That initial element contains an enormous number of built-in decisions that limit the scope of the intellectual or visual problem at hand, thankfully preventing the paralysis that results from the overwhelming unlimited scope of decision contained in a blank page or empty space. The initial element provides a leverage point for expression. Also that starting element helps to find a problem that one can actually make progress on.
Edward Tufte’s The blank page, the empty space, the paradox of choice on Ask E.T. Forum, 2006. {This was one of my inspirations for The Blank Page: Effects of Constraint on Creativity}