Grounded & Steadfast

Aug 2nd, 2012

Day One Is Just Right

As I mentioned recently, I’ve been journalling almost daily in 2012. This has been an analog, pen and paper activity. Partly because I don’t want my journalling time to be fraught with the distractions a connected device brings. But it was also partly due to the fact that I hadn’t found an application that suited me well.

Today, that changed. And Shawn Blanc explains those changes, as well as why it works for him, in his review of the newest version of Day One.

My story is eerily similar to Shawn’s:

• We both like pen and paper.
• I write down the weather in my journal every day.
• I started using Path late in 2011. But my usage was as a social tool, and I only have place in my life for one social network. So I stopped using it as a social tool, removed all my contacts, and used it as an infrequent journalling tool. Path is a beautiful tool, and fun to use. But I never invested myself fully because it was free (always a concern these days) and I couldn’t get my data back out.
• Day One is another aesthetically pleasing and well designed app. But until today, it was text only. So I’ve been using it as a work log, but nothing more.

Now that Day One includes photos, plus weather and location data on iOS, it’s just the right combination. And, as any application should, it treats your data as yours.

Short story long, go read Shawn’s piece. Then buy Day One if journalling is a habit you keep, or want to develop.