize it? Designers use maps, such as a user journey map, to create a visual representation of a series of touch points. By stringing together seemingly disparate moments along a timeline and informing them with it’s associated emotions, the designer is then able to make sense of these experiences to create a cohesive story.

For my Life Design course, my students are eager to jump in and start planning their future. But what brought them to this point? How might they reflect on their journey before rushing off to the next shining thing? I wanted them to have a tactical way to mine their rich set of experiences for insights and use those learnings to inform what they might launch into next. So I channeled the wise words from the movie Moana,

“[Wayfinding] is knowing where you are by knowing where you’ve been”

and took this mapmaking concept to craft the meaning map, an exploration for one’s inner landscape.

Tool

A Meaning Map is a reflection tool that uses data visualization techniques to gain insight on what matters to you. By visually documenting meaningful experiences from your past, you can take a step back and reflect on possible connections and identify patterns that may otherwise be shrouded and apply those insights to guide their future explorations.

Meaning Map by Samantha Cui NYUSH ’21

How to Use It

1. Select a timeframe you want to reflect on. It can be time-led such as the calendar year, or it can be experience-led such as the the time since you started a new school, job, relationship, project, etc.
2. Write down meaningful experiences in your selected timeframe. You can use colored post-its or sticker dots as a way to categorize specific types of experiences. List at least 10–20 experiences.
3. Now identify how much time and energy did you invest into each one? Label each one with 1 — Little, 2 — Moderate, 3 — Significant.
4. Using the Meaning Map template or create your own, create a bubble for each experience and label it with the name of the experience. The size of the bubble should match the number.
5. Place the experience on the graph based on how meaningful the experience was for you (y-axis) and when it occurred during the year (x-axis).
6. Trends: If an experience lasted for a period of time, you can represent it with a line. If the meaningfulness of the experience changed over time, represent it with an arc. If the experience is still continuing, represent it with an arrow.
7. Patterns: Once you have completed your map, take a step back and see if you can notice any patterns. Is there a concentration of activities? Are there certain colors dominating the map? Is there a lack of activity somewhere? Are there some activities that didn’t seem related before but now show a connection? Mark your map as you notice these patterns.
8. What are some realizations or insights you can draw from this set of experiences? How might this inform how you navigate your next steps?

As we wrap up the historic year of 2020, take a look at what has transpired and see if the meaning map can help you make sense of the gnarly year. Share with us your #meaningmaps and how it’s informing your 2021. After all, the real creative classroom is the life we live day in and day out.

Maps ultimately testify to our belief in the value of exploration, whether the compass is pointed inward or out. To do so is to appreciate the value of the mind as a dynamic vessel of exploration; it does not travel according to the limits of the compass rose, but moves by association.

— Stephen S. Hall, “I, Mercator”

Resources

Interested in learning more about visual thinking or why I chose to focus on meaningfulness? Here are some resources that I have found helpful:

• Why Visual Thinking? “The Doodle Revolution” on the neuroscience behind visual thinking
• Why Meaningfulness? “Meaning is Healthier than Happiness”
• Why Reflection? The Reflective Practitioner by Donald Schon

Emily Tsiang is an Associate Professor at NYU Shanghai and design researcher at Stanford’s Center for Innovation & Design Research.