Managing all the scattered details to keep your projects on track and organized can be a hassle.
Whether juggling tasks, scope, or dependencies, you need a solution to bring some order to the chaos and keep your projects moving smoothly.
That’s where a concept map diagram comes in. 🙂
Think of concept mapping as a visual tool for illustrating the link between complex ideas and their relationship to your key concept.
Whether you’re an educator, student, or business professional, concept maps can help you visualize ideas and organize them to improve your understanding of a particular topic and how to connect ideas for meaningful learning.
Keep reading to learn how to create concept maps to represent ideas. We’ll also share some concept map templates that project managers can use in their daily workflows.
How to Make a Concept Map Diagram (With Examples)
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat is a Concept Map Diagram?
A concept map is a visual tool that illustrates the connections between related ideas and concepts. It uses linking lines or arrows to show how these ideas are interconnected.
A visual representation of higher-level concepts on a concept map makes highlighting how the pieces work together easier. Teams working on creative ideas use it as a graphical tool to show meaningful connections between various ideas.
The best part is that use cases for most concept maps for problem-solving and idea generation extend to education, healthcare, knowledge management, and project planning.
Concept Maps vs. Mind Maps
Both mind maps and concept maps are visual tools to organize information and help you with ideation. So, it’s common to get confused between a mind map and a concept map.
However, they differ in structure, purpose, and approach. Here’s a quick overview of how a concept map differs from a mind map. To know more about mind maps, try reading an overview of ClickUp Mind Maps.
| Mind Maps | Concept Maps |
| Centered around a single main idea or problem | Shows interconnections within a subject |
| Lines connect sub-topics and related concepts | Arrows represent relationships between concepts |
| Free-form and encourages capturing different ideas and abstract concepts | Hierarchical structure that captures the most relevant and important information |
| Ideal for rapid ideation and brainstorming | Ideal for deep analysis and connecting multiple interconnected ideas |
Read more: 25 mind map examples to structure information ✏️
Summarize this article for me pleaseUnderstand the Basics of Concept Maps
Now that you understand concept maps vs. mind maps, it’s time to dig deeper into concept maps.
Let’s take a look at all the benefits of concept mapping.
Benefits of concept mapping
- Get a detailed overview: When you build concept maps, you dive into the details of a subject to map out all the sub-topics and ideas related to the main concept. This ideation technique is akin to getting an overview along with connected details
- Organize big ideas: It lets you take scattered ideas and visually organize them in a neat, easy-to-understand diagram
- Understand relationships between ideas: Concept maps show how different ideas and pieces are related. Mapping the conceptual diagram lets you visualize relationships and connections you may totally miss otherwise
- Get innovative insights: When you start linking different areas of the map together through cross-links, it often leads to creative new ideas you hadn’t thought of before
- Retain more information: Concept maps, with their visual elements like shapes and connecting lines, enhance memory retention and improve recall in the learning process compared to verbal communication
A concept map diagram can make grasping complex information, understanding interlinking ideas, and gaining creative insights easy.
Core elements of a concept map
Concepts
Concepts are the building blocks of a concept map. They’re the shapes you see in the diagram, representing patterns or ideas.
Hierarchical structure
Concept maps follow a hierarchical structure, leading you from general concepts to specific ones.
At the top, you’ve got the big-picture concepts. As you move down, things get more specific and detailed.
Propositional structure
Propositions connect concepts. They comprise two or more concepts connected by handy linking words. This structure forms the basis for building new knowledge.
Cross-links
Cross-links connect concepts in different parts of the map. They show how ideas from different domains connect, sparking creativity.
Linking words/phrases
These connectors are the glue that holds everything together. They sit on the lines between concepts and tell you how they’re related. Short and to the point, they often contain a verb, like ‘causes’ or ‘requires.’
Focus question
Every concept map diagram needs a guiding question that sets the stage for what you’re trying to figure out. Placed right at the top, it keeps you on track as you navigate the map.
As an example, let’s see how this Customer Journey Concept Map structure was created.
Concept mapping helps you identify the customer’s experience across various touchpoints and gives a view of what happens at each journey stage. Your team can use this as a starting point to make decisions and plan actions.
Summarize this article for me pleaseTypes of Concept Maps
While the core elements of all concept map diagrams are simple—concepts and connections—these maps can take various forms to suit different purposes.
Let’s explore the four main types of concept map diagrams and the situations where each is most useful.
1. Spider mapping
This creative concept map resembles a spider web—there is a central idea that branches out to related concepts in a radial pattern.
In this variant of concept mapping, subtopics can further branch into smaller ones, creating a hierarchical structure.
