24Nov24 | Doing it right is not enough, doing it with taste is

Taste is up to the recipient

Appreciation is a form of taste. Creation is another. Someone could have an impeccable taste in art, without producing any themselves. In both cases, being seen as having good taste is not up to the creator. It's up to the recipient. As a creator, you can't insist you're right.

Someone with taste might create something that goes completely unnoticed by one person while being deeply appreciated by another.

Lots of people often dismiss great creations because they were under-appreciated by the wrong tribe. The keyword here is ‘tribe’. If you pour your heart and soul into something, and you also happen to consume lots of work in the same domain, what you might need isn't to change your work – but to find the right tribe that appreciates it. This principle is well-recognized across different fields: in business, it’s called ‘market fit’; in advertising, it's ‘target audience’; in publishing, it's ‘reader demographics’; and in music, it's ‘genre’.

The key is finding the right people who understand and appreciate what you're trying to create. Once you do, the conversation shifts from defending your choices to exploring new possibilities together.

There’s no ‘good taste’, just taste

When we say taste is tribal rather than subjective, it challenges a common assumption. Most people believe there's a universal scale of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste. But if taste is only defined by the lens it passes through, then broad comparisons of ‘better’ or ‘worse’ lose their meaning.

A minimalist designer's ‘good taste’ might be completely different from a classical artist's ‘good taste’ - and neither is wrong. They're simply operating within different tribal contexts. This means there's no universal "good" or "bad" taste - there's just taste.

It’s not a personal preference, it’s a tribal preference – that’s why it takes guts to contribute to the cult. To have taste is simply to say that you have a well formed opinion. So when we say someone has taste, it implies they understand and can contribute meaningfully to their tribe's aesthetic values.

Taste then becomes a sharp critique, an aggressive filter for ideas and opinions. Through that filter you do things and make decisions, like cook a good meal, enjoy a good movie, build a usable product, or put on a shirt that fits. For all of these things and most others, correctness is enough. But taste puts you in a state that's more than just correct — it adds depth and richness to why and how you made those choices.

And this is also why it’s not typical for someone to develop taste in too many things – this can be disastrous actually. Developing taste requires careful curation of what you consume and create, awareness of your environment, and an understanding of cultural trends. You cannot do it arbitrarily, else the choices you’re making will just be bad. Claiming you have an opinion about too many things, or having acquired taste in many domains, is the same as claiming you are not serious about any of them.

Because it has to come from a place of immersion and confidence, taste takes effort, curiosity, and time.

Taste is a slow process

Some people believe it’s hard to develop taste if you’re not creating anything. And they are right. The more you’re indulged into a craft of any sorts, the more you get to resonate with the tribe that creates and consumes similar works of the same craft.

There are lots of books on writing, cooking, photography, and music. But they can’t possibly help you do better until you see and taste and appreciate what you’re trying to create.

This is the reason why the most creative individuals don’t seem to have any clear boundaries between work and play. But they’re conscious consumers. Like artisans, they’re living in a world where everything is connected together, every input and output. Like a big web of nodes; everything leads to everything. In this world, it becomes super easy to come up with new software design concepts while taking a walk between modern architecture buildings, or come up with ideas for the fiction novel chapter while listening to jazz in a coffee shop. The creative process becomes fluid, where inspiration flows naturally between different domains. Outcome becomes a reflection of a sum of experiences, rather than a calculated effort to be correct.

“Schizophrenics aren’t sunk into themselves. Associatively, they’re hyperactive. The world gets creamy like a library.” – Chris Krause

While taste is often focused on a single thing, it is often formed through the integration of diverse, and wide-ranging inputs. This process of input integration is often a ‘slow burn’. It can only happen with time, and it has no shortcuts.

This subconscious slow burn begins with intentional, conscious consumption. As diverse inputs integrate over time, new connections emerge naturally. This leads to endless possibilities for creative expression – which contributes to refined taste.

This is again evident in one of Steve Jobs popular speeches: “I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.”

They weren't just building a computer, they were slowly creating something that would resonate with a tribe that valued both technical excellence and artistic beauty.

Everything connecting to everything else might be a symptom of psychosis, but it’s also how the magic happens. – ava link

Developing taste becomes about understanding that, while doing it right might get you through the door, doing it with taste is what makes people want to stay. In a world where technical perfection is becoming commoditized, that might be the most valuable skill of all.

Living with taste enriches our overall experience of the world. It dictates our appreciation for craftsmanship, beauty, and nuance.

