Magnification

 Hi

I was talking with my coworker about getting lost in the details and losing the big picture. She brought up an example of a product that was being developed and failed. The reason was the leader of the team got lost in the details of aesthetics and even though the product had a good appearance, it was not able to deliver the right functionality as expected. Then we talked about how development builds momentum and everything must be thought of in every stage with less and more importance. 

For me, it is a great question of where to look in a system or a brand to be able to find the biggest picture that encompasses every aspect of the product. We are unable to understand every detail of a system that is built out of the collision of many minds and a long time completely with just a glance. It is something that is fundamentally bigger than one's mind. 

I was in the kitchen and I looked in the chocolate bowl and there was a bar of Aero chocolate in the bowl. I picked it up and there was a sentence written on it:

feel the bubbles melt

So I listened to the instruction and sat on my chair and put the chocolate in my mouth and waited for the feeling. This chocolate is not something to just feel the sweetness of it. There is a sequence of events happening while the chocolate is melting in your mouth and they unfold one after one another. The experience is waves of bubbles forming and melting and different shades of taste presenting themselves. 

With this experience, I think I got the picture that was encompassing what the designers were going for. Although I don't know about the materials and processes that were involved in the production of this product and many other factors like manufacturing and transportation and distribution, investment, and stakeholders. But what I see is the mind of the designer who wanted to show what a symphony of tastes would feel like in the mouth. And how to make it repeatable so many people can experience it in the second place.