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I'm looking for an application similar to a mind mapping piece of software but that lets me view the notes as cards on a corkboard, being able to connect between them. The feature is shown here on Scrivener but I don't want to be using Scrivener for everything since not all of these things are writing projects. Any suggestions?

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I cannot recommend any of the desktop apps that take this skeuomorphic cork board idiom and bring it to the desktop. You've already dismissed scrivener - the obvious choice. Google has a bunch of web app suggestions you might try.

The free sticky notes app allows you to write and keep snippets and simply use space to organize connections. You could furthermore use spaces and one of several tools to set up a distinct corkboard background for the one space where sticky notes app lives and have a DIY app for free.

Whether I'm working with others or alone, I end up grabbing a stack of physical cards and a pen/pencil when I'm brain storming. The mouse / trackpad / keyboard get in the way and slow me down. When I'm really brainstorming, the cognitive load of any interface other than direct touch on an iPad (or physical cards on a table) is too much delay.

I do recommend Mental Case for Mac and OmniPlan as outstanding apps for capturing card sized chunks of data and working with interconnections once I'm over the tabletop/corkboarding phase.

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It's not that I dislike Scrivener, I just don't know that everything that I'm doing would fit into using it as an organization tool. Sometimes the project isn't a writing project. – shadesandcolour Jul 22 '11 at 3:35
I'm not disagreeing, just trying to take what you wrote and offer other suggestions. It's good to be picky and specific else you'll end up with all sort of kind of ok for you software. Aim high :-) – bmike♦ Jul 22 '11 at 4:51
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I've not used it properly, but there's a free piece of software called MindNode on the Mac App store. It doesn't have the corkboard & card graphics that Scrivener does, but, if I understand you correctly, I think it has the required functionality.

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I like curio for brainstorming. They recently put a version on the app store for a very reasonable price. It does, however, lack a few features from the full version.

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OmniGraffle can totally do that for you. You can put shapes, images and texts in there and connect them.

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If you are not looking for native mac app. Checkout this Sticky Notes extension for chrome (no cloud backup as of now, but coming soon) and http://www.edistorm.com/ web app.

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