Taste is one of the pillars you stand on

For years "taste" was a soft word. Craft was measurable, process was teachable, and taste was that vague thing seniors mentioned in critiques.

That era is over. Taste is now one of the few things a designer really stands on.

Why it matters now

• When making options was expensive, the valuable person could produce
• AI makes options for free now
• So the valuable person is the one who can choose

Average is automated. Taste is the tiebreaker.

What taste is (and isn't)

• Not preference. "I like dark mode" is preference
• It's judgment about quality that turns out right
• It's knowing what to remove, not just what to add
• It's smelling the fake, the bland, the copied
• It's being right again and again, not just once

You build it, you're not born with it

• Fix your input diet. Study products that lasted 10 years, not just trending shots
• Compare two products and force yourself to say why one feels better
• Ship, then watch what actually worked
• Sit with people who have taste. It transfers through critique
• Write one line on why something works. That's learning, not collecting

The hard truth

• Average taste plus AI equals AI output. You're replaceable.
• Sharp taste plus AI equals infinite hands and one good eye. Yours.

Craft gets copied. Tools get democratised. Taste compounds quietly and can't be downloaded. Stand on it.