Day One through the eyes of different geeks
One of the things that I started doing in 2013 is using the app Day One, a simple Journal app for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Day One is a simple way to journal. It’s easy to quickly enter your thoughts and memories and have them synced and backed up in the cloud. iCloud or Dropbox syncing to the beautiful Day One Mac desktop application and the iPhone and iPad apps. Day One is well designed and extremely focused to encourage you to write more.
This is going to be a long one, a good weekend read, if I may dare.
I am not going to review it or anything, many have already done so far better than I could, but I thought it would be interesting to ask different people a few questions about how they use this app, in order to get a perspective of the different uses it can lend itself to.
I decided to reach out to some Italian bloggers and Twitter friends: Andrea (x2), Diego, Fabrizio, Federico, Manuel and Marco. They all have different backgrounds and passions, with one thing in common: they have interesting opinions and always say relevant things. I am not as interesting as they are, but I answered my own questions in the end anyway.
Briefly introduce yourself
What do you like about Day One?
Which version of the app do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
What features would you add in Day One?1
Below, what they had to say, in no particular order if first submitted first posted (yes, I am last, you can grasp how lazy I am):
Briefly introduce yourself
I am a graphic designer with many passions. I love photography, technology and oriental culture. I like keeping track of almost everything and having it all under control and in order. I constantly live with my iPhone in the pocket and my MacBook Air on the legs.
What do you like about Day One?
Its philosophy. It's simple but extremely efficient. It's a diary, an archive, a block note.
Which version of the app (Mac, iPhone, iPad) do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
My favorite is the iPhone version (I don't have an iPad) because of some additional feature but, truth be told, they're two completely different sides of the same app with two different kinds of usage. I use it on the iPhone during the day to jot down ephemeral emotions that can't wait for me to get home to my Mac. Two, three lines maximum to describe a unique sensation that I know it will not happen again. "I saw a white butterfly. It was beautiful.". The Mac version, instead, it's the complete opposite and I use it at night to write everything that happened during the day.
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
I am going to use it the same way I did until now. The difference between 2012 and 2013 is just a number, in reality it doesn't change a thing. I will annotate small emotions with the iPhone while I will describe the various happenings of the day with the Mac. Maybe starting with "Dear Diary".
What features would you add in Day One?
Integration with the events in the calendar and the completed to-do's. This way, even if you don't write a thing, you already know where you went that day and what you did. Much more interesting than weather...3
Briefly introduce yourself
I'm Federico, an Italian Podcaster who loves technology (and English of course).
What do you like about Day One?
Most of the time, when I was angry, happy, or anxious, I used to tweet or post on Facebook what was in my mind, but I realized that that wasn't the best way to share my feelings. So whenever I grabbed my iPhone and started composing a tweet, I tried to avoid that and I switched to Day One instead. It worked and now I couldn't be happier. This is what Day One is to me: it is a recollection of feelings.
Which version of the app (Mac, iPhone, iPad) do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
It really depends on what I need to write. Most of the times I use my iPhone, which is always in my pocket, ready to capture my thoughts: something happens, I grab it and start writing. Sometimes I prefer the iPad or Mac version instead, especially when I want to write long stories or review previous entries I wrote with the iPhone. And of course, the iPad is my device of choice when it comes to read.
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
Since 2013 will be my second year of Day One, first of all I'm going to give a read to the entire 2012 which has been an important year for my life: I started questioning my-self about how I live my life, what's wrong and what I could improve, and believe me, Day One helped me a lot. Then I'll keep writing what changes my mood, or makes me feel bad, or why some day deserves to be remembered.
What features would you add in Day One?
iCloud (which means you'll never loose your memories), markdown support, geo-localization and starred entries are what I needed, and they're all already available. The simpler the better.
Briefly introduce yourself
Well, hi! I'm Diego Petrucci, the handsome guy in charge of bringing you internet awesomeness on Twitter. Jokes aside, I run a blog about Apple, the interwebs, minimalism, and design: Il Mac Minimalista. I talk weekly about the same topics in Pausa Caffè, the best espresso-themed podcast in Italy. I'm also a student of Medicine in Pisa — but no, I won't give you medical advices.
What do you like about Day One?
