Every once in a while, you come across an app, and think to yourself—"sweet fancy Moses...this thing was made for me". Well maybe not in those words, but you know what I'm getting at. I recently noticed that there was a site linking back to me called Visual Thesaurus. But before I even noticed this, Uber writer Ann Handley included this tool in her 8 Writing Tools post over at Marketing profs. So forgive me Ann—I just got around to messing with it today (hey, give me a break—you see how much I blog). :)
Here's what I'm loving about this little gift to writers.
The Visual Part
OK, you all know that I'm visual as hell. So this little gem of a Thesaurus lets you type in a word and then visualizes related words in an organically mapped out way (see brand example above). It's a great way to digest all of your options at a glance.
I Need a Digital Thesaurus
I'm at the point where I really need to start using a Thesaurus. some people actually think I am a writer. This frightens me because I have no training in writing and really don't even know the basics. It's pretty much all done from instinct and the gut. Which is fine, but will only get you so far. I also need the digital part—I don't care for paper as much as I used to. I like the convenience of digital along with options to e-mail and print if I feel the need to have something in my hand.
I like Good Design
This thing was just designed well—that's all there is to it. It's packs a lot of functionality in a small space and it didn't take me long to figure out how to master it. I really liked the panels on the side which offered up nouns, adjectives and verbs.
Verdict:
Yeah, I'll subscribe. At under 20 bucks a year, this thing is a bargain. So in a few months if you feel like the writing here got just a little better—you'll know why.
