9
votes
Mindmap / vision board tools to organize ideas for house?
My wife and I are hopefully 4-5 years away from being able to build a house. We frequently have this exchange:
"I definitely want <<feature>> in <<room>>!"
— "You should write that down!"
No one writes anything down
Has anyone used a tool or methodology you liked for a sort of vision board? I've used some basic ones that let you have text nodes (Bathroom ⟩ Shower ⟩ needs recirculation pump), but many ideas are in the form of photos or links that wouldn't be as useful without seeing them.
I'm a software engineer, so I was thinking of trying something like Trello, which is really more for project management but I think could be shoehorned into what I want.
Trello works (i used to work there on the android app, so a little bias), but my wife and I have found that just keeping a running "Ideas" page in whatever note taking app with sharing works well too.
Check out https://www.mindmeister.com/ I’m in project management and use it as way to map multiple ideas. Each node allows you to add links and upload photos which may meet your needs based on ur posting.
If yall use Apple products, they recently released the Freeform app which might suite your needs? I've used it before and iirc they do support images and real time collaboration.
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/12/apple-launches-freeform-a-powerful-new-app-designed-for-creative-collaboration/
Disclaimer though, I haven't used it for planning & I'm just a college student so I don't know a whole lot about house planning outside of going to Ikea with my girlfriend and taking photos of stuff we thought would work well / room layouts we liked.
The first thing that comes to mind is a program I played with years ago called Freemind. No idea if that's still around though.
I think dev stopped on it a while ago but someone forked it into FreePlane which is very similar.
Planning for the same thing here - personally, I keep a running text brain dump of ideas on Workflowy, and back that up with dedicated pinterest boards where I save picture inspiration for materials/layouts/features/etc.
If you're looking for a full all-in-one with text and image support though, you could check out draw.io. I have the desktop version downloaded, but I believe you can use it strictly through the website as well and just save out - it lets you draw diagrams and mindmaps, and there's even an option to turn on floorplan shapes if you want to really get nitty-gritty about it. It's not CAD by any means, but it could help you put ideas together.
We've also used miro boards at work. That's probably a flashier solution, though I can't speak for what their free tier looks like.
I was going to recommend Miro too. I've used it for work and personal things.
I like it because it's versatile you can put pictures and links, and write lots of notes, but if you don't want to, you can create a mind map-ish thing.
Minder on linux is a pretty baller mindmapping app.
Obsidian is a note taking app that has an ability to link notes. It also has a Canvas feature where you can sort notes visually like a mind map.
https://obsidian.md/canvas
Maybe something like Freeplane?
Take it from a DevOps engineer who has tried multiple systems/software, I.e Kanban/PKM/Todoist software, Don't be afraid to try systems that are physical as well, everyone is different. Around the house what words for me and my son due to my ADD and his ADHD is a system similar to:
https://davidseah.com/node/the-task-order-up/