“Taste honors someone’s standards of quality, but also the distinctive way the world bounces off a person. It reflects what they know about how the world works, and also what they’re working with in their inner worlds. When we recognize true taste, we are recognizing that alchemic combination of skill and soul. This is why it is so alluring.” – Brie Wolfson in Notes on “Taste”

“I sketch what comes down the runway, but I don’t sketch every one of the 5000 products. But I say ‘yes, no, yes, no, I hate it, I love it’…all those decisions, my saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ for the last seven years is what has made Gucci – Gucci.” – Tom Ford, the former Creative Director of Gucci and Saint Laurent, speaking about his process

this naturally raises a question: is taste something we cultivate or just recognize? is it interior or external? in fact it is both.

you see in this context that “different” and correct are not interchangeable. adopting a newer approach (being different) doesn’t necessarily mean you’re incorrect. you might be different and correct → which is a precursor for “taste”. <in this sense> there isn’t such thing as “good taste” or “bad taste” → there is just “taste

Inspo

seth godin

https://seths.blog/?s=about+taste
Good taste

Good taste is tribal, not widespread.
Because it's not universal, being seen as having good taste is not up to you. It's up to the recipient. You can't insist you're right.
Good taste is an incredibly valuable skill, and you can acquire it with practice.
It's momentary. The definition changes over time.

Accounting for taste

In fact, once you become an acquired taste, then those that have done the hard work to like what you make are likely to talk about it, likely to come back for more, likely to insist on paying more for something that’s not simply a pedestrian pleasure
It takes guts to create a contribution to culture

On becoming an acquired taste
Delivering good taste

There are lots of books on creating cooking, photography, writing and music. But they can’t possibly help you do better until you see and taste and appreciate what you’re trying to create.
Show us an example of someone else’s work that you believe is good. A book cover that feels professional, a jazz riff that inspires, a pasta dish that’s unforgettable.
Then make a version of it. Not a copy, but something that rhymes.
If you can’t do that, it’s probably not a matter of technique. It’s about being in sync with what other people aspire to engage with.

vizi andrei

https://viziandrei.com/ + https://www.instagram.com/viziandrei

ava from bookbear

Ava what we talk about when we talk about taste

They can’t look at one thing and see it echo in something else. I always come back to this line from I Love Dick: “Schizophrenics aren’t sunk into themselves. Associatively, they’re hyperactive. The world gets creamy like a library.” Everything connecting to everything else might be a symptom of psychosis, but it’s also how the magic happens.
“Whenever something costs a lot, it’s because everyone wants it. The reason you want it is because everyone wants it. And you want it because it costs a lot—you want it more because it costs a lot—because its costing a lot is a sign that it is wanted by many people. The fact that you can afford it and others cannot makes you feel like you are part of an elite circle that not only wants it (like everyone does) but can afford it (like only some). To turn yourself into an artist, stop buying things that cost a lot. Buy the things that other people don’t want—that only you want, because it’s the right shade of green.”
To do the thing that no one else can do, you have to make the choice that no one else would make. But it can’t be performative—you can’t fake it by choosing an unpopular thing, because if you do it arbitrarily, the choice you’re making will just be bad. It actually has to come from something real inside you, the place of knowing beyond language.
Of course, it’s natural and perhaps even healthy to discover what we like through mimicry. But perhaps it’s unhealthy to never grow out of it—to never develop your own sense of goodness.
To have an inherent sense of your worthiness that does not need to be confirmed by the market makes you unusual, and potentially delusional. Artists are inherently vulnerable because they pay attention to things other people don’t, the things that you are explicitly told you shouldn’t, because they are impractical and lead to little or no material gain.
I spend a lot of time thinking about writing, but I also spend a lot of time thinking about ways I can make a living off of my work. It seems to me that the creatives who tend to “make it” tend to be the people who have an obsessive interest in distribution as well as in the art itself.
“By the time we’re consuming it in the form of, say, a sweater from H&M, we’re already so far from the source.”

perell

wrote: Monday Musings (What is Taste?)

Taste refers to aspects of the world we can feel, but are beyond our ability to describe. Though we know good taste when we see it, rational logic isn't usually enough to appreciate it.
The best way to cultivate taste is to surround yourself with tasteful objects. That's why great artists, in any domain, are such conscious consumers. The best designer I know has a home filled with coffee table books that range from Monet's paintings to Le Corbusier's architecture. The same is true for writing.
A Liberal Arts education is based on the idea that you can train people to have good taste by exposing them to our finest creations. Exploring the art that's endured and moved people helps us do the same.
As you rise in a creative career, you're increasingly paid for your taste.
Though some aspects of taste are genetically granted (like perfect pitch for musicians), all of us can cultivate taste in a domain by consuming the high-quality stuff. Exceptional work refines your taste and makes you a better creator.
The only people who don't believe in taste are those who don't make things. When you make things (whether writing, clothes, carpentry, or podcasts) you realize there are better and worse ways to do it.
Tom Ford: Speaking about his process, Tom Ford, the former Creative Director of Gucci and Saint Laurent once said: “I sketch what comes down the runway, but I don’t sketch every one of the 5000 products. But I say ‘yes, no, yes, no, I hate it, I love it’…all those decisions, my saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ for the last seven years is what has made Gucci – Gucci.”