When to use it: Spider mapping is useful for expanding on a single idea or theme.
- Education: Teachers can use spider maps to break down complex subjects for students
- Business: Professionals can brainstorm ideas for products
- Healthcare: Healthcare professionals can organize patient symptoms and medical history
2. Hierarchy mapping
This concept map depicts the order or structure of elements, similar to an organizational chart in a company. It showcases the levels of authority and roles within a system.
When to use it: You can use hierarchy mapping to understand system elements and their hierarchical positions.
- Education: Educators can illustrate academic department structures
- Business: HR managers can visualize reporting relationships and team structures
- Healthcare: Administrators can depict healthcare professional roles within a facility
3. Flowcharting
Commonly recognized as a sequence of steps, flowcharting illustrates the progression of a process. Here, arrows indicate different choices or actions, akin to a situation where you control the results.
When to use it: You can use flowcharting to understand a process or make a decision.
- Education: Students and professors can outline experiments or historical events with flowcharts
- Business: Managers can map workflow processes to streamline operations in the business world
- Healthcare: Nurses can document patient care procedures with flowcharts
4. System mapping
A system map displays the interconnections among various parts of a concept. You may find symbols like ‘+’ or ‘- that denote positive or negative correlations. This concept map diagram can look like a complex web of related examples.
When to use it: When you want to understand the dynamics of a system or a team.
- Education: Students analyze cause-and-effect relationships
- Business: Marketing analysts can explore factors influencing consumer behavior
- Healthcare: Researchers can investigate factors contributing to disease outbreaks and develop intervention strategies
Summarize this article for me pleaseHow to Create a Concept Map Diagram
Creativity and design thinking are two prerequisites you must have before you build concept maps.
Creativity
Creativity helps you find unique connections between ideas and see things differently. It lets you explore the topic thoroughly and captures all the nuances and complexities.
Design thinking
When you design a concept map step, consider how it looks—use colors, shapes, and layout to make it easy to understand. By applying design thinking principles, you can create a concept map that effectively communicates information and engages viewers.
You’re ready to move ahead if you’re set with these requirements.
Pro tip💡: You can use the virtual ClickUp Whiteboards to brainstorm and build concept maps with your team. Teamwork FTW!
Summarize this article for me pleaseStep-by-Step Guide to Building a Concept Map
1. Identify your main concept
The first task in concept mapping is to figure out the central idea or topic you want to explore extensively.
This core concept will form the foundation for your map and help you identify and organize all the related concepts that branch out from it.
For example, if you aim to understand effective time management strategies as a project manager, start your concept map with the main phrase “time management.”
You can also ask a guiding focus question like ‘How can I manage my time more efficiently?’.
Conversely, multiple concepts will lead to a messy conceptual diagram that your team or audience will find difficult to understand.
Consider using virtual whiteboard software to ideate and structure knowledge and for collaborative concept mapping. The software can handle diagrams, flowcharts, and frameworks your team uses.
For example, ClickUp’s Whiteboards enable your team to create and work freely over a creative canvas. They support your teams from ideation to execution. Build concept maps, color code each idea or task, and convert them into actionable tasks within ClickUp.
2. Group connected concepts
Now, it’s time to engage in some freethinking and brainstorming to jot down as many ideas and sub-concepts as possible related to your core theme.
Don’t restrict your thinking. Consider your main concept from multiple angles and explore tangential connections.
As you map out these related ideas, you may discover creative new avenues you hadn’t initially considered.
Let your creative juices flow with ClickUp’s Concept Map Template, a customizable and beginner-friendly template for connecting your ideas with related concepts, visualizing how all elements are connected to one another, and organizing and summarizing your ideas.
The benefits of using this template to organize ideas, create relationships between two concepts, and track progress are that it:
- Provides a structured framework to visualize complex information
- Identifies relationships between ideas, processes, and concepts
- Analyzes data to draw meaningful conclusions
- Lets you collaborate with stakeholders on a creative concept
3. Define relationships between concepts and use linking words
Considering there may be a web of sub-ideas and related concepts surrounding your core ideas, define relationships between them.
For added context, use linking words/phrases to add more content for each relationship.
Once you create the map in a concept map maker, ask yourself:
- Does this concept map design and layout make sense?
- Can I rearrange elements for better clarity?
- Does every element fit in its respective place?
- Can I add a linking phrase to represent this relationship?
4. Add visual elements such as colors and icons
Break down the monotony by adding colors and icons to differentiate between domains in your concept map.
A trick here is to use specific colors for a specific domain, especially for complex concepts.
