As a software engineer who sometimes designs things, I’ve always struggled with storing and organizing my ideas and inspiration. It’s frustrating to have an idea or find the perfect reference only to lose it in the depths of my hard drive.
And it's not just software stuff I've been hoarding. My collection's gotten pretty wild over the years - we're talking everything from cool room setups to random photos I've snapped, and even rough sketches for YouTube videos.
Finding the right solution has been a challenge for as long as I can remember. I’ve tried numerous apps, each with its pros and cons. Today, I want to share my journey and the solution I’m building to solve this problem.
The Goal
Here are the features I would like from an inspiration storage system:
- Speed: It needs to be fast and painless to store and catalog an item of inspiration. If it's slow, I'll store fewer items, and the system will be less useful.
- Reliability: I need to be 100% confident that the item is saved and backed up. Losing a lifetime of inspiration due to database corruption (for example) would be devastating.
- Ease of Use: I need to tag and retrieve items in a quick and intuitive interface.
- Multi-Platform: I regularly switch between a Mac, iPad, and iPhone, so the app needs to work seamlessly across all of them.
Solutions I’ve Tried
With these goals in mind, I have tried the following solutions, each of which has fallen short in some way:
The File System
Pros:
- Easy to take and save screenshots
- Universally accessible
- No reliance on third-party apps
Cons:
- Clunky tagging system
- Viewing inspiration isn’t as fluid as I’d like
Creativit
Pros:
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Good tagging system
Cons:
- Performance issues with large collections
- Syncing problems
- Lacks reliability for serious use
Notion
Pros:
- Versatile and customizable
- Good tagging system
Cons:
- Slow performance, especially with images
- Difficult to export and backup data
- Vendor lock-in due to clunky export feature
Note-Taking Apps
Apps like Evernote, OneNote, Google Keep, Bear, and Apple Notes:
Pros:
- Lots of collaboration features
Cons:
- More geared towards text-based notes than quick capture of images
- Performance issues with large collections of images
A New Solution
After trying these solutions, I’ve decided to build my own. Here’s the plan:
- Develop a multi-platform app for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and maybe visionOS.
- Allow the app to sync with iCloud for v1 and other providers (Dropbox, Box, etc) for v2
- Ensure capturing a piece of inspiration is quick and intuitive, possibly with Share Extensions.
- Use Apple’s AI SDKs to generate metadata suggestions for new inspiration automatically
- Allow bulk editing of inspiration
- Add backup functionality as a first-class feature
I’m going to call it Inspirio, based on the Latin word inspiro, which means to inspire.
If you’re interested in helping, I’m looking for beta testers. Email me at mike@mikebuss.com or follow me on X for an invite when the first version is ready - probably in the next month.