The experience. I guess I could be more original, but that is fundamentally what it boils down to. Writing in Day One feels like writing in a comfy and private place — sometimes I feel like I'm able to smell the fragrance of just-lit candles too, it's that good. Plus, the sync: I can write everywhere I am with any device (Mac, iPad, iPhone) I own. That is something pen and paper can't replace. What kind of weirdo brings a Moleskine to a party? These «high-intensity» situations are the ones where I often feel the need to burst out a few paragraphs, my iPhone is always with me to help me record them forever.
Which version of the app (Mac, iPhone, iPad) do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
I use all of them. The iPhone app is great because the iPhone is always with me, but the keyboard is too cramped for longer thoughts. The iPad app is a good one too, I've recently bought an iPad mini and I consider it a revolution, like the introduction of the original iPhone was. So yes, writing in the iPad app is great too. The Mac app is the one I use less, but it probably is the most important one, I write longer thoughts in it thanks to the great physical keyboard.
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
As I did in 2012: to write private thoughts about myself, what is happening to me and my family, and ultimately about my life. One thing I love about Day One is the ability to upload images: I often add screenshots to my entries, like I did when my girlfriend changed the title of our anniversary from «4 years» to «4 years <3». This is something I want to be able to experience again in the future, these bursts of pure happiness. It may sound stupid or trivial to you, but it's not for me — and the fact that it matters to me it's only thing I care about.
I know the future Diego will be a different person: different beliefs, opinions, and way of thinking. My goal with Day One is to provide him a glimpse of his past — what he felt when he was in love, how he reacted when he failed his first exam, and what his body looked like after six months of hard training and rigid discipline. My biggest fear is to forget who I was, I want to be able to recall past emotions and even mistakes because having that kind of empathy is, in my opinion, what being a decent human being is all about.
What features would you add in Day One?
Day One is already good enough, but if I were a developer I'd add the ability to add more than one image to an entry. There are certain times when I want to save a couple of pics (example: a party) without having to create different entries.
Briefly introduce yourself
I'm a web designer who can only think when he reads his own writing.
What do you like about Day One?
What I like the most is that it's private, I can write everything I want to write, unfiltered. Day One is my best friend, Twitter is my best friend's friend I just want to impress. Another thing I like is that it gives a little more context to my life. If you are to ask me where I was 6 months ago I'd have no idea, but thanks to Day One not only I know where I was, but I know what I was feeling, what I was struggling with, or what I was happy for.
Which version of the app (Mac, iPhone, iPad) do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
I only use the iOS version of Day One, 90% of times on my iPad, not that the iPhone version is worse, but writing long–ish entries is always a pain on a smartphone.
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
I'm going to write even more freely, and I hope more frequently (I have been using the app since the beginning of December, 2-3 times a week). Then I want to start revisiting the past, like reading my diary from 3 months ago every evening, I think it will give me a better sense of what I'm doing with my life, and maybe even where I'm going.
What features would you add in Day One?
First of all I would like to see real post encryption, there's a feature to turn on a passcode lock inside the app but the post are plain text in Dropbox. Then I would like the app to give even more context, but this is a tough one, I tried Slogger for a few days but I quickly grew tired of it because I was feeling like someone else was writing my diary instead of me, and I don't really want that. Maybe the app could be smarter and ask me if what I did that day was relevant, like if I add a book on Goodreads, it could ask me if I want to write something about it or if it inspired something, if it made me think about x differently, but the risk of making the app overly complicated is always present, so it may not be a good idea after all.
Briefly introduce yourself
Hello everybody, my name is Andrea Barbaini and I'm 29 years old. At the moment I'm unemployed but I hope to find a new job as soon as possible. I spend most of my time (these days) on Twitter and the web to find interesting news to read and other cool stuff that meets my interests. I call myself a citizen of the web, because I like to learn something new every day.
What do you like about Day One?
Can I say everything? I like the UI, the fonts and the colors they used in the app. All these aspects turn Day One into a really stunning app. I also like the new features like the tags, the Markdown support, etc. Day One has become more than a simple journal app and the potential is very high.
Which version of the app (Mac, iPhone, iPad) do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
I only own an iPhone 4S and so I'm "obliged" to use only that version. But I think that people that use Day One "must" also buy the Mac version.
