The Powers of Ten films are two short American documentary films written and directed by Charles and Ray Eames. Both works depict the relative scale of the Universe according to an order of magnitude (or logarithmic scale) based on a factor of ten, first expanding out from the Earth until the entire universe is surveyed, then reducing inward until a single atom and its quarks are observed.
So what makes it relevant. I viewed this in design school around 10 years ago with the mind-set that the talented Ray and Charles Eames were multi disciplinary designers and had alongside their famous interiordesign path done extensive work within other fields. The Powers of Ten was just one of them. And from a design perspective it was great.
As time goes by the great stuff have tendency to grow on you. At least in this case.
So today, when I lecture for design students I use this to stress the importance of having a bigger or/and smaller perspective on your project. If you are to wide you miss the spot, if you are to detailed you miss the bigger perspective. To all your projects it is about finding the right perspective. Easy one might think….well just take a look outside your window or in your morning paper/ tablet. The occasions where you find the adequate perspective is more often an exception rather than a rule.
Film here
I am extra glad that one of the smartest guys out there - Tim Brown from IDEO recently wrote about the film on his blog. With the context of "Reframing the question" with an angle towards app design and ones career.
Elegantly put: Can you recall moments when stepping back—or diving in—helped you look at a problem differently?
If you have not seen it already do so, but think about the parameters that I put up and the additional ones coming from Tim Brown.
Try to adapt the Powers of Ten, they will help you - a l o t