What is "Taste" anyway?
And why you can’t out-program It
We talk about “taste” all the time. We say someone has great taste in movies, an interior designer has impeccable taste, or a founder built a product with real taste.
But if you try to pin down what taste actually is, it gets slippery. It’s not just a fancy word for “expensive,” and it’s definitely not just about choosing a pretty color palette.
So, what is the anatomy of taste? And why is it so important in the world of AI?
An Opinionated Filter
At its core, taste is a deeply honed, human-centric opinion on what quality looks, feels, and sounds like. Think of the world as a chaotic waterfall of raw data, features, and possibilities.
Taste is the filter. It’s the ability to look at a hundred different options and say: “This one matters; the other ninety-nine are just noise.” While data and algorithms tell you what is popular (the average of what people already do), taste predicts what will delight people—even if they haven’t realized it yet. It balances empathy for the human experience with the bravery to reject unnecessary complexity.
Taste in the Wild: 3 Unique Examples
To understand taste, look at the moments where someone chose human intuition over raw logic or industry standards.
1. In Hospitality: The “No-Menu” Strategy
Standard business logic says that if you open a high-end cocktail bar, you should give customers a massive, beautifully designed menu with dozens of options.
But a bar operating with pure taste might completely throw out the menu. Instead, the bartender sits down, asks you three weird questions—“What’s your favorite childhood memory? Do you prefer rain or sunshine? Bitter or sweet?”—and crafts a drink tailored exactly to your mood.
Taste here is realizing that the ultimate luxury isn’t endless choice; it’s being understood by another human being.
2. In Gaming: Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
When this game was being developed, the trend in the gaming industry was to fill open-world maps with thousands of checklist icons, mini-maps, and blinking arrows telling the player exactly where to go. It was highly optimized, but it felt like a chore list.
Nintendo exercised incredible artistic taste by hiding the UI. They designed the physical landscape (mountains, smoke plumes, ruins) to naturally catch the player’s eye and spark curiosity. They trusted human nature over digital hand-holding, transforming a digital space into a genuine adventure.
3. “Working Backwards” (Amazon’s PRFAQ framework)
Taste isn’t just for hardware; it applies to how you build software and businesses. Take the famous Amazon framework of writing the product press release before writing a single line of code.
It takes taste to halt engineering and say, “If we can’t explain why a human being would care about this in a simple page, we shouldn’t build it.”
Taste is the Ultimate Guardrail
Whether you are writing an essay, designing an app, or cooking a meal, remember this: Data can optimize, but only taste can compose. The next time you are building something, don’t just ask, “Is this technically correct?” or “Does the data support this?”
Ask the harder, tastier question:
“Does this have a soul?”
This becomes all the more critical in today’s world where one can build anything using AI - but all that matters is the ‘taste’ to know when to stop.