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
I reconsidered Day One by the end of 2012. In 2012 I was using Day One as a simple diary saving some pictures and some random thoughts. In 2013 I want to use Day One as my personal place where I save everything that happens in my life, what happens in the tech world, articles I read and so on. Nowadays the things I want to remember are becoming really too many, and so Day One will be my personal "digital reminder for everything I want to remember".
What features would you add in Day One?
I don't have a Mac and so i miss the features that Slogger offers. I need to have one place where I can store everything that regards my digital life. But it looks that in 2013 something big will happen to Day One (someone says a Day One 2.0 update?). It would also be great if Day One created a yearly summary of your entries and if it introduced a web application. With these features it would become a perfect application/web service.
Briefly introduce yourself.
First of all, thanks for having me here. This is one of those few blogs I check regularly - one of my kindlings - so it's great to be here. Moving on, I'm Fabrizio Rinaldi - also known as linuz on the web - and I do a lot of stuff (probably too much for me to handle). In a nutshell I'm a filmmaker, blogger, podcaster, student, geek. I study cinema in Bologna - a second home for me - and I'm a tech addict, but you already know that. I'm 22 but, who cares? We're on the internet.
What do you like about Day One?
In my experience it feels like it's exactly what it should be, like every bit of it is in its right place. There's not friction at all: you launch it, write, edit, read, close it. Moreover, it supports Markdown and, as you already know, I'm a huge fan of Markdown: it's not just a syntax, it's a mindset. I generally also like the UI, the smoothness, the ease of use. One last thing: it's easy to explain what it does. It may sound silly, but when you can't explain what a software does in a few seconds, there's probably something wrong with it.
Which version of the app (Mac, iPhone, iPad) do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
I own a non-Retina MacBook Pro and an iPhone 5, and I actually like both versions of the app. Well, incidentally, I feel like the iOS version is way more polished, but I guess the Retina display helps a lot; I find some textures and details on the OS X version a little weird and unpolished. I also must tell you that generally I find the overall iOS software experience smoother and 'sharper', but I suppose that on a Retina MBP Day One looks gorgeous.
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
I don't know. I really like this app and I sincerely want to write down my thoughts frequently and maybe read them next year, but in my previous attempts I didn't succeeded in making this thing a real habit. Maybe 2013 will be the year, but I'm not sure. Right now I'm setting other habits, but I can't tell you more about that; for what it's worth, Habit List is going to help me.
What features would you add in Day One?
The app looks fine to me now - I don't want too many options, settings or features. I'm not that kind of geek. These days I'm enjoying softwares who let me do just a handful of things and do it great. You already know what I'm talking about: iA Writer, Clear, Twitterrific and Day One itself. I surely want the app to keep getting better, but I don't actually want more stuff in it. Well, actually there's one little thing: I'm a typography enthusiast, so I'd love to have even more fonts to choose from. Skolar and Proxima Nova would really make me happy.
Briefly introduce yourself
My name is Gianfranco, I spend my time mostly writing witty and interesting tweets. In my spare time I also work at an advertising company, study for my Marketing Management degree, boxe and try to have a fulfilling life while trying to absorb as much info as humanly possible.
What do you like about Day One?
The thing I like the most it's its interface: everything is simple yet gorgeous, from the looks to the sounds. I think that this is what drove me the most in using the app.
Which version of the app do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
I don't have an iPhone4, so I only use Day One from the comfort of my home, on the iPad or Mac. I mostly use the iPad app, as it's always with me. The thing I miss the most from not having it on my smartphone is the fact that I can't write whenever I want to (when the desire arises and the inspiration strikes) and I can't add easily pictures. All in all, I'd say that if you have a Mac and an iPad, get the iPad app.
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
I used Day One in 2012 with mixed results: my objective was to write three good things that happened everyday, in order to bring some optimism more optimism to my life. This year I started with writing a post with all my "new year resolutions", and tagging them. Through the use of tags and by writing what I did each day, I'm going to try tracking all my different goals throughout the year. I'll also try adding at least one relevant picture each day.
What features would you add in Day One?
Like Marco5, and most of the others (except Federico, he's really in love with the app the way it is), I'd love to see the app becoming "more intelligent" and integrated with the various social services, like Foursquare, Goodreads, Facebook and so on, in order to have it asking you relevant questions about your day to day life and significant happenings. Also: more pictures per entry and font choices.