recommended: Are.na Notes on “Taste” | Are.na Editorial

When I ask people what they mean by “taste,” they’ll stumble around for a bit and eventually land on something like “you know it when you see it,” or “it’s in the eye of the beholder.” I understand. Words like taste are hard to pin down, perhaps because they describe a sensibility more than any particular quality, a particular thing.
“on sensibility” X ava’s essay
I also believe taste is something we can and should try to cultivate. Not because taste itself is a virtue, per se, but because I’ve found a taste-filled life to be a richer one. To pursue it is to appreciate ourselves, each other, and the stuff we’re surrounded by a whole lot more.
taste is a mode. It’s a manner of interpretation, expression, or action. Things don’t feel tasteful, they demonstrate taste. Someone’s home can be decorated tastefully. Someone can dress tastefully. The vibe cannot be tasteful. The experience cannot be tasteful.
Appreciation is a form of taste. Creation is another. They are often intertwined, but don’t have to be. Someone could have impeccable taste in art, without producing any themselves. Those who create tasteful things are almost always deep appreciators, though.
It’s probably a permanent state — taste isn’t often outgrown.
There are degrees of taste, but we typically talk about it in binary. One can have taste or not. Great taste means almost the same thing as taste.
Taste in too many things would be tortuous. The things we have taste in often start as a pea under the mattress. To have taste is to be persnickety and one doesn’t want to be persnickety or annoyed about too many things. There are people who are like this. They are grumps. Taste takes effort. Plain old curiosity would do, too.
While taste is often focused on a single thing, it is often formed through the integration of diverse, and wide-ranging inputs. Steve Jobs has said, “I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.”
Taste, irony, and satire all embrace the incisive spirit of sharp critique.
“‘Good taste' is simply to have a well formed opinion – Taste reveals its purveyor to be a good decision-maker.
Taste is not the same as correctness, though. To do something correctly is not necessarily to do it tastefully. For most things, correctness is good enough, so we skate by on that as the default. And there are many correct paths to take. You’ll be able to cook a yummy meal, enjoy the movie, build a useable product, don a shirt that fits. But taste gets you to the thing that’s more than just correct. Taste hits different. It intrigues. It compels. It moves. It enchants. It fascinates. It seduces.
mixing ideas to → originality, through mimicry – Taste requires originality. It invokes an aspirational authenticity.
Taste honors someone’s standards of quality, but also the distinctive way the world bounces off a person. It reflects what they know about how the world works, and also what they’re working with in their inner worlds. When we recognize true taste, we are recognizing that alchemic combination of skill and soul. This is why it is so alluring.
There’s also a difference between expensive and tasteful. If rich people often have good taste it’s because they grew up around nice things, and many of them acquired an intolerance for not nice things as a result. That’s a good recipe for taste, but it’s not sufficient and it’s definitely not a guarantee.
creating forces taste upon its maker
If we apply this to digital space, we can turn them from an overwhelming and chaotic bombardment into a steady stream of things we find beautiful, that in turn, can define our tastes. For me, Are.na is a space for this kind of curation. I contribute to it all the time and it remains my-kind-of quiet and pretty there. As a friend recently described it, Are.na is an “internet mind palace of cool stuff.”
take your time learning what you find compelling, and why. There are no shortcuts to taste. Taste cannot sublimate. It can only bloom

my notes from wop q&a: app.hyperspaces.live

every

Evan Armstrong The Art of Scaling Taste

notes by me

Zeyad Mahran 28 lessons from my 28th year
ig stories from few weeks ago! screenshots, and a video about taste by steve jobs
check saved posts by milan and similar stuff!

steve jobs

from the book above:

“Interview with Michael Moritz” “Your aesthetics get better as you make mistakes.” Steve and Michael Moritz, a reporter who would soon switch careers and become a venture capitalist, spoke at Steve’s office at Apple in May 1984. They covered a wide range of topics, including Steve’s thoughts on product design. Steve Jobs: I went around and looked at Cuisinarts when we were designing Mac. It was like my Cuisinart week.
Michael Moritz: But no other particular products [influenced you]? Say, from the late seventies or something.
SJ: Well, we’re around automobiles our whole lives. I’ve never been a car guy, but I’ve always loved Volkswagen Beetles. I’ve always loved Volkswagen vans, actually, too.
Just a bunch of little things: wine labels, paintings in galleries. Just simple things. Not anything real profound, just lots and lots of little things. I don’t think my taste in aesthetics is that much different than a lot of other people’s. The difference is that I just get to be really stubborn about making things as good as we all know they can be. That’s the only difference.
MM: Yeah, I think you’re being modest.
SJ: Well, things get more refined as you make mistakes. I’ve had a chance to make a lot of mistakes. Your aesthetics get better as you make mistakes. But the real big thing is: if you’re going to make something, it doesn’t take any more energy—and rarely does it take more money—to make it really great. All it takes is a little more time. Not that much more. And a willingness to do so, a willingness to persevere until it’s really great.

example: hyperspaces login screen