Mind Map

My first section of design writing was with Laurie Seidler and was focused on maps. For the final project of the section I created a map of my neurosis and worries and wrote out a legend. Here's a sample.

When you flush a toilet, the force of the flushing water is enough to send particles flying up to eight feet in the air. I read this fact in a Kids Discover magazine in 1998 and it permanently changed my perception of and interaction with germs. For one, I can no longer see a toilet without mentally overlaying a sphere with a radius of eight feet and it’s center resting in the toilet’s bowl. This is the sphere of toilet particle contamination. The concept of the eight-foot particle launch is so deeply embedded into my brain that nothing could dislodge it; flushing with the lid up will always cause skin crawling discomfort no matter how many times the fact is disproved. In my current apartment, the bathroom is so small that the toilet sphere encloses three of the four walls. This is why I never leave my toothbrush sitting, exposed, on the bathroom counter top and why I do not keep my towel hanging on the towel rack. Because even though I never flush with the lid up, you cannot trust the guests.