Top 5 Beautiful Note-taking Apps to Spark Creativity and Enhance Productivity

The creative process is a multi-faceted journey, one that involves different stages that sometimes require tools different from our normal ones. Authors, for example, often find themselves doodling mind maps or sketching figures, while designers will type out notes and tasks every so often. When it comes to tools like notebooks and paper, there is no one solution that rules them all, but apps offer a kind of synergy that isn’t possible with analog tools.

At the same time, there are in fact too many apps nowadays thriving on buzzwords like GTD, PKM, and AI, and a whole lot of them seem to be targeted at a more tech-savvy audience. Their power often comes with complexity and carries an aesthetic that will spreadsheet-lovers more than stationery collectors. Worry not, because there are indeed note-taking and productivity apps designed with creatives and creators in mind, and these are five of the most powerful and beautiful note-taking apps to help designers, artists, and writers collect inspiration and organize their ideas.

Milanote

Even before the whole tribe of powerful note-taking apps descended on the digital landscape, Milanote was already carving out a niche for itself. Designed specifically with designers in mind, the app offers just enough tools to help users gather as many bits and pieces of inspiration as they can and then organize their thoughts, references, and inspirations for use later.

Designer: Milanote

Milanote basically gives users an infinite canvas to pin card-like objects that can contain text, images, YouTube links, and checklists. These can be arranged in a column or float on their own, drawn over with scribbles, and connected with lines, giving them the freedom to create mood boards, palettes, charts, and other visually interesting compositions to help their creative process. At the same time, it also helps them keep tabs on their tasks with checklists and kanban boards.

Milanote has been around for almost a decade now and, unfortunately, its age is starting to show. Unlike other apps in this space, the selection of objects that you can embed in that canvas is quite limited. While it does keep things simple, it might also fail to give the tools designers need to go beyond these basic building blocks. Milanote’s pricing system hasn’t changed that much either and it is one of the more restrictive and expensive ones out there.

What We Like

• Clean and beautiful interface.
• Simple and easy to use.
• Available on Desktops and Mobile devices.

What We Don’t Like

• Very restrictive free tier, expensive pricing.
• Limited types of objects.

Scrintal

Although it started as something like yet another Notion alternative (more on that later), Scrintal recently launched a new version and a new image, billing itself as a “Playground for the Mind.” Instead of the more document-centric platform it once used, it now embraces a more visual approach to shaping your ideas and documenting your creative process.

Designer: Scrintal

Like with Milanote and other apps like it, Scrintal uses different kinds of blocks to represent objects, but this time with more variety and power. Not only are the more types of blocks, you can also do more with them, like structurally linking them instead of just drawing lines between them. And when you’re done with the free-form brainstorming process, you can actually convert your boards into more traditional structured documents.

If Milanote only had a very limited free tier, Scrintal doesn’t have one at all. You can have a free trial, but that’s pretty much it. And because its “2.0” version is quite new, there isn’t even any mobile app available yet. Of course, you’re unlikely to move blocks around on your phone or tablet, but just being able to view your notes anywhere can be quite convenient.

What We Like

• Powerful free-form canvas for doing anything you want.
• Link blocks not only visually but also logically.
• Switch between visual board and standard documents seamlessly.

What We Don’t Like

• New version doesn’t have mobile apps yet.
• No limited free tier.

AFFiNE

As powerful as many of these note-taking tools might be, very few of us really know what happens behind the scenes. It’s not just because they’re complicated pieces of software but also because we have no access to their code in the first place. Some people are more conscious about their privacy and data security, and AFFinNE tries to serve this user base by offering an open source platform where you can be in total control of your data.

Designer: AFFiNE

AFFiNE’s experience operates on two different levels. On the one hand, you have what looks like a traditional linear document, except that paragraphs are actually blocks that can be almost anything, from images to tables with sliders and controls. Literally flip the switch and you’re taken to an infinite whiteboard where you can arrange these elements in a more visual way.

AFFiNE is one of the very few open source apps in this space, and some might see its fast-paced development and changes as a sign of instability and unreliability. That said, its free tier is quite generous and its lowest paid tier is also affordable, though you will have to for a different subscription to have access to much-hyped AI features.

What We Like

• Generous free tier.
• Seamlessly blends linear documents and visual blocks.
• Open source software with self-hosting options coming soon.

What We Don’t Like

• Still new and undergoing many changes.
• AI features is a separate subscription.

Miro

Generating and organizing your own thoughts is one thing, but working with others can be quite a different beast. Different designers might have different requirements when it comes to their tools, and keeping everyone on the same page can sometimes feel like herding cats. Miro is built specifically to address the needs of collaboration, but rather than using a boring document or spreadsheet, it offers a lot of flexibility in how you express ideas and tasks.

