taste
musings on taste
sari and
taste
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... See more
When I’m traveling, I like to bring back one thing where I say, This could only exist here . As unattainable as it may seem, I want to have things in my life where I say, ‘I can’t link to this. I came upon it by chance, it’s imperfect, it has a soul, and probably no one else has it.’”
Blackbird Spyplane: The unlinked thing with a soul. It can feel
... See moreBlackbird Spyplane • Everyone's Disrupting and It's Exhausting
AI image generation is essentially a truncated exercise in taste; a product of knowing which inputs and keywords to feed the image-mashup machine, and the eye to identify which outputs contain any semblance of artistry. All that is to say: AI itself can’t generate good taste for you.
Elizabeth Goodspeed on the Importance of Taste – And How to Acquire It
in the age of AI being able to select from the vast sea of possibilities becomes the most important skill.
Interestingly, I also find that experiencing Quality i n any one domain (e.g., music or meditation, to use examples that are dear to me) can be helpful for recognizing it in other domains (including business) because Quality’s nature is universal, even as its manifestations are necessarily particular.
Anonymous • Conviction
Like many writers before me, I tend to lean on vague hand-waving when the need to define taste, or rather, good taste, arises. A common trope is to use the phrase US Supreme Court justice Stewart famously gave to describe obscenity, a similarly hard-to-describe bedfellow of taste, in 1964: “I know it when I see it.” In design, good taste can be... See more
Elizabeth Goodspeed on the Importance of Taste – And How to Acquire It
While it’s probably one of the corniest things I’ll ever write in this column, I’ve come to believe that developing taste is not so unlike going to therapy; it’s an inefficient, time-consuming process that mostly entails looking inward and identifying whatever already moves you. It’s the product of devouring ideas, images and pieces of culture not... See more
Elizabeth Goodspeed on the Importance of Taste – And How to Acquire It
The problem you solve for customers is increasingly one they can’t even articulate for themselves . The ones that are easy to understand have already been built and funded over the last 20 years. Building something of true excellence will require a hungrier engagement with the world—and that will have to start with developing superior taste.
Evan Armstrong • Want to Build? Technical Excellence Won’t Be Enough.
it’s not enough to have skill.
you need soul, good judgment, a strong why, and a profound understanding of culture.
What is beauty?
Symmetry is beautiful, because life blooms in cycles rather than episodes.
Elegance is beautiful, because everything that matters can be described in a few math equations or observed between a few kindergartners.
Contrast is beautiful, because something that lacks an alternative also lacks meaning.
Connection is beautiful, because the... See more
Symmetry is beautiful, because life blooms in cycles rather than episodes.
Elegance is beautiful, because everything that matters can be described in a few math equations or observed between a few kindergartners.
Contrast is beautiful, because something that lacks an alternative also lacks meaning.
Connection is beautiful, because the... See more