Traverse covers the full learning cycle, where other tools only capture a part. From ingesting a lecture or textbook, to AHA-moment, to a crystal clear and unforgettable mental image.
See the big picture
Eliminate overwhelm simply by zooming out. See where things fit in and how they connect.
Get organized - and stay organized
No more growing pile of notes. Your maps become more valuable as your thoughts mature over time.
David Bick
Machine Learning Student and Researcher
“I didn't have a system for studying and my math fundamentals had gotten rusty. Traverse has given me the confidence I'll remember - now it's fun for me to deeply learn new fields”
Traverse is molded after learning science. It will make you an unstoppable student, explorer, researcher. Build your own Sherlock-style Mind Palace.
Raleigh Sorbonne
Medical student (99th percentile MCAT exam score)
“I used Notion and Anki. But I had a nagging feeling that there must be a better way to learn... With Traverse, I've finally found it. It's so much easier to make connections, and save it all in my flashcards.”
Zoom in or do a quick search to find and pick up deep thinking threads exactly where you left off. Add atomic notes to build your second brain.
Experience the joy of learning and discovery
Eliminate boredom and fatigue. Rediscover your childhood curiosity and learning drive.
Dominic Zijlstra
Founder of Traverse and Mandarin learner
“I thought mastering Chinese characters was just out of my reach. But with the Traverse system I've now mastered over 3000 characters and can chat with my friends in Mandarin.”
What's your life going to look like with Traverse? You'll have a reliable process for mastering anything. You will build deep comprehension and long-term memory. And the best part? It almost comes naturally as you're having fun exploring the app. Read about the science behind our method
Create
Organize your ideas on the mindmap, a whiteboard as infinite as your brain. Add notes and resources to do a brain dump. Group notes and use color coding to form chunks of knowledge. Or import directly from Anki
Connect
Draw connections on your map and generate AHA-moments of insight. Work out deeper thoughts in writing, and create bidirectional links directly from your notes.
Consolidate
Memory is essential to bring your learning into practice. Our smart flashcards help you review any item just when you are about to forget it, using spaced repetition and active recall.
Share
Tackle though topics together. Share any map with your peers or colleagues by just sending a link.
Do you find yourself writing lots of notes but rarely revisiting them?
Reading many books but failing to remember and apply the lessons in real
life? Losing sight of the big picture in a pile of loose snippets of
knowledge?
I felt the same way five years ago, when I tried to learn Mandarin. The number of characters and their complexity simply felt overwhelming, and there seemed to be no way to make it stick.
But I have good news for you: it’s not you, it’s just your method of learning!
If there’s one thing that cognitive science has discovered over the past 50 years, it’s that there is no such thing ‘bad memory’ or ‘being bad at math’.
With the right methods, most people can master almost anything.
That day, when I hit a personal barrier trying to learn Mandarin, was the start of my quest of discovering these methods. Since that day, I’ve read hundreds of research papers (and, let’s be honest, watched easier explanations by popular YouTubers).
My goal was simple: to distill the research into a practical method. For myself, and for others learning though topics.
That is what I have done (and am still improving every day) by building Traverse.
I discovered that some of the most effective methods are actually the least well-known!
Retrieval practice works and is used widely. But encoding techniques, which can bring even greater benefits, are used only by a small minority.
My goal with Traverse is to make it easy for you to study using techniques that work. Without having to research anything, but simply byusing the app.
Some key principles it incorporates are:
letting you use visual encoding to gain deep and integrative concept understanding
flattening the forgetting curve with cognitive load optimisation
optimally spacing out revisions to learn more in less time
using spatial memory for long-term retention and creative imagination
And with some success! Traverse is now used by learners at online university OnDeck, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, students at ETH Zurich and language learners at Mandarin Blueprint.
We are a small, self-funded team working every day to help people learn better. We believe in:
The search for deeper truth. We’re not satisfied with YouTube-ready catchphrases.
The beauty of simplicity. Bringing it down to the essence is how knowledge becomes useful.
Creativity and having fun. Human curiosity is a superpower.
Connecting as humans. We’re not a big corporation backed by outside investors. We’re just humans, so let’s connect as humans.
Traverse will work for you, no matter your learning style. Put in the work, and don’t be afraid to dive deep with us. You’ll see results you wouldn’t have thought were even possible for you.