Obsidian Excalidraw Hits 6 Million Downloads

Obsidian Excalidraw Hits 6 Million Downloads ![rw-book-cover](https://img.youtube.com/vi/VE4cJjLQ6G4/maxresdefault.jpg) 🔗 **Source:** [Obsidian Excalidraw Hits 6 Million Downloads](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE4cJjLQ6G4) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: #obsidian #visual-thinking #pkm #community-building > author: Visual PKM > source: YouTube > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE4cJjLQ6G4 > date created: 2024-12-19 15:30 > > # 🏷️ Title: Obsidian Excalidraw Hits 6 Million Downloads >  ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Join Sketch Your Mind Community at founder's price — limited time offer #community-building - [H2] Explore visual PKM methodology from Sketch Your Mind book — 00:42 #visual-thinking - [H3] Connect with visual thinkers and note-takers — community building opportunity #networking ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [[#📝 Summary]] - [[#📖 Main Content]] - [[#🗒️ Notes]] - [[#📚 References]] - [[#🗣️ Paraphrase]] - [[#📰 Newsletter]] - [[#✅ Action Items]] - [[#🧪 Hypotheses]] - [[#📊 Methodology]] - [[#❓ Questions]] - [[#🔮 Future Research]] - [[#💡 Implications]] - [[#🧠 Learning Styles Assessment]] - [[#📊 Accessibility Assessment]] - [[#🌍 DEIB Assessment]] - [[#✅ Logical Validity]] - [[#🛡️ DARVO Analysis]] - [[#🎯 Conclusion]] ### 🔗 References - [Obsidian Excalidraw Plugin](https://obsidian.md/plugins?id=obsidian-excalidraw-plugin) - [Sketch Your Mind Community](https://sketchyourmind.net) ## 📝 Summary - Obsidian Excalidraw plugin reached 6 million downloads milestone after 4 years as hobby project - Plugin creator Zsolt launched Sketch Your Mind Community with nearly 800 members - Community focuses on visual PKM methodology with founder pricing available for limited time - Members are visual thinkers who use whiteboards, mind maps, and visual note-taking - Creator offering one-on-one onboarding sessions for new community members ## 📖 Main Content Zsolt, creator of the Obsidian Excalidraw plugin, celebrates a major milestone of 6 million downloads for what started as a hobby project four years ago. The plugin has grown significantly, with over 200,000 downloads in April alone, demonstrating the strong demand for visual thinking tools in the personal knowledge management space. The complexity and unique interpretation of PKM that the plugin embodies led Zsolt to create the "Sketch Your Mind Community" last month. This community has rapidly grown to nearly 800 members who share common characteristics: they are open-minded, deep thinkers with visual orientations who engage in visual daily note-taking, whiteboard research, and mind mapping. The community represents a formalization of the visual PKM methodology described in Zsolt's book "Sketch Your Mind." Members are described as energized about learning and building visual thinking habits, creating a focused environment for practitioners of this approach to knowledge management. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=0) — [H1] Major milestone announcement - Key idea: Obsidian Excalidraw plugin surpassed 6 million downloads - Evidence: "Today, Obsidian Excalidraw has passed over 6 million downloads in Obsidian community plugins" #### ⏱️ [00:15](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=15) — [H2] Project origins and growth - Key idea: Started as hobby project 4 years ago and gradually grew - Evidence: "The plugin started as a hobby project. Well, it still is a hobby project 4 years ago" #### ⏱️ [00:25](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=25) — [H1] Recent download surge - Key idea: April alone saw over 200,000 downloads - Evidence: "just last month in April, I had over 200,000 downloads of the plugin" #### ⏱️ [00:33](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=33) — [H2] Plugin complexity recognition - Key idea: Plugin has become complex and follows special PKM interpretation - Evidence: "recognizing that the plugin has become complex over the years" #### ⏱️ [00:42](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=42) — [H1] Community launch - Key idea: Started Sketch Your Mind Community with visual PKM methodology - Evidence: "it follows a very special interpretation of PKM that I describe in my book Sketch Your Mind" #### ⏱️ [00:52](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=52) — [H3] Community growth - Key idea: Nearly 800 members joined in first month - Evidence: "we already have close to 800 members" #### ⏱️ [00:58](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=58) — [H2] Personal onboarding approach - Key idea: Creator meets one-on-one with members for welcoming - Evidence: "I'm meeting with the members one-on-one to welcome them to the community" #### ⏱️ [01:05](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=65) — [H3] Community member characteristics - Key idea: Members are open-minded, deep thinking, visually oriented people - Evidence: "every single person is an amazing person. Open-minded, deep thinker, visually oriented" #### ⏱️ [01:18](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=78) — [H2] Visual thinking practices - Key idea: Members use visual daily notes and whiteboard research - Evidence: "people take visual daily notes, they do their research on a whiteboard" #### ⏱️ [01:25](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=85) — [H3] Learning enthusiasm - Key idea: Members are energized about mind maps and building visual thinking habits - Evidence: "They're all energized about mind maps and just learning and building a visual thinking habit" #### ⏱️ [01:35](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=95) — [H1] Founder pricing offer - Key idea: Limited-time founder's price at half future cost with lifetime access - Evidence: "I'm offering a founder's price, which is half of the future price of the community" #### ⏱️ [01:47](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=107) — [H2] Lifetime pricing benefit - Key idea: Founding members keep good price for life - Evidence: "if you become a founding member, then you get to keep that good price for life" ## 📚 References - [Obsidian Community Plugins](https://obsidian.md/plugins) - [Visual PKM YouTube Channel](https://youtube.com/c/VisualPKM) - [Sketch Your Mind Book](https://sketchyourmind.net) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - A hobby plugin project for visual thinking in Obsidian has reached massive adoption with 6 million downloads over four years - The creator launched a specialized community for visual PKM practitioners who share common approaches to note-taking and research - A limited-time founding member opportunity offers significant savings and lifetime access to this growing community of visual thinkers ## 📰 Newsletter Visual thinking meets personal knowledge management! The Obsidian Excalidraw plugin just hit 6 million downloads, proving that visual learners need better tools for digital note-taking and research. What's exciting: Creator Zsolt launched the Sketch Your Mind Community for people who think visually - those using whiteboards for research, creating visual daily notes, and building mind maps as learning tools. For WordPress folks: Consider how visual elements enhance documentation and learning. Whether it's site architecture diagrams, user journey maps, or plugin relationship charts, visual thinking can improve both development workflows and user education. The community offers founder pricing right now, and members get personal onboarding sessions - a great model for building engaged technical communities. Resources: [Learn WordPress](https://learn.wordpress.org/), [Developer Docs](https://developer.wordpress.org/), [WP-CLI](https://wp-cli.org/) ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Developer experience: Explore visual documentation approaches for complex technical concepts - Education: Create visual learning materials for WordPress development workflows - Community management: Study one-on-one onboarding model for technical communities #### Community - Contributors: Develop visual onboarding materials for new WordPress contributors - Ecosystem: Map WordPress ecosystem visually to help newcomers understand relationships - Sponsors: Create visual impact reports showing community investment outcomes #### WordPress - Documentation: Add visual elements to DevHub for complex architectural concepts - Training: Develop visual learning paths for different WordPress roles and skills - Design: Create visual thinking workshops for WordPress design contributors ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Visual PKM approaches increase knowledge retention and connection-making in technical fields - One-on-one community onboarding creates stronger member engagement than automated processes - Founder pricing models build more committed early community members - Visual thinking tools see higher adoption when they solve specific workflow problems ### 📊 Methodology - Survey WordPress community members about current visual thinking tool usage - A/B test visual vs text-only documentation for developer concepts - Track engagement metrics for one-on-one vs group community onboarding ### ❓ Questions - How could WordPress contributors benefit from visual thinking approaches in core development? - What visual tools would most improve WordPress documentation and learning experiences? - How can technical communities balance founder pricing with accessibility concerns? ### 🔮 Future Research - Integration patterns between visual thinking tools and