Our journey of building the smoothest notes organizer started when we released the app called Fraktus. It allowed to take notes in channels but lacked other important features. Test users helped us determine the most critical points of improvement. We designed prototypes based on their feedback and built a new app based on the Element messenger. We called it Yoosh. Read the post if you want to understand it deeper or start exploring now.
Foreword
Today messengers are the most-used apps for modern people. The everyday use of messengers made us habituated to write and perceive information divided into smaller pieces - message bubbles. Bubbles have two huge advantages. The first one is partial input. You don’t have to write the whole message at once because you can easily send additional pieces. The second advantage is the ease of interacting. By pressing on a bubble you can copy, edit, delete, share or reply to it. Those and many other features allow us to communicate at blazing speed with low effort.
Interestingly, people started using messengers not only for keeping conversations but also for a versatile range of other functions. A good example is Telegram, where individuals and organizations create channels for blogging, sharing news, building communities, and other purposes.
Messengers are effective in transferring information quickly and effortlessly regardless of the purpose. We realized that after using Telegram for taking notes for more than two years.
So, if messengers are powerful information channels we are strongly habituated to, can we utilize them to organize our ideas, notes, and other information more effectively? Yoosh is a try to answer that question.
The Yoosh app: description and key features
Yoosh is a messenger-like notes organizer. It utilizes your messaging habits and allows you to take notes quickly, easily, and smoothly whatever you’re doing.
Imagine that during a conversation, your friend describes a cool place he wants to visit. You think that it’s worth googling and need to note down its name. With traditional note-taking apps creating a new note usually requires locating and naming it. That takes effort but more importantly, that interrupts the flow of the conversation. Moreover, you now have a whole new note containing only one word. Not smart. With Yoosh you can open a channel, send a note in there and come back to the conversation without interrupting its flow. Fast and smooth process.
Here’re the key features of Yoosh:
- Messenger-likeness. Note bubbles are chained in channels just like messages in your chats. That habitual way of sending information makes note-taking smooth and keeps your flow going.
- Collaboration. Private channels are great for personal projects; with shared ones, you can brainstorm, store meeting notes, and create material bases together with your team.
- Customizable structure. Projects can be organized in different ways depending on their complexity. Some of them require multilevel folder structures, and some can be packed in one. Combining Spaces and Channels in Yoosh gives you the freedom to organize your notes the way it suits your needs.
Become an early explorer of Yoosh
We have been using messengers for taking notes for more than two years. Based on our experience, we decided to build a note-taking tool for people that value their focus and want to keep their flow smooth as we do. If you resonate with the idea, get the app and become an early explorer of Yoosh.
We will highly appreciate your feedback. All your ideas, comments, and bug reports are welcomed. Let us know what you think.
Thanks
Yoosh is based on Element, a secure instant messaging application built with Matrix technology. Matrix is an open and decentralized network that allows building secure communication tools and bridging them with other messaging apps. We are very thankful to both communities. Utilizing their solutions saved us a significant amount of development time.
Gathering feedback is an essential part of the lean development process we’re trying to use. We are very thankful to our test users for sharing their experiences.
