Enter

I was having a really fun time designing the app in Adobe XD. For a while, I just kept designing wireframes one after another. I would finish one complete design of the app, copy-and-paste it, and rapidly re-iterate changes. When I felt good about a design, I printed off the key screens and attacked them at all angles.

I must say, while the design has changed SO much since these initial wireframes, I attribute my unique insight to these days of wireframing. I have such a deep understanding of each screen in the app. What each screen HAS to do, what each screen SHOULD do, and what each screen SHOULD NOT do.

But finally, I set on a design I was happy with to start developing.
It would be the first app I had developed, with no experience coding for mobile. But I had recently built and deployed chrispalumbo.com, which gave me the confidence that I could build anything I wanted to.

After I had the initial motivation to build the app, I realized that there were a lot of things to learn before I could finalize any design strategy. So I went to Udemy to find courses on user-experience and user-interface design.

I completed 3 courses in the same amount of days. Next, I purchased “The Elements of User Experience” book written by Jesse James Garret and studied it well.

Everything was coming naturally. I basked in the excitement of finding a field that I had fun learning, and that I had a project to immediately apply it to.

It's three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and I'm living in my parent's house. Spending most of my days reading books, listening to podcasts, and writing in a journal.

I specifically remember on this day I was re-reading Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life and was on Rule 7 (my favorite rule) when I suddenly wanted to start taking detailed notes on what I was reading. So I opened Notion and started to organize a note-taking strategy for book notes. I can't explain how I knew, or what exactly I was feeling, but I had the realization that I was never going to keep up with this book note-taking habit with a tool as feature-heavy as Notion. I needed something intimate. Something that felt more like a personal lifestyle companion, instead of a powerful productivity work tool. As I said, I can't describe what I felt in that moment, but I can at least describe what followed.

So, what did I do?
I went to my journal and started writing down what I'd want in a notes app for all my book, podcast, and video notes. Of course, I still possess this journal entry and I'm looking at it now as I write.

Next, I sat down in front of a blank wireframe on Adobe XD and started designing the app that I wanted to see.

The rest is history.