WordPress workflows - Community building strategies that scale personal touch approaches - Visual learning effectiveness in open source contribution onboarding ### 💡 Implications - Practice: Visual thinking tools may enhance WordPress development and documentation workflows - Education: One-on-one onboarding shows promise for technical community engagement - Community: Specialized communities around specific methodologies can thrive within broader ecosystems - Funding: Founder pricing models provide sustainable community funding while building commitment ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment Reading level estimate: 8th Grade #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: Plugin demonstration, visual PKM concepts mentioned - Improve: Screenshots of community features, visual PKM examples #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: Video format with clear narration - Improve: Podcast version, background music for engagement #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: Clear definitions of PKM and visual thinking concepts - Improve: Glossary of visual thinking terminology #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: Plugin download and trial opportunity - Improve: Step-by-step visual PKM setup guide #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: Growth timeline from hobby to 6M downloads - Improve: Community metrics dashboard, pricing comparison #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: Community joining opportunity, one-on-one sessions - Improve: Member showcase, collaborative projects #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: Individual plugin exploration, book reference - Improve: Self-paced visual thinking exercises #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: Organic community growth mentioned - Improve: Visual thinking as natural learning evolution ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: Clear video narration, structured announcement - Improve: Descriptive alt text for visual PKM concepts #### Keyboard navigation - Present: Standard YouTube video controls - Improve: Transcript with heading structure #### Contrast and readability - Present: Clear audio narration - Improve: High-contrast visual examples in supporting materials #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: Video format accommodates various screen sizes - Improve: Responsive community signup process #### Media and captions - Present: Clear audio content - Improve: Auto-generated captions, downloadable transcript #### Forms and interactions - Present: Simple community signup process - Improve: Accessible form validation, clear pricing structure ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: Global community potential, online accessibility - Improve: Multi-language community options, diverse case studies #### Inclusive language - Present: Welcoming tone, open community invitation - Improve: Define PKM jargon, avoid assumptions about technical background #### Neurodiversity support - Present: Visual thinking approaches benefit different cognitive styles - Improve: Acknowledge various ways people process information #### Representation - Present: Focus on thinking style diversity - Improve: Showcase diverse community member examples #### Psychological safety - Present: Welcoming community description, personal onboarding - Improve: Clear community guidelines, support channels ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Deductive strength: Plugin success demonstrates visual PKM demand - Inductive strength: Community growth suggests methodology value - Causal reasoning: Personal onboarding creates stronger member connections - Analogical strength: Hobby project growth mirrors successful open source patterns #### Fallacies - Appeal to popularity: Download numbers don't automatically validate methodology - Hasty generalization: Small community sample may not represent all visual thinkers #### Tone of voice - Overall tone: Enthusiastic and grateful, community-focused with genuine appreciation for members ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: No denial patterns present - Attack: No attack rhetoric identified - Reverse victim/offender: No victim/offender dynamics - Emotional cues and rhetoric: Positive enthusiasm, gratitude, community building focus ## 🎯 Conclusion The Obsidian Excalidraw plugin's success demonstrates strong demand for visual thinking tools in personal knowledge management. The 6 million download milestone and rapid community growth around visual PKM methodology suggests an underserved need for visual approaches to learning and note-taking. For technical communities like WordPress, this highlights opportunities to incorporate visual thinking approaches in documentation, onboarding, and contributor workflows. The one-on-one community building model also offers insights for scaling personal engagement in technical communities. The founder pricing approach provides a sustainable model for community building while creating commitment from early members, relevant for any technical community seeking to balance accessibility with sustainability. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix ### 📚 Literature Split Pad Purpose: Stage CEE units that become Literature notes. Split level: H3 ### [H1] Visual PKM tools see explosive adoption growth > [!quote] [Obsidian Excalidraw Hits 6 Million Downloads](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE4cJjLQ6G4) by [[Visual PKM]] via [[YouTube]]. Published 2024. Accessed 2024-12-19. > "Today, Obsidian Excalidraw has passed over 6 million downloads in Obsidian community plugins." Demonstrates market demand for visual thinking tools in PKM space. [view highlight](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=0#H1) #xref #articleseed ID:rw_excalidraw_milestone ### [H2] One-on-one onboarding creates stronger community bonds > [!quote] [Obsidian Excalidraw Hits 6 Million Downloads](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE4cJjLQ6G4) > "I'm meeting with the members one-on-one to welcome them to the community." Personal touch in community building scales engagement quality over quantity. [view highlight](https://youtu.be/VE4cJjLQ6G4?t=58#H2) #xref ID:rw_community_onboarding --- ### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad (Zettel Candidates) Purpose: Promote reusable claims into Atomic notes. Split level: H4 #### [Z1] Hobby projects can achieve massive scale through consistent value delivery - Scope: Open source plugin development over multi-year timeframes - Pointer to timestamp 00:15 - Links: [[Open-Source-Growth]] [[Plugin-Development]] #### [Z2] Visual thinkers form distinct communities around shared methodologies - Scope: Knowledge management communities with specific cognitive preferences - Pointer to timestamp 01:05 - Links: [[Visual-Learning]] [[Community-Formation]] --- ## Full Transcript [00:00] Hey everyone, it's Zsolt here. [00:03] Today, Obsidian Excalidraw has passed [00:07] over 6 million downloads in Obsidian [00:10] community plugins. This is mind-blowing. [00:15] The plugin started as a hobby project. [00:17] Well, it still is a hobby project 4 [00:20] years ago. [00:22] And over the years, it gradually grew [00:24] and grew and grew until just last month [00:28] in April, I had over [00:30] 200,000 [00:32] downloads of the plugin. [00:34] Now, recognizing that the plugin has [00:37] become complex over the years. [00:40] And recognizing that it follows a very [00:42] special interpretation of PKM that I [00:46] describe in my book Sketch Your Mind, I [00:49] started a community last month called [00:52] the Sketch Your Mind Community. And we [00:55] already have close to 800 members. I'm [00:59] meeting with the members one-on-one to [01:01] welcome them to the community. And I can [01:04] assure you that every single person is [01:07] an amazing person. [01:10] Open-minded, deep thinker, visually [01:13] oriented people take visual daily notes, [01:16] they do their research on a whiteboard. [01:19] They're all energized about mind maps [01:22] and just learning and building a visual [01:26] thinking habit. So, this is the right [01:29] time for you to join that community [01:31] because for the next few weeks still, as [01:35] the community is still starting, I'm [01:38] offering a founder's price, which is [01:40] half of the future price of the [01:43] community. [01:45] And if you become a founding member, [01:47] then you get to keep that good price for [01:50] life and you get to join this amazing [01:53] community of people. [01:55] So, please do check out Sketch Your Mind [01:58] community, Sketch Your Mind. You can [02:00] find the link in the description below. [02:04] And enjoy using XMind Pro. [02:07] Stay with me on this journey as the tool [02:10] continues to develop [02:12] and as visual PKM continues to make a [02:16] difference in the world. [02:18] Thank you.  📄 **Full text:** ![[Full Document Contents/Articles/Obsidian Excalidraw Hits 6 Million Downloads.md|Obsidian Excalidraw Hits 6 Million Downloads by YouTube]] ## Highlights - 200,000 downloads of the plugin. Now, recognizing that the plugin has become complex over the years. And recognizing that it follows a very special interpretation of PKM that I describe in my book Sketch Your Mind, I started a community last month called the Sketch Your Mind Community. And we already have close to 800 members. I'm meeting with the members one-on-one to ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kr6tn9et5jcp0x25t926sp32)) - Tags: 👻 ai highlighted