For example, as seen in this ClickUp Bubble Map Template, a subcategory of the main idea can be marked in yellow, an adjective to describe the subcategory in purple, and the result in green.
Pro tip💡: When you have a large amount of complex data, ClickUp’s Bubble Map Template helps you identify patterns that may go unnoticed.
5. Connect them to your workflows
You now know how to draw concept maps using ClickUp Whiteboards and pre-built templates.
Going a step further, once you create a concept map, connect it to your workflows in ClickUp’s Project Management Software.
Now, create logical pathways between tasks, which can be edited, deleted, or rearranged with a few clicks.
Pro tip💡: Consider using ClickUp’s Proofing feature to collaborate on mind maps and concept maps for your software development projects.
We recommend using ClickUp’s mind map templates to make brainstorming sessions easier. As these are customizable, they can easily be modified to create concept maps too.
The simplest one is ClickUp’s Simple Mind Map Template—as a thought-mapping tool to visualize your ideas and tasks. Drag and drop the elements, move them around, and double-click to edit the text. This template has expanding and collapsible layers for adding notes, ideas, and real-time collaboration with your team.
Read more: How to make a mind map in Word?
Summarize this article for me pleaseConcept Map Diagrams and Learning Styles
Visual learners: Visual learners thrive on graphical representations. Concept maps visually connect information, aiding in organization and processing.
For example, a history student visually maps key events and figures.
Kinesthetic learners: Kinesthetic learners learn by doing things. Learners can deepen their understanding by physically arranging concepts and making connections using concept mapping.
For instance, they might move labeled cards representing body systems when studying anatomy.
Auditory learners: Auditory learners soak up info through listening. Even though maps are visual, auditory learners can use them by talking through their thoughts.
For example, a literature student can use concept maps to discuss themes and motifs
Reading/Writing learners: These learners excel at processing written text. Concept maps can organize big concepts into easily readable formats and make it easy to summarize content.
For example, a psychology student might create a map summarizing key theories and proponents.
Summarize this article for me pleaseConcept Map Diagrams in Different Fields
Education
For teachers
- Promote collaboration: During a group project, teachers can ask students to collaborate on a concept map to organize their thoughts and contributions effectively
- Promote critical thinking: Students can use a concept map to illustrate the relationships between historical events or biological functions, promoting a deeper understanding of cause and effect
For students
- Ideation: Students can use a concept map template to organize their thoughts and spark creativity. For instance, when brainstorming for a renewable energy project, they can map different sources and technologies to generate new ideas
- Quick revision: Concept maps make it easy to review study material quickly. For example, if there is a history test, the concept map of important events can help refresh the key points quickly
Business
- Strategic planning: Mapping goals and objectives helps business leaders create thorough plans. Stakeholders can use a concept map to outline long-term goals and strategies
- Project management: Concept maps clarify project details for better planning and execution. Project managers can explain the project scope, tasks, and dependencies using a concept map
- Knowledge creation and transfer: Organizations can create company policies and procedures using a concept map maker
Healthcare
- Patient education: Visual representations through concept maps enhance patient understanding of medical conditions, treatments, and care instructions
- Treatment analysis: Mapping symptoms, diagnoses, and treatment options to analyze and evaluate complex medical cases effectively
Summarize this article for me pleaseCreate Concept Maps with ClickUp
Now that you have seen concept map examples and understand how to use them, it’s time to create your own. Even if you are a beginner, you can quickly get started with ClickUp’s pre-built customizable concept map templates.
Whether you want to adjust the layout, add or remove elements, or tweak the design to match your personal style, ClickUp provides flexibility while bringing your key concepts to life.
Maps are created in ClickUp Whiteboards that are customizable, shareable, and great for remote collaboration.
Start your concept map journey by signing up on ClickUp for free.
Summarize this article for me pleaseFrequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What are the four types of concept maps?
The four types of concept maps include:
- Spider maps: Where the central idea branches out to related concepts in a radial pattern
- Hierarchy maps: Showcasing the levels of authority and roles within a system
- Flowcharting: Shows a sequence of steps to show how a process progresses
- System maps: Visualizing the interconnections among various parts of a concept
2. How do you structure a concept map?
To structure a concept map effectively, start with the main concept or topic in the center. Then, you can branch out with related sub-topics or ideas and link them with lines or arrows.
3. What are the 3 components of a concept map?
The three main components of a concept map are:
- Concepts: The ideas, topics, or terms represented in circles or boxes
- Linking lines/arrows: These connect the concepts and show their relationships
- Linking phrases/words: Written on the linking lines, these phrases clarify the specific relationship between the connected concepts
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