the elusiveness of taste
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 kno... See more
Elizabeth Goodspeed on the Importance of Taste – And How to Acquire It
Alex Burns added 6mo
In early interviews with Whaley, he often talked about the internet being the magic ingredient to MSCHF: “Life is too short and the internet is too big to not make what you want.”
Evan Armstrong • The Art of Scaling Taste
Alex Burns added 5mo
If a person seems to have a good grasp of a book or other artistic or aesthetic object, by all means be willing to let the conversation flow in that direction, because you will end up staring right into that person’s soul.
Tyler Cowen • Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World
Alex Burns added 4mo
There is a time for any fledgling artist where one's taste exceeds one's abilities. The only way to get through this period is to make things anyway.
Gabrielle Zevin • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A novel
Alex Burns added 6mo
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
Alex Burns added 6mo
Attend to your influences.
I suppose this is the ur-message - to be more aware of what’s influencing you and how. Acknowledge just how much of what you think, feel and do is picked up from others, consciously and unconsciously, and try to become more conscious of more of them. Artists pay attention to this because they love their influences, while a
Alex Burns added 6mo
Looking closely is valuable at every scale. From looking closely at a sentence, a photograph, a building, a government. It scales and it cascades — one cognizant detail begets another and then another. Suddenly you’ve traveled very far from that first little: Huh.
I’d say that that huh is the foundational block of curiosity. To get good at the huh i... See more
I’d say that that huh is the foundational block of curiosity. To get good at the huh i... See more
Craig Mod • Looking Closely Is Everything
Alex Burns added 4mo
How to Discover Your Own Taste
open.spotify.comAlex Burns added 6mo
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.
Elizabeth Goodspeed on the Importance of Taste – And How to Acquire It
Alex Burns added 6mo
Developing taste is an exercise in vulnerability: it requires you to trust your instincts and preferences, even when they don’t align with current trends or the tastes of your peers. Because while having taste is cool, taste itself reflects a certain type of uncool earnestness – a commitment to one’s own obsessions and quirks.
Elizabeth Goodspeed on the Importance of Taste – And How to Acquire It
Alex Burns added 6mo