in Kinopio, the thinking tool for building new ideas and solving hard problems. All posts are completely hand-written with zero AI.
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How Trove Brands Uses Kinopio
Kinopio helps the team at Trove work within that larger system and turn briefs into projects, and manage production pipelines.
The Journey to Bending Connections
For a couple months now, on and off, I’ve been working on ways to solve the problem of connection lines always appearing as lines between top-right item connectors.
Bulletin № 38, Busytown
It's not quite summer yet but the trees outside our new apartment make it feel like we're in a treehouse.
New Templates
The built-in templates were totally revamped.
Private Space Notes
For each space you get your own personal notepad in the sidebar that only you can see.
Lists
Lists let you vertically group and easily reorder cards.
Bulletin № 37, Year-End Investor Report
If you're reading this, as far as I’m concerned, you’re invested in the future of Kinopio.
Case Study: Kinopio for Agencies
It totally made my day when I received this email from an SEO agency in London.
About Page
New visitors to kinopio (and search engine robots) will see a new static About Kinopio page when visiting the site.
Bulletin № 36
Over the last couple months, I’ve spent more time coding and less time writing.
Bulletin № 35
It's really cool to see people using spaces in ways I never expected.
Compact Space Users List
When a space has too many spectators or collaborators to display comfortably, they'll nest inside a button
Making the Kinopio Source Code Public
The kinopio client application code is now open source
Collaborator Pings
Right-click to ping your position to everyone else in a space
Header Font Sizes
Make titles and headlines stand out – or Really stand out
Header Fonts
Change card or box h1/h2 fonts
Early May Bug Fixes and Enhancements
Journal Date Images
New journal spaces now start with date images generated each day for you
April Bug Fixes and Enhancements
All the bug fixes and little improvements from the last two weeks
Following and Everyone Feeds
Explore has a new design with Following and Everyone
Paint-Select Card and Line Options
Little quality of life updates for bulk actions on cards and connections
Server Issues and Performance Upgrades
Overhauled the server and database to make them substantially faster and more reliable
Performance Up ~33%
The latest Kinopio release brings ~33% faster interaction performance
Import/Export JSON Canvas
Import and Export spaces in the open JSON Canvas format
Tilt Cards
Angle cards for fun and emphasis by dragging their bottom-left corners
Space List Previews
Preview images next to each of your spaces, and community spaces
Invite by Email
Email space invites out to one or many people at once.
Offline Support
The latest release of Kinopio lets you work offline.
Bulletin № 34
This year-end bulletin will be a little different. I hope this look forward is interesting.
Linked Space Previews
Reposition connection labels to get them just right
Draggable Labels
Reposition connection labels to get them just right
Card Dragging Performance Up
Significantly improved smoothness of card dragging
Bulletin № 33
So for the last couple months I've been experimenting with cross-posting all my social media posts.
Generated Backgrounds
Generated backgrounds make finding the right vibe a lot easier
Lifetime Plan
Purchase a liftetime plan for $200
Bigger, Better Code Blocks
Save code snippets and give them context
Read-Only Invites
Invite someone to view a private space – but not edit it
Bulletin № 32
In the last bulletin, I promised that the next time I wrote you would be when the then-in-progress Kinopio for iOS was out. Well, now it is!
Improved Connection Highlighting
Visually untangle busy spaces
iOS App
Kinopio for iOS is here
Card Text Editor
Open the sidebar to edit cards like text blocks
Dark Backgrounds
When dark mode is enabled, grid backgrounds will display new dark versions
Bulletin № 31
While I was in Bali last month, I had lunch with Lucas and asked if he'd be interested in making a Kinopio iOS app
Public Presence and Painting
When viewing a public space, your cursor position and paint strokes are broadcasted to everyone else viewing that space
Embed Any Site
Bring more of the web into your spaces by pasting in songs, albums, and document links
Card Counters
Add a numerical count to your cards for voting on ideas, to assign meanings like priority, or just to count things
Journal Prompt of the Day
Inspiration and introspective prompts generated each day for your new journal spaces
Bulletin № 30
Starting a couple weeks ago, I've paused making big new features in favor of fixing bugs and polishing details
Community Backgrounds
Now every card has it's own URL that you can share with other people directly
Card Links
Now every card has it's own URL that you can share with other people directly
Updated Hello Space
A new editable space that welcomes new users, saying less and showing more
Magic Paint Select
Painting to select cards, boxes, and connections is faster and more responsive
Bulletin № 29
Starting a couple weeks ago, I've paused making big new features in favor of fixing bugs and polishing details
Notifications v2
Redesigned notifications will let you know when someone likes your spaces and follows you
Card URLs Hidden by Default
When you paste into cards, URLs are now be hidden by default so that just the preview info displays
Transparent Color Slider
More creative controls to get your cards looking *just* right
Search All Spaces
Forgot which space you put an idea in? Search all spaces for your cards
Bulletin № 28
I’ve been thinking for a while about how to grow awareness for Kinopio, and I keep coming back to the same problem
Search Backgrounds
