Obsidian is the most powerful open-source note-taking app I know. I’ve always used Markdown in Obsidian, and even when Canvas was introduced, I initially ignored it. I found the idea of a free-form infinite board interesting, but I didn’t really give it more attention.
I only started to really comprehend the importance of Canvas when I moved from simply trying to map out processes to laying ideas out in space. Rather than seeing it as a tool for documenting finished thoughts, it’s the perfect place for shaping my messy ideas. I have consistently relied on it since I started using it as my thinking surface, and I have been able to develop some of the most creative uses for it.
The article control room
How I design an argument before I write it
My article control room is what actually cemented Canvas as a permanent member of my workflow. When I have to write a serious article, the first thing I do is create a dedicated Canvas. I place section cards as movable blocks around it, and they don’t even have to be in a neat outline. On one side, I have my research snippets, and on the other side, all the needed screenshots and examples are well placed.
Any form of media that you need to add to your Canvas must first exist in your vault.
Before I started using Canvas in this way, I would spend time drafting linearly. The problem was that I might have written up to a thousand words only to realize that the middle was thin on information or there was just too much in my introduction. The difference now is that Canvas allows me to see the imbalance even before I write one paragraph. By looking at the board, I can tell which section is thin because other sections dominate it.
I love the Markdown structure, but a downside is how it may hide structural problems, since it makes everything feel evenly spaced. Canvas gives weight to all elements and allows me to see what’s bloated, even when my arguments do not connect.
I have moved from outlining to designing the architecture of the article, and when I need to switch to my actual draft, I am already certain that the shape works. It reduces the need to rewrite.
The idea collision board
When I’m out of angles, I force ideas to bump into each other
I have what I call my collision board, and it’s become my go-to whenever I run out of angles. This is a blank Canvas where I drop everything that I care about in my niche. It’s intentionally void of order or hierarchy. It is composed of scattered cards: identity, systems, rest, environment, leverage, friction, attention, AI, constraints, deadlines, and more.
On my collision board, I simply drag pieces together. It answers the question “what happens if” and creates angles I never would have thought of. What happens if “rest” combines with “deadlines”? What happens if “environment design” and “identity” merge? What happens if I pull “AI” close to “systems”?
I have had eureka moments when bringing together ideas that seemed like unrelated elements, raising questions I had never contemplated.
You don’t get this kind of opportunity working with lists. Lists are far too organized to allow ideas to cross borders. It’s hard for them to interact since they sit in neat vertical order. Canvas allows for randomness, which, when used correctly, can create friction or unnatural adjacency. The angles it produces make my idea collision board the closest thing I have to a creativity tab.
The book brain
How I use Canvas to see what authors are really saying
When a book matters to me, I have learned not to keep linear notes anymore. I now have what I call a book brain. This is how it works: the main book note stays at the center of my Canvas, and it is circled by clusters. These may be key ideas in one area, quotes that hit hard in another, or personal reactions somewhere else. Afterward, I can start pulling in connections from other books.
What makes it interesting is that certain perspectives become clear. For instance, it was my book brain that made it evident that Greg McKeown (Essentialism) and Derek Sivers (Hell Yeah or No) argue the same underlying principle — that protecting your focus means ruthlessly eliminating almost everything so you can give your best to what matters — from completely different angles.
Zooming out allows the patterns to show, and the repetitions across different authors become evident. It highlights contradictions and lets me see the ideas I may be unconsciously leaning toward. The reading becomes synthesis, and you typically have to pause and ask what the book is actually adding to your thinking.
The mental model wall
Mapping the rules I think I live by
I recently started listing the principles that I repeat most often, and I made each its own card on my mental model wall Canvas. For instance, I had cards for “environment shapes behavior,” “constraints create creativity,” “clarity reduces anxiety,” and “systems beat motivation.” When I started clustering them, I saw some naturally grouped together. There were a few others that just felt tense when placed side by side.
However, the tension became very revealing. An example is that I believe in disciplined structure and also believe creativity needs freedom. When I had these two cards side by side, the contradiction became glaring. I could start thinking more deeply. Do I actually believe in both? Under what conditions do my beliefs work? Where do my beliefs clash?
This is the kind of tension that a flowchart or list would not magnify. Canvas creates a wall where contradictions become physical. If I have an area with too many principles, I understand I may be overthinking. My mental model wall Canvas isn’t for productivity per se. It’s a system for coherence where I am forced to reflect upon whether the principles that drive me actually fit together. This is one creative use of Obsidian Canvas that doesn’t actually feel like note-taking. It’s more of a self-reflection mirror.
Canvas as a thinking surface
None of these uses is about mapping processes. They do not require me to track tasks or build diagrams. It’s simply me using space to surface imbalance.
I typically place Obsidian in the same category as SilverBullet when I think of flexible Markdown note-takers. Its Canvas core plugin makes it an even more flexible option. It makes it easier to be creative using the tool and gives a clean alternative to lists and other more organized forms of note-taking.
Is Obsidian Really Worth the Learning Curve for Note-Taking?
Is Obsidian the ultimate note-taking tool or just an overcomplicated app?
