If you look carefully, this dilemma exists in all forms of creative work.<p>Say I'm creating a piece of electronic music, do I start working on the bare melody on a piano first or do I start with picking voice textures that blend well together? Both can be exciting to work on and both can lead to great songs. Just two different points of entry. Two different layers of abstraction.<p>This is extensible to almost any type of creative work that I know of, and I think people who regularly create things have tried at least a few of these points of entry in their creation process.<p>For me, if I want to narrow down my focus, I go with the piano, the pen, the text editor – black and white, minimum degree of freedom. Otherwise, I start by finding two or more voices/tones/shapes/colors that go/interact well together and focus on the overall experience instead.