Listening to the Mac Power Users podcast #650: Craft Deep Dive earlier this week got my attention focused on the Craft app. I’ve had it installed on my Mac for over a year now, but haven’t done much with it.
I figured out how to easily create a few documents and emails containing links to books, but hadn’t used it for much else. I’ve always been impressed with the app’s sense of beautiful design and aesthetics. It makes it easy to create beautiful and functional documents, not just functional documents.
The last couple of days, I’ve read numerous articles on how to use Craft and watched several videos. For those interested in learning how to use Craft see The Craft Bible by Numeric Citizen.
Weekly Reviews Using the Drafts App
For the past year and half, I have done my weekly reviews of my life roles and ideal descriptions on a template in Drafts. At the end of the roles review, I also have a set of questions and actions to complete preparing for my next week of work.
While functional, it is not the most beautiful document to look at. It gets the job done, but since it’s written in Markdown, it includes all the usual symbols along with the text. I’ve installed a custom template to add some color to the document, but it’s still pretty blah.
Transferring My Weekly Reviews to the Craft App
Some weeks it’s difficult to find the motivation to get through my weekly review. I know they’re important, and I’ve committed to doing them, but some weeks it’s tough to do.
I’m the kind of person that likes to work in a beautiful setting, particularly when I’m working on a computer. I use Macs because they have a beautiful user interface, and are pleasurable to use. If all I cared about was functional, I’d still be using MS-DOS.
After spending some time learning about how to use Craft, this morning I decided to try moving my weekly review process to Craft. I was hoping that I could improve the document’s visual attractiveness, and therefore make the process itself more appealing.
I spent about two hours deciding how I wanted to structure the review in Craft, and experimenting with various design components. Since Craft works with Markdown, I simply selected text in my Drafts document and dragged it over to my Craft document. Rather than showing all the Markdown symbols in the text, it simply applies it to Craft’s formatting for a clean, simple text.
I’m very pleased with the results. I could never have imagined that a novice user such as myself could produce such a beautiful and fully functional document within a couple of hours.
Weekly Review: Drafts vs. Craft
1. Life Roles Comparison
Sample section of my life roles review in Drafts:
Sample section of my life roles review in Craft:
2. Weekly Questions Comparison
My weekly questions in Drafts:
My weekly questions in Craft:
As you can see, there is a huge difference in the visual appeal of the Drafts documents versus the Craft documents. I’d much rather do my weekly review using the Craft version than the Drafts version.
Craft excels at being able to easily link documents to one another. For the Craft version of the roles review and to reduce clutter, I decided to take advantage of linking and make a roles directory listing all of my roles on one document.
Each role can be clicked on to go to another page that lists the role, asks my three review questions, and describes the ideal role I have written. Each also has the visual impact of a photo of the person in a relationship role, or a generic photo from Unsplash (already linked to within Craft) that represents the role. When I’m done with one role, I can click back to my master roles page and select the next.
There is no way I could have created these documents in one morning using traditional graphics and word-processing apps. Craft makes it easy to add color to text, include a present page style (the clouds background), and add a cover image from Unsplash or an image file.
Easier Weekly Reviews?
Will these changes make it easier (or at least less burdensome) to complete my life roles review and weekly questions? I don’t know. I do know the documents are much more visually appealing, and I’ll enjoy looking at and working with them much more than I did when I was using Drafts.
I’m sure I’ll continue to experiment and tinker with the design in Craft. Craft makes it easy to try different colors, headings, page styles, and card styles. I’ll likely try moving some of my other systems into Craft as well. I’m considering putting together a dashboard that links to all of the areas I put into Craft.
If you’re the kind of person who appreciates design and beauty in the apps you use, I’d encourage you to download Craft and give it a try. They have a free version and a pro version for $5 a month on a yearly basis. They also have educational and military vet discounts that can be obtained by writing them.