If Taste Is the Advantage for Designers, How Do I Get Better Taste?

I wrote recently that AI has fundamentally changed creative work. At this point, that doesn't exactly qualify as a hot take. It obviously has. I suppose it's more interesting to think about not whether AI changed it, it’s what became valuable because it did.

Because it has commoditized execution today, practically anyone can generate a polished logo, website, illustration, or marketing piece in minutes. The technical barrier to creating something that looks “good” has never, ever, ever been lower. Yikes.

So does that mean that everyone’s a great designer now. Nope, of course not. Quite the opposite.

It means something else has become more valuable. Judgment. The question is no longer just, “Can you make it?” It's increasingly, “Do you know what should be getting made in the first place?”

And that's where taste comes in.

We Mistake Preference for Taste

Taste is often confused with personal preference. “I like it.” “I don't.” “That’s cool.” “That’s dumb.”

Those are opinions. Taste is something different.

Taste is the ability to recognize why one solution works better than another for the problem it's trying to solve. That's it. Seems simple.

You don't have to love horror movies to recognize when one is exceptionally well made. You don't have to be a diehard classical music buff to understand why Beethoven mattered.

The same is true in design.

Taste isn't about choosing what you personally prefer. It's about developing enough judgment to recognize what is appropriate, effective, distinctive, and meaningful in a particular context.

David Hume Had This Figured Out 250 Years Ago

In 1757, philosopher David Hume wrote an essay Of the Standard of Taste, exploring whether judgments of quality could be more than subjective opinion. His answer was basically yes.

He argued that refined taste comes from five things:

• Extensive experience

• Careful comparison

• Freedom from prejudice

• Attention to detail

• Continuous practice

That's still a pretty good framework for designers today. And notice what's missing, natural talent.

Taste isn't some mysterious gift you're born with. It's built.

Taste Is Built Through Comparison

Of Hume's five ideas, I think comparison is my favorite.

No matter what kind of work you do, you probably scroll through hundreds of pieces of creative every day. Logos, emails blasts, websites, social ads, more emails, more websites and more ads. Endless consumption. The death scroll rolls on, the brain turns off.

But seeing more isn't necessarily the same as seeing better. Taste isn't built by consuming more. It's built by comparing more intentionally.

• Why does one identity feel more distinctive than another?

• Why does one package communicate more clearly?

• Why does one ad hold your attention while another disappears?

• Why does one solution feel inevitable while another feels like it is trying too hard?

The point isn't to decide which one you like. It's to understand why one works better.

That process sharpens your ability to see differences, recognize patterns, and make more informed creative decisions. Critical thinking...remember that?

Experience Shapes Judgment

Experience doesn't automatically make someone better. We've all met people who've done the same job for twenty years without improving much. But experience gives you something comparison alone can't, context.

You've seen what happens after the presentation. You've watched your beautiful idea get compromised by a budget or timing. You've learned which client feedback matters and which doesn't. You've seen a seemingly small decision create a much bigger problem downstream.

Every project adds another reference point, not just for what looks good, but for what works. That's the real advantage of experience.

You develop a mental library, a collection, of situations, decisions, consequences, and outcomes that you can draw from when the answer isn't obvious. But this library only becomes useful if you're paying attention to what's inside it.

Taste Often Means Doing Less

Dieter Rams famously said that good design is “as little design as possible.” I've always liked that because I don't think it only applies to design. Restraint isn't the absence of creativity. It's often the greatest expression of it.

Good writing usually only happens after the edits. Same for great movies. The most iconic brands have fewer messages, not more. Good leaders know which ideas not to chase.

Taste isn't just knowing what to add. It's knowing what to leave out. That's becoming increasingly important in the age of AI.

So, Can I Get Better at Taste?

YES! I’m not going to stop you. And I don't think there's a special formula either, but there are habits that help.

1. Study, Don’t Scroll.

Looking at thousands of projects won't make you better. Studying one might. Read the case study. Look at the details. Think about why the designer made those decisions. Don't just collect inspiration. Reverse engineer it.

2. Learn Outside Your Discipline.

Whatever you do for a living, don't make your own industry your only source of inspiration.

Some of the best ideas come from unexpected places. A film director can teach a marketer about pacing. An architect can teach a designer about proportion. A great novel can teach a founder how to tell a better story.

The more varied your references, the more patterns you have available when you're solving a problem.

3. Practice Explaining Your Taste.

“I like it.” “I don't like it.” Those aren't critiques, they're preferences. Force yourself to explain why something succeeds or fails. If you can't explain why something works, you probably don't understand it as well as you think. Being able to articulate a judgment makes the judgment sharper.

4. Make More Stuff.

No substitute for repetition, trial and error. Every project becomes another comparison. Another lesson. Another opportunity to refine your judgment. No shortcuts. You develop taste the same way you develop any meaningful skill; by doing the work, reflecting on it, and doing it again.

Final Thought for Designers

The creative industry has always rewarded craftsmanship. It still does. But when execution becomes easier and more accessible, craftsmanship alone becomes a less reliable differentiator.

Judgment remains difficult. It has to be earned. Project by project. Comparison by comparison. Decision by decision. That’s judgement, that’s taste.