From Concept to Detail Part 2: Zooming Between Strata in a Project

In the last issue, we explored a system of creative work, with three stages.

1) Big picture thinking.

2) Big muscle moving.

3) Detailing.

We explored big picture thinking, so let’s dive into the next two.

Big Muscle Moving

Here we’ve got our big ideas; now it’s time to carry them out.

We’re not zooming out as much to compare this idea to another, considering which doorways we might pass through, and pondering different choices before committing to action. Nope. We’ve come to action, to bringing an idea toward completion.

Let’s say that when we were all zoomed out, we decided to build a pyramid bigger than the tallest pyramid in Egypt. Geez, seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now here we are in the work phase, and we’ve got a crazy job cut out for us. Those pyramids took thousands and thousands of people, quarrying stone and shipping it along the Nile (or lifting it with their minds, or aliens, but I reckon it was still a lot of work).

Whereas if in my big picture phase we decided to write a book about sparrows, then forget the pyramids. Too intense. Let’s write a book about sparrows, and not just any sparrows, but sparrows with a little red on their tail. And we won’t write about their whole lives, but just when they emerge from their egg. So I've got my creative container, and I’m going to carry it out.

Here in the muscle phase, I’ll be researching sparrows, observing, taking notes and interviewing avid birders.

Whew! That's a lot less work than building a pyramid.

Detail

The restaurant is already opened, the theme, food and ambiance have been chosen. The building, with its pillars and floor and roof, is standing. Now it is time to decorate the walls with tapestries, and the air with sound waves, scents, and with lighting choices.

Let’s go back to the pyramid example. If we’ve chosen to do that in our previous stages, then when it comes to the detailed phase, we’ll look at the limestone on the outside of the pyramid, and the decorations in the tomb. Well, that detail phase is quite a bit of work too. We can't just slap a plain limestone coating on there. This is for a pharaoh! We’ve got to have little images on every inch of it. No, every quarter inch! And in the interior, I want all the walls to be carved jade stone.

With our more modest project, a book about particular kinds of sparrows, here in the detail phase we’ll make sure the cover looks great. For an image, we might choose sparrows with red feathers emerging from eggs. And for a title, The Birth of a Red Tailed Sparrow. We’ll fine tune the text, make sure it's concise, eloquent, poetic and factual.

How far into these details will we go? We could spend years ensuring that this little book about sparrows is just right, even more years more than we might have spent putting limestone on the outside of a pyramid. We make beautiful details until our sunsets and sunrises have passed, and a long sleep is drawing near.

It’s Not a Hierarchy in a Bad Way

I should say that none of these are better than the others. There’s excitement in big picture thinking, but there’s also satisfaction in working within solid creative limitations. All of these three stages and roles are important. All of them are integral to each other, and they can be carried out on macro, mid, and micro levels of any project.