Brainstorming is the act of aggressively addressing a problem in order to create a solution. This particular action can be carried out by an individual or by a group of people. While it is usually better to brainstorm ideas alone, you cannot fail to include group brainstorming sessions if you are working as a team. The power of collective creative thinking should not be underestimated. Advances in technology have contributed positively to the ability of each individual who wants to come up with solutions to problems regarding projects or organizations. These creative solutions can be made with the aid of brainstorming apps.
You can solve problems creatively by using a variety of brainstorming apps. Below is an overview of the best among them.
Penultimate
One of the most popular brainstorming apps in the market. It is mostly used for sketching and taking notes. With this software, you can take advantage of its notepad capabilities to draw. The app allows you to customize the type of paper you want as well as the pen you will use. You can also select the color as well as the thickness of the pen to enable you to draw and write.
Price: $0.99
MindNode
Another brainstorming app in the market is the MindNode app. If you have a Mac/iOS then this is the software for you. This program makes use of the mind mapping technique to organize your creative ideas. You can represent each task, idea, process, or topic as a node. Once that is done, you can then draw lines to logically connect the nodes in a procedural manner. This allows you to get a visual picture of the things you need to do as well as the steps you need to take to make your ideas into reality.
Price: $9.99
iThoughtsHD
If you are looking for a mind-mapping app that does it all, iThoughts HD is the answer. This app enables you to build any size mind map using a variety of designs and colors. Branches are collapsible, so you can look at as much or as little of your maps as you want. You can create as many maps as you need. After you make a map, you can create another one based on the options and structure created in the previous map. You can import and export your maps. You can email them as an image file or a pdf, straight from the app.
Price: $9.99
SimpleMind
This mind mapping app for iOS that is great for brainstorming. It is easy to use - you simply add, rearrange, and connect topics on the Mind Map page, allowing you to see and organize a visual representation of your ideas. As your map gets larger, the screen adjusts itself so you can see the new ideas you're adding and how they connect to the rest of the map. You and other SimpleMind users can send maps to each other via the app itself, or you can upload your maps to the web and export them as .png or .pdf documents. SimpleMind has a free version that offers basic functionality, but for some of the more advanced functions, you will need to upgrade to the full version for $4.99.
Price: FREE
Index Card
With this app you can write ideas on a virtual deck of index cards and then rearrange them, delete them, and put them into stacks. It also comes with an outline view, which lets you view your information in a few different ways. The outline view has a search function, and from there you can click on your search results and view them either within the outline or in index card form. Beyond just the information you can put on the front of the index card, there's also a "notes" section you can utilize on the back, for extra or sub-information. You can send your index cards to others either by email, iTunes File Sharing, or Dropbox, where you can either share it as an Index Card file, ready to be opened by another Index Card user, or you can share it as an RTF file, which loses a little of the formatting but is still perfectly readable.
Price: $4.99
The above are by no means the only brainstorming apps in the market. Plenty more exist and you can always check online for more information on what best suits your brainstorming needs.
About the Author
Victor Daily is a tech blogger and freelance writer. His interests span from cloud backup and VPS to gadgets and gaming.