Find the perfect background for the tone of your space
Refer a Friend
When you find something sweet, it's even sweeter when you share it with a friend
Connections to Comments
Connection lines appear transparent when connected to a comment card
Bulletin № 27
Looking back over this very long list of changes it feels like I built a whole other app in that time
Streamlined Backgrounds
The UI for changing space backgrounds has been streamlined to be more direct and intuitive to use
Dark Mode
Whether you're a night owl or into the mysterious and cool, dark mode is here for you
Pen Pals Frame
The perfect frame for your missives and manifestos
Raycast Extension
Quickly capture ideas to your inbox with the Kinopio extension for Raycast
Box Snapping
Drag boxes close to each other to snap them together
Z-Toggle Zoom Out
Press Z to instantly zoom all the way out or in. A little feature that gives you big perspective
Inbox Cards List
The inbox is great for quickly capturing ideas – now it's just as easy to get those cards out of your inbox and into your current space
Color Swatch Cards
If a card is named as a color – like `pink` or `#5e978b` – then it'll become that color
Presentation Mode
Share → Present to hide the Kinopio UI and put the focus solely on your content
Positional Zoom
Drag the zoom slider or hold cmd/ctrl while scrolling to zoom out for perspective on large spaces
Bulletin № 26
Many weeks ago, when I still lived in the area, we went to a pottery event in Brooklyn
Plan With Your Team
Track your Media
Present Research
Journal Your Routine
Make a Personal Homepage
Track To-dos and Tasks
Diary your Hobbies
Bulletin № 25
I recently watched a short video about an illustrator who lived on a remote island in Maine, where he worked in an old wooden barn
Bulletin № 24
I recently got back from a two week trip to France, the first vacation-like thing I’ve had in years. The best thing we ate wasn’t a fancy croissant, or an upscale Parisian dish, but some wild blackberries growing by the side of the road after a short hike
Welcome Friends
The Kinopio blog is open for business. Relive memories of email bulletins past, and subscribe for bulletins to come. Possibly other things too
Bulletin № 23
The theme of this bulletin is 'friendship'. Though I didn't know it would be when I started writing
Bulletin № 22
We're coming up on the Kinopio's third birthday, here's to another year of creative spatial thinking and new connections
Bulletin № 21
As a software maker working by myself, almost all my meetings are between the left and right sides of my brain. I'm pretty good company so I usually don't mind, but sometimes these pow-wows get nebulously pendulous
Bulletin № 20
I’ve noticed that people use Kinopio in two broadly different ways,
Bulletin № 19
This is the first bulletin of 2022, so maybe you thought I was going to write something about the new year? No way – I want to talk about the FM tuner on my new radio
Bulletin № 18
When I send these bulletin emails I kind of enjoy the out of office auto-responder messages I get back
Bulletin № 17
Continuing from the last bulletin, I spent the last couple weeks working on making every interaction, like loading spaces, scrolling, painting, dragging and editing cards 2-5x faster and more responsive
Bulletin № 16
The goal of these Kinopio bulletins is to be interesting. That usually means talking about some cool new feature or a pop-up shop – but this bulletin has neither.
Bulletin № 15
A couple months ago, I commissioned the Elmer Gomer embroidery company to create 20 Kinopio patches.
Bulletin № 14
This is my second time launching on Product Hunt. The first time was honestly pretty stressful. But the exposure, support – and eventually new customers – was a much needed help
Bulletin № 13
In theory, every marketing website has the same job, "hey this thing can help you, you should use it". But writing, designing, and building the new <About Kinopio page really took it out of me.
Bulletin № 12
In the last Bulletin, I asked for your thoughts on how to grow the audience for Kinopio. I was surprised how many responses and helpful ideas I received
Bulletin № 11
It’s a weird feeling to be reunited with all your possessions after having them in storage for ~half a year. “I totally forgot I owned this”, “Huh, what’s this thing?”
Bulletin № 10
Waiting for yet another plane, to yet another location. This time, to New Jersey. Supposedly this is the last move I'll have to make in a while, but it's hard for me to believe.
Bulletin № 9
Have you ever heard of the Nakagin Capsule Tower?
Bulletin № 8
This week I started reading ‘Ask Iwata’, a collection of essays by the late/former boss of Nintendo. When I think of CEOs, I picture people who really want to be charismatic visionaries who have all the answers. “Hang on to me, I will fly us to the future”
Bulletin № 7
This month and next, I'm living in a magical attic in still-sometimes-snowing Windsor, Ontario.
Bulletin № 6
I got engaged to this cool weirdo (send help)
Bulletin № 5
Lately, I've been thinking about this small farmhouse I found in the woods, surrounded only by acres of empty fields. It's all boarded up and there are never any snow prints in the ground around it
Bulletin № 4
So I found out that I had an eye infection which was blurring my vision. Yuck, but I'm already healing up.
Bulletin № 3
My eyes have been sore lately, so to take a break from screens I dusted off my childhood keyboard, a chunky Yamaha (PSR-510) covered in mysterious and colorful buttons, knobs, and dials.
Bulletin № 2
I'm back in Toronto and fortunately I still like snow. I've got a new mac and a very suburban winter view. Time for some good typing.
Bulletin № 1
Hello from sunny winter San Diego. Although I have to go back to Canada soon... for now though, the moisture, sunlight, and fresh air is really healing me.