The Era of Taste
In 2026,
Everyone is a designer and everyone is an engineer.
The ability to imagine, create, and ship has been democratized. Deep expertise still matters, but execution is no longer the privilege of a select few.
AI has made creation cheaper and the the world noisier. When almost anything can be made, just making something is no longer enough.
The real challenge is knowing what deserves to be made: recognizing the signal, choosing the right problem, and deciding which direction is worth pursuing.
That discernment is taste.
Taste is not mystic
And it is not merely personal preference. It is intuition gained through attention and experience. Flavored by time.
When we spend years practicing a craft, we begin to recognize what works before we can fully explain why. We were in trenches. We have encountered the patterns, studied the failures, failed ourselves, and felt the difference hundreds of times.
Having taste materializes that quality. It is a form of sensing, beyond logic and metrics. It goes beyond trends, eye candy, and whatever visual effect happens to be fashionable.
Taste is a priviledge and access we were gifted with. It is specific to a problem, a person, a culture, a place, and a zeitgeist. It responds to the lives people are actually living.
Taste solves real problems
At its best, taste solves a real problem and adds a little magic.
A moment of clarity, delight, or recognition that resonates with us emotionally. Perhaps it saves time that can be spent with friends and family. Perhaps it helps someone accomplish more. Perhaps it removes a source of frustration so completely that they barely remember it was ever there.
This is the sought-after marriage of form and function.
Taste means knowing when not to craft
Not every product needs to be extraordinary. Not every interaction needs to delight. Some things should be fast, temporary, or disposable.
Craft is not about polishing everything endlessly. It is about understanding what deserves care, where that care will matter, and when simplicity is the more thoughtful choice.
The people who love designing interfaces and digital experiences bring the devotion of craftspeople to their work.
Like a carpenter shaping a table that will gather a family for years, or a mechanic tuning an engine until it sounds exactly right. Writer obssessing over the perfect sentence.
They invest time and judgment in details others may never consciously notice, but will still viscerally feel.
AI helps us produce more. Expertise helps us produce better. Taste helps us decide what is not worth producing at all.
Keep asking
- What problem are we solving?
- Who will benefit?
- What are we privileged to have access to?
- What deserves our attention?
- Where will craft make a meaningful difference?
- What should exist, and what should not?