Digital Media Works' ``Brain Mapping'' Technique Facilitates Website Redesign; Digimaps Help Refine Business Vision, Make Products Easier to Buy

[July 09, 2004]

Digital Media Works' ``Brain Mapping'' Technique Facilitates Website Redesign; Digimaps Help Refine Business Vision, Make Products Easier to Buy

ARMONK, N.Y. --(Business Wire)-- July 9, 2004 -- The notion of mapping a website took on new meaning today, with the introduction of Digimaps(sm), a unique approach for visualizing web content, presentation, and flow. Developed by Digital Media Works, Inc., the new technique facilitates redesign of an e-business website by ensuring wide-ranging input to the process.

Stephanie Diamond, president of Digital Media Works, said the goal of the new technique is ultimately to make products easier to buy. Loosely based on Tony Buzan's pioneering work in Mind Mapping, this method works particularly well in corporate settings "where the audience has diverse interests, responsibilities, and skills," said Diamond. "Rather than focus on their own skills, participants focus on ideas. People feel they are on firm ground and are more likely to share ideas and look for solutions. This is exactly the kind of atmosphere you want to create when groups congregate to solve business problems."

Joe Abusamra, Vice President of Operations at Raxco Software said, "Effective website redesign needs to consider more than just a new look and feel. There are several critical aspects, including usability, content, e-commerce, performance, and more. Digital Media Works helped us improve our site in a way that actually delivered real business improvement, and Digimaps made the whole process both painless and effective."

In the late 60's, Tony Buzan, then editor of the Mensa International Journal, developed a technique he called Mind Mapping to make use of the latest in brain research. His goal was to help people use all their cortical skills, i.e., words, images, numbers, etc., to learn and problem solve. This technique has grown and developed over the years as brain research has become more sophisticated.

In her work with Internet clients, Diamond adapted this method to create what she calls Digimaps (for digital brain maps) to take advantage of a company's different creative skill sets. "The marketing group has their way of looking at things, the developers theirs, and management, still another," she explained. "When Digimaps are applied to Internet planning, or any business problem, it removes the barriers and helps each group apply its best creative knowledge."

The software she selected to create Digimaps is called OpenMind, by Matchware, Inc., which enables the user to create maps in a variety of styles. The maps can be imported into HTML, MSWord, PowerPoint, etc., and conveyed to team members or others who might need to evaluate prototypes.

Why Use Digimaps?

There are four main advantages of a Digimap in an internet setting. The first is that it's non-linear, making all ideas important and eliminating ideas chosen by employee rankings. When there are open spaces on the map branches, the brain wants closure. Everyone wants them to be filled in. This promotes teamwork.

The second is it provides a look at the "big picture" and the details at the same time. This helps managers focus on their concerns while those tasked with the details can focus on their part of the puzzle and everyone can see the whole.

The third is it highlights omissions. When a designer follows the same process and looks at the same lists, they may forget or "don't see" what's missing. Looking at the material in a new way helps analyze it.

The fourth is that a Digimap stimulates everyone's creativity by using pictures and colors, lines of different widths and spaces. Programmers use their special skills and designers and managers use their unique skills.

About Digital Media Works

Digital Media Works, Inc. (www.DigMediaWorks.com) is an Internet marketing and design firm that specializes in solutions for high tech and e-commerce companies. . A seasoned 25+ year management/marketing professional, founder Stephanie Diamond is experienced in building profits in a broad range of product and services businesses. She created a highly successful line of multimedia software products that sold millions of copies for America Online, and has developed unique business strategies and products for a variety of companies, including AOL Time Warner, Redgate New Media and Newsweek, Inc.

NOTE to editors: a sample Digimap can be found at www.DigMediaWorks.com.

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