[IxDA Discuss] notepads and creative tools

[Will Parker]

On Jul 2, 2007, at 9:28 PM, Jeff Axup wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've done a bit of brainstorming around a notepad information  
> appliance.
> Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on requirements, design,  
> feasibility or
> other concerns?
>
> Re-thinking the Notepad
> http://mobilecommunitydesign.com/2007/07/re-thinking-notepad.html

As I see it, the primary advantage an electronic notepad has over  
traditional paper (ignoring the _huge_ price differential) is the  
_promise_ of avoiding transcribing your notes directly into digital  
format. My first question in that regard is whether that direct-to- 
digital entry is a worthwhile goal in ad-hoc note-taking. Is it  
really better to take your initial ideas straight into the digital  
workflow, or does the transcription process  itself offer time for  
reflection and improvement? I personally think it does.

My first choice for portable note-taking and brainstorming these days  
is paper notebooks, largely due to cost and portability concerns. I  
mostly use these for initial impressions, off-the-cuff 'visual  
thinking', and must-capture-NOW details. I rarely use them for  
content that's actually ready to be worked on extensively.

My second choice is Apple Keynote running on a laptop. It offers some  
of the same advantages reported for Fireworks CS3 (pages plus  
layers), easy text entry and placement (along with methods of  
associating text directly with graphical content), and a sufficiently  
large suite of graphical tools for visual thinking. Here, I'm moving  
to digital, but I'm usually focused on communication (and persuasion)  
regarding implementation details --- I'm still not in my primary  
workflow, and I rarely attempt to reuse content from this stage in my  
primary deliverables.

I will have to examine exactly why that is at some later time, but I  
suspect that the primary factors keeping me from reusing note content  
in my general workflow are 1) radically different levels of detail  
(and the tools to manage same) between the note stage and the final  
production stage and 2) no immediately obvious method of readily  
moving between note / communication / production modes in the same  
document.

- Will

Will Parker
wparker at ChannelingDesign.com

“I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check. If  
that were the case, then Microsoft would have great products.” -  
Steve Jobs