Companion path · nine stages

A wayfinding path
for making an art project.

Design thinking — the method Stanford's d.school and IDEO popularised for product teams — gave software a five-step arc: empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test. Art needs a longer arc — it starts in unnamed feeling and ends after the work has been seen. This is a nine-stage version, tuned for visual art, with the book's parts offered as optional deeper reading at each turn.

Walk it in order the first time. After that, jump. Most real projects loop back — a bad prototype sends you to research; a strong reflection begins the next spark.

A rough rhythm, not a rule: sit with each stage for a day to a week on a small project, a week to a month on a large one. If a stage takes longer, that's usually the work, not a delay.