Mindy Holahan
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I’m curious to know how you take notes (the tools you use) as well as what gets included (ideas, sensory details, sketches, etc). I suspect we could learn a lot from each other, especially across different crafts.
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Laura Smith
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Hi Mindy! I used a couple of different tools online. I used to use Delicious to save items, but I wasn’t too happy with its reliability of late so I’ve moved to Evernote. I just getting started with it, but I use it for lists – like new podcasts I want to listen to, as well as for bookmarking things I find online. I bookmark lots of patterns and tutorials for my craft work (knitting, sewing, quilting).
My other tool right now is Pinterest. I love it for more visual items, like patterns. It’s a quick reference when I want to see the items and not read through a bunch of tags. I have also started using it for my fiction writing. I have a pin board for my research, which are visual inspiration – either of specific items I want to use in the story, or places or photos with a vibe that I like. This has really lit a fire under my writing. I’ve also found tons of new recipes there. Bonus!
Finally, I use a couple of really specific sites to organize some things. Ravelry for my knitting related work, Goodreads to keep my books in order.
Hope that helps!
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Mindy Holahan
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Isn’t Ravelry the best? It’s one of the most elegantly designed online communities I’ve used. We should talk separately about crafts; it sounds like we do a lot of the same things.
You’re the second person to mention Pinterest to me this week! I will definitely explore it this weekend. The collage effect is inspiring.
I currently save patterns and articles in Devonthink, a database program similar to Evernote. I use a Livescribe pen for taking notes so that I can archive them in Devonthink as well.
What I haven’t found is a good way of queuing up online articles to read later. Does anyone have a good system for that?
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Laura Smith
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Does Googlereader do that? I don’t use it that way, but I wonder if that function is there. We definitely should connect on the craft stuff!
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Todd Henry
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I’m an Evernote junkie as well for digital stuff, but I use notecards for my day-to-day note taking. I also carry a small Moleskine notebook for long-form writing and planning.
Whenever I take notes on paper or sketch I use a ScanSnap to get them into Evernote. It’s VERY quick and painless.
I also have a note-taking system with symbols and keys that I use to cross-reference various bits that I don’t want to miss later. I’m going to do a whiteboard session on it at some point… :)
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Mindy Holahan
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I’ve been trying to talk myself into spending the money for a ScanSnap. Do you love it? I want a really good one; our current scanner doesn’t play nice with my Mac and I’ve got a big scanning backlog.
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Todd Henry
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LOVE the ScanSnap. It’s quick and mindless – two of my requirements for any new tech in my life. The great thing is that Evernote Premium does text detection on PDFs, so I can handwrite notes, scan them and later search for text. I’ll also include little handwritten words as tags or clues to find later like #acbook or #blogpost, which Evernote can search for later.
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Matt Gartland
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I know everyone is on the Evernote bandwagon, and surely for good reason. Something (or somethings) continue to keep me at bay, however. I think that the app – to me – feels overwhelming with options and whatnot. I should probably just suck it up and dive in.
I’m still an old-school fan of notebooks, Moleskins like Todd. As much of a digital dork (proudly!) as I am, there’s still something very special and creatively stimulating about putting pen to paper.
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Mindy Holahan
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Evernote is way better than it used to be. I don’t write any notes in it; I only use it for temporary article storage when I’m on my work computer.
If you want something in the middle, hand-writing with a computer archive, I’d really recommend a Livescribe pen. The computer interface is simple, and you get the benefit of capturing voice notes too. What I like about it is that I can pull up my notes waaay faster than paging through old notebooks.
They have Moleskine-like notebooks. I buy the regular notebooks and punch the paper for my Circa notebook. The bummer with the Livescribe pen is that they only have ballpoint pen cartridges. The best part, though, is people don’t steal my pen anymore.
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Dallon Christensen
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I use a few different items for my note taking. I’m still working on the system, but I’m getting there.
1) Everything ultimately goes into Evernote – that’s my hub. I love the ability to sync across my various computing devices. I’m getting a new iPhone when it comes out, so this will make Evernote even more important since I have an iPad and a MacBook Pro.
2) When I’m on the go, I will type VERY short and quick notes into Evernote, but I prefer using the Action Runner notebook from Behance. I can fit that very easily into a pocket or my messenger bag that I take almost everywhere.
3) For longer-form notes when I’m not in full-blown idea generation mode, I use the Behance Action Circa Notebook. I can write a huge amount of notes with this book. For my full-time job, I’m considering the Action Journal. I like the paper layout with the specific area for action steps.
4) I do use the Personal Idea Pad when I’m in full idea generation mode. I like the keyword approach. I only use this for generation. As soon as I move into organizing and action, I move to the Circa notebook.
5) I LOVE the Wunderlist application for keeping track of lists and to-dos. I keep lists of things like podcast topics, blog ideas, article ideas, and backburner items in Wunderlist. This allows me to keep Evernote free for note collection, and I do cross-reference Wunderlist and Evernote.
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Laura Smith
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Dallon, that Wunderlist looks really cool! I’m definitely going to give that a whirl.
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Todd Henry
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Agreed that Wunderlist looks great. I’m using OmniFocus for all of my task management right now (plus index cards! :) but would be tempted otherwise.
I really wish I could go back to DevonThink, as it was my tool for years, but the lack of a viable mobile application makes it impossible. Erg.
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Deanna Mullican
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I love Pinterest! I also use Evernote, the clipping option is wonderful.
For project work, I’ve been using the Action Method and I really love it.
Mindy, an application that is “a good way of queuing up online articles to read later” is Read it Later, which I love. I can use it on my phone and computer and it syncs nicely. http://readitlaterlist.com/
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Todd Henry
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By the way, I’ll be covering some tools and techniques in the upcoming webinar on note taking…
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mel2669
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One technique I’ve taken to is using the audio note feature in Evernote during meetings and brainstorming sessions. It’s amazing how much you can capture from re-listening to the audio and transcribing it. It takes a bit of time, but it is totally worth it and frees you up to actually participate rather than focus on getting everything down.
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This reply was modified 214 days ago by mel2669.
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Todd Henry 180 days ago.
