Day One is a recent entry in the personal journaling camp. It’s simple, looks great, and doesn’t try to do everything. What it does do is encourage you to write. It does this by being beautiful, making everything easy, and by displaying regular reminders. At first I found the reminders that pop up from the menu bar to be a nuisance. Eventually, I started typing a quick sentence or two each time and that has led to writing a greater number of entries than I would if left to my own devices. If you don’t like the reminders, you can turn them off. Same with the “inspirational” quotes feature. I can live without those.

I’ve found that I’m using Day One like a personal Twitter. That is, most entries happen throughout the day in short bursts. This is the opposite of how I use my beloved paper journal. With that, I sit down deliberately and write for longer periods a few times a week. So there’s no danger of abandoning paper altogether, but with Day One I can supplement it nicely.

I’ve been using Day One every day for 32 days and have written entries on all but 4 of them. I’d say it’s working. The first release does not include search or export–both critical features for me–and both are slated for inclusion “over the next several months,” so I’ll be sticking with it.

There is also a version for the iPhone. I don’t like writing on the iPhone, but with easy-as-pie DropBox integration, I use it anyway.

If you’re a fan of Journler or current Momento for iPhone user, Day One might be a little light on features for you. For those of us just wanting to simply and easily jot a few daily notes, Day One is close to perfect.