Designer:

Miro makes working in teams not only more efficient but also a bit more fun. Visualization tools can speak louder than words, especially when they’re interactive and pleasing to look at. It also supports a wide variety of templates so you don’t always have to start a mind map or kanban board from scratch, further reducing time and friction.

This is one of the more mature products on this list and, unfortunately, it is also one of the more complicated and expensive ones. Targeted at creative professionals who mostly work with others, Miro has more disadvantages than advantages for the solo designer. It does have AI features to help condense the complexity, but, again, the pricing could be a little too much for individuals.

What We Like

• Plenty of tools for brainstorming, planning, and documentation.
• Expansive library of templates for different use cases.
• Mature and stable platform with large industry backing.

What We Don’t Like

• More oriented towards visual collaboration than individual ideation.
• Expensive pricing plans

Walling

If you’re looking for a more organized visual representation of your content without becoming a full-blown structured document, then Walling might suit your needs and aesthetic tastes. Using the metaphor of blocks, which it calls “bricks” here, you basically create walls of different types of bricks that include images, videos, text, tables, calendars, and more. And, of course, it also has AI to help you generate ideas and organize them.

Designer:

Unlike a more free-form infinite canvas, these bricks follow a grid-like pattern that makes them look more like neatly laid-out magazines than messy whiteboards. Indeed, Walling actually lets you publish your wall or even just a section of it, practically turning it into a webpage. It’s almost like a website builder, but with a lot more freedom in how you want to lay out your cards.

Although Walling has been around for half a decade now, it has only been recently making waves with its simpler and more straightforward interface compared to bloated visual note-taking apps. In that course of time, it has also adjusted its free tier to be a bit more useful, while its paid offerings are also priced competitively.

What We Like

• Clean user interface and magazine-like document layout
• Publishing walls or sections is a simple click.

What We Don’t Like

• No free-form canvas option.
• Heavy focus on AI features.

Honorable Mentions (or Why Your Favorite App Didn’t Make The Cut)

This list is almost literally just the tip of the iceberg. The so-called PKM space is overflowing with apps with a wide range of designs, capabilities, and target audiences. These might not even be the most popular in the market, but power and popularity don’t always translate to satisfying user experiences.

There are definitely more options available, though not all of them might appeal to designers, artists, and creatives. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention them, however, because people have different needs and tastes as well. If the previous five didn’t meet your requirements, the following apps could be more to your liking instead.

Notion and xTiles: Superpowered Databases

Databases and spreadsheets were traditionally seen as the purview of executives and IT, but the likes of Notion and xTiles have made them trendy among the productivity-loving crowd as well. In a nutshell, these platforms offer the ability to display the same piece of data in different ways, turning a line in a spreadsheet into a to-do list or a list of links into a grid of images.

Notion

Both these apps work on the level of “blocks,” which can almost be anything. Like Walling, they only allow a limited way of arranging these blocks, often in grids or columns. They are extremely powerful, appealing not just to advanced users but also to more creative people who want to bring their analog Bullet Journals to the digital world. All that power and flexibility, however, translates to complexity and, in many ways, visual chaos. It takes a lot of work to actually make good-looking pages, and you might find yourself losing time to that instead of actually doing creative work.

xTiles

Obsidian and Logseq: Privacy-First, Visuals Second

When people think of note-taking with computers and mobile devices, they most likely think of typed notes first. In this area, Obsidian and its open source rival Logseq are at the top of the food chain, offering the simplicity of text-based documents but with add-ons that go beyond just words. Both, for example, feature whiteboards and canvases where you can arrange and link your notes visually, mixing in some images and files as well.

Obsidian

Logseq

These apps value the privacy and longevity of the notes above all, which is why they adopted plain text as their primary document format and stored files locally on the device, with options to sync to the cloud at additional cost. These apps have a large treasury of plugins that add dashboards, spreadsheets, interactive elements, and whatnot to the experience, but at the end of the day, they’re still text-based, and that might be a bit limiting to visual note-takers.

MyMind and Google Keep: Pining for Pinterest

Pinterest is quite a popular resource for designers and artists, making its staggered grid (a.k.a. masonry) layout a favorite among those creating mood boards. It’s a simple design that adds visual interest without going overboard, and it’s the kind of layout that some note-taking apps are trying to adopt as well. It removes unnecessary features and distracting designs so you can simply focus on collecting references, jotting down inspiration, and scrolling through your gallery.

MyMind is a particular example of this design. With its simple and clean interface, it feels almost like Milanote but confined to this dynamic grid layout. It doesn’t come cheap, though, and has no free tier, but Google Keep comes close as a poor man’s moodboard option. That said, it really eschews the freedom of expression in exchange for a tidier space, something that could feel a bit suffocating for some users.

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