On Taste
What is taste?
Taste is a mix of intuition and experience. It refers to the quality of our judgment in aesthetic and sensory matters. Both objective and subjective, it allows us to assign value to creative output. Does the work serve its intended purpose and how elegant is the solution?
We cultivate taste through the process of exposure and reflection. Understanding of a craft forms the basis for discernment, and exposure to its output helps us gain perspective, identify patterns, form opinions and hone our sensibilities.
Functionality, beauty and longevity are three important metrics when assessing the merit of creative work. Our taste informs the way we balance the first two, and the quality of those decisions dictate the work's longevity.
Timelessness is the highest success creative work can achieve. It is attained when the work fulfils its purpose so absolutely, that no further improvement is required. It remains resonant, appropriate and evocative regardless of era or passing fashions. The ability to produce such work demands mastery of perception, understanding and judgement.
Taste in design
Where aesthetic decisions are involved, subjective opinion exists. In doing the best job possible within a brief's constraints, a designer introduces preference and personal choice, drawing from their expertise and giving consideration to the human implications of their choices.
We cultivate taste through the process of exposure and reflection. Understanding of a craft forms the basis for discernment, and exposure to its output helps us gain perspective, identify patterns, form opinions and hone our sensibilities.
In any discipline, the basis of good taste is formed around the craft's core principles. In design these are the balance of form, scale and proportion, material selection, hierarchy and clarity (to name a few). Between these foundations and the constraints of the brief, there is room for the designer to exercise their own discretion, creativity and flair. It is at this intersection where our individual aptitude and creativity provide value.
While not a requirement of effective or beautiful work, novel creations separate good designers from incredible ones. Progressive work and the minds responsible not only solve problems tastefully, but pioneer new attitudes and techniques, capable of moving the entire craft forward. We see this in the work of legendary designers, often considered ahead of their time, who continue to inspire several decades later.
Over time, we develop unique sensibilities regarding form, function and material, forming a mental catalogue of best practice. An individual's good taste can apply across multiple domains, as the underlying principles are often universal or interconnected.
Adding new, seemingly unrelated skills to one's repertoire, creates a virtuous cycle; our current attitudes inform how and when to use those skills,and the new knowledge expands the way we think, work and evaluate our output. In this way, developing and maintaining taste is an ongoing exercise.
Shaping perception
While taste and quality of craft are linked, social and cultural conditioning also play a part in shaping our collective preferences. What an audience considers to be appropriate or valuable often reflects social context, identity, and collective values.
Aesthetic judgement can be so visceral and immediate that we can find ourselves feeling a certain way about something before even processing why. Upon first glance we form a response, whether to accept, challenge or reject something based on appearance and perception.
Audiences can detect if something is of high or low quality, pretentious or sincere, even if they can't articulate why. Those selling a product or service are inevitably subjected to this collective judgement, prompting them to seek the counsel of an expert. It falls to us, the designer, to craft an appropriate answer, ensuring our client's offering is successfully received by their chosen pocket of society.
To guide perception, designers must speak to this intuition, through the control and mastery of constants such as form, proportion, complexity, balance, contrast, tension, colour, etc.
Through considered decisions, design can address a project's requirements, resonate with audiences and fulfil our own professional need to shape our surroundings with integrity.
It is at this intersection of responsibilities where developing a refined taste can help us create work that is effective, novel, beautiful and enduring.
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