June 10, 2020
It’s our birthday! A year in review
One year ago today, Ayoa was launched. A culmination of our two former products, iMindMap and DropTask, Ayoa embraced new technology on our mission to become an all-in-one web-based mind mapping tool that is accessible by all no matter where they’re working from.
This year has been an exciting time for Ayoa – crammed with innovation, new releases, and new experiences. As we blow out the candles on our first birthday with our new name, we take a look back at what we’ve achieved over the past 12 months, and what we hope to accomplish as we head full-steam into our next year.
What have we achieved?
From idea to action
When iMindMap and Droptask officially became Ayoa in June 2019, mind mapping, task management and team collaboration became one. We turned these already powerful apps into a web-based platform that allowed our users to generate and develop great ideas, turn these into actions, and collaborate with their team – all in one workspace.
Soon after, we introduced hand-drawn-inspired organic mind mapping to Ayoa – a new and improved version of our previous organic mind mapping feature. Unlike most other apps on the market, Ayoa allows for the creation of organic, curved branches much associated with the traditional mind map famed for its ability to boost creativity, memory and productivity.
Inspired by a previous feature from our days as iMindMap, we then introduced pie-chart-style Radial Maps to Ayoa earlier this year. By providing a 360° view of your tasks or goals, the radial map is a unique and striking way to present your ideas.
Better sharing options
We want you to be able to share your Ayoa mind maps with whoever you like, however you like! And that’s why we have expanded our exporting options. Mind Maps in Ayoa can now be exported to a Word Document, PDF (image or text doc), PNG or JPEG image.
Earlier this year, we also introduced public mind map sharing to Ayoa – allowing users to easily share their maps with others simply by switching the map to ‘public’ and sharing the public URL wherever they like. This is perfect for sharing on social media, forums, at events, or to any larger group.
Picture perfect
Here at Ayoa, we’re all about the visuals! Did you know that the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text? We want Mind Mapping in Ayoa to be as visually stimulating as possible – making it as powerful a tool as it can possibly be. This year, we introduced new image capabilities that allow you to add images and emojis to your maps, as well as change the alignment and scale. We have also more recently released background colors. The result? Beautiful mind maps that are engaging, professional, and enjoyable both to create and share!
We’re multilingual!
As a global brand, we want everyone to be able to enjoy Ayoa at its best. And that’s why we’re proud to have launched Ayoa in three additional languages (Korean, Japanese and French) within our first year, with even more (including Chinese and Portuguese) coming soon!
Remote working
The first few months of 2020 have been a strange, difficult and isolating time for many of us. With the outbreak of COVID-19, we saw a huge shift in businesses operating from homes all over the globe, and many began the search for a work management tool that would facilitate this new way of working. Ayoa is designed with flexibility in mind, and we are proud to be able to provide businesses and individuals with a free tool that allows them to manage workloads and projects wherever they are based. Over the past few months, we have been working hard to develop our remote working features and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future as remote working weaves its way into our everyday lives.
The best possible experience
When it comes to usability, we want Ayoa to be as smooth and intuitive as possible. That’s why we’re constantly listening to your feedback and making continual improvements to Ayoa, because we know it’s those little things that really make the difference. So keep letting us know how we can improve your Ayoa experience – we’re all ears!
What’s our plan for the next year?
Ayoa is already packed full of great features… but that’s just the beginning! We’ve got a whole host of exciting updates coming over the next 12 months – from tiny fixes to huge first-in-the-market feature releases.
We know that many teams are still working remotely and will soon be managing yet another lifestyle switch as they make their way back to the office. As an all-inclusive remote working toolkit, we want to make sure that whether your team is at home, in the office, or anywhere else in between, your workflow is as smooth as possible.
And finally, on our mission to become the best all-in-one mind mapping tool on the market, we’ve got plenty more mind mapping updates and brand new features up our sleeves, so there is a lot to get excited about! Keep an eye on our product roadmap to see what’s coming up over the next few months.
From all the team at Ayoa, we want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our wonderful customers. To those who have supported us right from the beginning, and to those who have just joined us, here’s to another year of innovation – we can’t wait to continue this journey with you!
Team Ayoa