Inspiration
My inspiration came from the fact that I really liked creating schedules and writing down my ideas. Having a pretty rigorous school schedule gives me very little time to actually enact on my ideas and create the things that I want to create. At the same time, I want to be able to concentrate on my school work without the clutter of ideas and things I want to do taking space in my brain. This problem really inspired me to create something that'll allow me to map out my ideas in an easy and visually pleasing way. Many people I know tend to use paper or post its that easily get lost or never make a big enough impact. What motivated me even more was that creating this app will help these kind of people focus on their daily tasks while also not neglecting their ideas.
What it does
My app allows you to easily organize ideas in a visual way and forces you to break down larger concepts. You will create maps that are usually based off of one idea which you will then expand on. Just like the name states, each individual idea is held by a Node which can then be branched out with more related nodes. Each node can be edited and further description can be provided if necessary.
How I built it
I used the Xcode app provided by apple and coded my app in Swift. I also used multiple APIs for aesthetic purposes. I also used firebase as a database to store user mapping data.
Challenges I ran into
Even though I was really motivated to create this app, I realized the importance of breaks. Focusing on one thing for a long period time can cause a loss of motivation and burn out. Even though I didn't get to the point of burn out, at times I felt demotivated. This ended up in a huge loss of time which could've been easily solved if I took meaningful breaks.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Creating interconnecting Nodes that can be edited, moved, and scaled. Knowing how to use databases. Shipping to the app store.
What I learned
I learned that there is always the initial blockade that stops a lot of people from trying something new. Makeschool proved to be a good boost to push me into IOS development. I also learned how important user interaction and feedback is.
What's next for ProjectNode
Definitely better UI. Future features include map generation, collaboration, and maybe a social aspect implemented into the app.
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