simple but pretty brainstorm app (mac)?

March 10, 2010 4:34 PM

Can anyone recommend a nice looking simple mac app to help me organise ideas/projects?

I'm looking for something that I can use to jot down ideas and possible projects and then list what is involved for each. I dont need any extra project management bells and whistles, just something I can have open all the time on my desktop to add to when the idea strikes!

posted by soymilk to Computers & Internet (21 answers total)

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, and I haven't used it personally (yet, but meaning to), but I've heard from a lot of people that Scrivener is a really useful tool.
posted by General Malaise at 4:37 PM on March 10, 2010

Personally, I like Evernote (www.evernote.com)... it's really flexible, offers a free version and supports a lot of platforms (Mac, PC, mobiles, Web etc.).

Scrivener can be used for note taking too (I love it for writing) but I think Evernote is a closer fit.
posted by teedee2000 at 4:43 PM on March 10, 2010

And Notational Velocity is the hacker's alternative to Evernote (plus it won't stick you with an ad)
posted by tmcw at 4:46 PM on March 10, 2010

OmniOutliner — It has a simple interface that hides away a lot of complexity that you may one day want.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:47 PM on March 10, 2010

Notational Velocity can be almost whatever you make it.
posted by mazniak at 4:49 PM on March 10, 2010

I use the built-in Stickies app for this. It's classic!
posted by dreamyshade at 4:55 PM on March 10, 2010

Yojimbo?
posted by infinitewindow at 4:58 PM on March 10, 2010

Definitely Notational Velocity. I keep it in the dock and use it all the time for note-taking, keeping track of URLs I want to link to in blog posts, etc.
posted by misha at 5:14 PM on March 10, 2010

Well, you'll need an internet connection for this, but I've never used or heard of anything better than The Big Picture. It is the awesomeness.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:55 PM on March 10, 2010

Webspiration is a web-based system I am using to organize a large project right now. It allows you to outline and make webs.
posted by TrarNoir at 6:20 PM on March 10, 2010

In the unlikely event that you're already a Vim user, there's Vim Outliner, a plugin that turns Vims into an editor for hierarchical outlines. It can do some quite complicated stuff, but I tend to use only the simplest features.

Note: I think this is great because I already use Vim for everything. Don't learn Vim just for this.
posted by k. at 6:27 PM on March 10, 2010

Not "Vims". I can't type.
posted by k. at 6:27 PM on March 10, 2010

Not an app per se, but Remember the Milk has been extremely useful for me. It's so easy and fun to use, I actually enjoy making lists with it.
posted by invisible ink at 7:07 PM on March 10, 2010

Notational Velocity is fantastic, and it also syncs with simplenote on the iphone. Evernote is great if you enjoy bloated, slow applications that are butt ugly.
posted by justgary at 7:41 PM on March 10, 2010

nthing Notational Velocity (paired with SimpleNote if you're iPhone-enabled). Power in simplicity.

As justgary says, Evernote is way too bloated for simple note-taking.
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:15 PM on March 10, 2010

TaskPaper + SimpleText from Hog Bay Software. Mac desktop and iPhone app versions.
posted by webhund at 8:38 PM on March 10, 2010

I've just started using MacJournal to keep class notes organised, and am very happy with it. It's a note taking app that is flexible and powerful enough to be a general project/file manager. It's on sale bundled with some other software which is hit and miss.
posted by carnival of animals at 11:45 PM on March 10, 2010

Things by Cultured Code
Notebook by Circus Ponies
Toodledo.com

Apologies for not providing links. I'm posting from my phone.
posted by 4ster at 4:32 AM on March 11, 2010

While the subject is open, does anyone know of a Windows desktop app that syncs with Simplenote?
posted by lostburner at 12:57 PM on March 11, 2010

My personal preference is VoodooPad. It's sort of a free form personal wiki and what I like about it is that it's completely unstructured and I can organize things the way they make sense to me. I learned about VoodooPad from this ask question two years ago actually, (thank you mac-way!) and I really can't imagine using anything else to organize my thoughts at this point. As you're seeing though there are lots of possible solutions for this sort of task, and I don't think any one is objectively best.
posted by dyslexictraveler at 2:10 PM on March 11, 2010

Thanks for all the ideas, I've had a fun few hours trying them all out!
I think Taskpaper is exactly the thing I am after: super simple and really easy to get the stuff from head to text asap :D
posted by soymilk at 9:42 PM on March 11, 2010