You surely think that taste is an intrinsic trait of people. You are born with it or don’t have it. In reality, there is nothing further from the truth. Taste is a skill, a skill that is developed throughout your whole life, same as any other. And arguably the most important one for your career.
Why?
Because everything that is hot right now and thus admired by everybody and copied by many is disposable.
An audio file, viral on Instagram, a template everybody is using for their projects, or a particular style of a brand. All this works until it becomes obsolete.
The thing is that you need to stop imitating things that everybody likes and start analyzing the things that will last forever.
Why is Apple or Nike so good in their designs and branding? What makes classic designs, like Porsche 911 or a simple Moleskine notebook, eternal? What makes a movie by Stanley Kubrick so fresh as if it had been shot yesterday?
It is not about the trend. It is about understanding the principle.
How do you get it?
Step #1: Consume more than you create.
Study award-winning designs of 1970s. Get an old Communication Arts magazine. Watch a movie by Stanley Kubrick. Analyze composition of every frame in it. Train your brain to understand the difference between disposable and eternal.
Step #2: Develop your point of view.
Don’t just appreciate what you see. Try to understand why you do. What makes that listing of Airbnb so cool? What makes UI of Notion app so pleasant? When you figure it out and manage to explain it to yourself, you become a critic.
Step #3: Get ready to be wrong.
As your point of view is getting more solid, you will start making statements which seem ridiculous. You will say things nobody will want to buy. And it is fine. Taste is not about being right all the time. It is about having a perspective.
Here is the thing.
This perspective becomes a filter that will allow you to judge the proposals from your company. The filter that lets you deny the suggestions of “more gradients” or “let’s make the logo bigger” without feeling embarrassed.
And the taste is not developing quickly.
It requires years of work. But the result is worth it.