Briefly introduce yourself
My name is Andrea, I study financial stuff at a Master of Science in Milan and sometimes I try to help people getting the most out of the expensive devices they buy on my blog, ZenMac. I am also an electronic dance music producer and a DJ, part of the duo Timezero. We keep a podcast Stars, that should be issued much more frequently. I always strive to combine writing, finance, music and technology in the most effective way.
What do you like about Day One?
I've always been fascinated by the idea of keeping a personal journal and I tried many times. Most of my attempts were on paper, with the most recent ones on gorgeous Moleskine notebooks, but none of them was successful. Day One changed all of that being exactly what I was looking for. A digital journal has enormous advantages: it's safe(er), you don't need to hide it under your briefs in the closet, you can't forget it at home, you can't forget where you put it. These are all the common problems I usually have with non-digital things.
I love the way it syncs. It's one of the best sync system I have ever tried: I never had duplicates or conflicts and it's lightning fast. I am also a huge fan of the clean, sleek interface. I just wouldn't use it with a cluttered UI. But best of all, it's continuosly updated at a very fast and constant pace. I love developers who keeps supporting users and giving love to their products.
There's another thing that me and many other people are appreciating about Day One: its ability to export the database on a single text file. Text files are just the only thing that I feel future-proof and this feature gives me an enormous peace of mind. Just some days ago I tried to export all the data and launch the print dialog: it was seventyfour pages.
Which version of the app (Mac, iPhone, iPad) do you prefer and which one do you use the most?
I have both the Mac and the iOS versions, but I mainly use it on my iPhone. I am way faster at typing on the small iPhone portrait keyboard than on my iPad and since I usually type when I am in my bed just before going to sleep, my Mac would need me to get out from my bed. And I usually don't see that happen.
How are you going to use Day One in 2013?
Actually, I think I'm going to use it exactly as I'm doing now. I keep track of my goals, I write about my challanges, setbacks, happy times and usually keep reminding me how lucky I am to have the girlfriend I have. Recently I tried to get to use tags more, but since I didn't feel too much the need of them I am constantly forgetting them. I can't even complain about my persistance, since it's already two years that I'm writing steadily.
What features would you add in Day One?
I don't really want Day One to gather stuff from other services I use. I feel the app to be a private spot, with only the contents I write and choose to put in it. With this idea in mind, there aren't too many features that I would like to see implemented. I would be happy to see a better integration of pictures, especially in the exporting of the data, and less issues with weather and GPS information. But to be honest, it's just great as it is now. I really hope that developers will continue to take the simplicity of this wonderfully uncluttered interface whenever they decide to add new stuff.
I really enjoyed writing, as much as I hope you will enjoy reading, this article for a couple of different reasons.
First and foremost because what these people have to say is very interesting and always spot on; not only here but in all the writing they do on their websites, blogs and Twitter accounts. They are, for different reasons, big inspirations for me and what I try to do on this website. Links are provided aplenty and you can use them to browse their work, and get to know them a little better. I like to think about this article not only as an analysis about Day One but mostly as the chance of getting to know different geeks and how they think and express themselves about a topic as narrow as digital journaling. As you might notice their words reveal far more than the simple use of an app; they are a gateway to their different ways of thinking and, more in general, of confronting life.
Second, I like to think to this 3.500+ words not as my work but as a collaborative effort. I have a strong opinion towards collaboration, and that opinion is that not only it yields better results than personal effort but it is also the way to go - in all of life's aspects.
Last but not least, through the different opinions of Andrea (x2), Diego, Fabrizio, Federico, Manuel and Marco, you can get a glimpse of how Day One can be used and why it should be used. Hopefully it will provide some much needed inspiration for the year that has just started.
Read, enjoy, share, discuss. And may the force be with you.
Edit: Thanks to @grahamrose for pointing a spelling mistake in the header image.
Edit2: I added the answers for yet another geek, Andrea Mitrani and changed the post accordingly.
Question suggested by Andrea. ↩︎ ↩︎
Manuel's answers have been translated by me from Italian to English. To receive forgiveness he made the awesome header image. ↩︎
Couldn't agree more. More integration and automation, but let it be intelligent. ↩︎
I feel like I'm the only one around here that doesn't have it these days. ↩︎
Thank god they all have different names, so it's easy to refer to them by the first name only. There are two Andrea's now. Thanks a lot. ↩︎
