The Taste Foundation Series.

Full 87 chapters of science-backed taste deconstruction, cut into 737 small daily bites: how taste actually forms, why you feel what you feel, and how taste is acquired to accelerate your taste building journey.

Seeing Taste Differently3 chapters

abandon the old definition of taste and replace it with a working model

  1. 01The Myth of "Good Taste"
  2. 02Why Do Skilled People Make Forgettable Things?
  3. 03The Six Parts of Taste
Learning to See19 chapters

the reading skills, from the half-second to the fused whole

  1. 04How People Actually See
  2. 05Where Feelings Come From
  3. 06Reading the Decisions
  4. 07Looking Deeper
  5. 08Reading Like the Maker
  6. 09From Looking to Judgment
  7. 10Intention vs Accident
  8. 11Coherence vs Mess
  9. 12Earned vs Edgy-for-Nothing
  10. 13Read the Floor
  11. 14Read the Type
  12. 15Read the Whole, Then the Tell
  13. 16Name It, but Don't Let the Word Lie
  14. 17Know How Good Your Read Is
  15. 18You Meet It Whole
  16. 19Does It Keep Its Word?
  17. 20It Means It Across Every Sense
  18. 21The Same Move in Every Sense
  19. 22Meant or Posed
Building an Internal Library3 chapters

references, copying without becoming a copycat, studying beyond design

  1. 23Curating Excellence
  2. 24Copying Without Becoming a Copycat
  3. 25Studying Beyond Design
The Psychology of Taste25 chapters

why things feel beautiful, the biases, the emotional registers

  1. 26Why Some Things Feel Beautiful
  2. 27Two Layers of the Pull
  3. 28The Ease Trap
  4. 29The Safe Middle
  5. 30Beauty Buys Credibility
  6. 31The Eye Wants It to Hold Together
  7. 32You Love What You've Lived
  8. 33The Edge of Your Type
  9. 34The Pleasure of the Climb
  10. 35Wanting Isn't Liking
  11. 36Cognitive Biases
  12. 37Reading the Vibe
  13. 38Kitsch
  14. 39Camp
  15. 40The Aura
  16. 41The Sublime
  17. 42The Uncanny
  18. 43The Grotesque
  19. 44The Beauty of Imperfection
  20. 45Minimalism vs Maximalism
  21. 46Brutalism and Anti-Design
  22. 47The Cute
  23. 48The Cool
  24. 49New Sincerity and the Post-Ironic
  25. 50Nostalgia
Practice3 chapters

the daily exercises, the deliberate training, the critique

  1. 51The Daily Practice
  2. 52How Taste Grows
  3. 53Giving and Taking Critique
Taste Across Disciplines21 chapters

judgment (never rules) in type, color, layout, motion, writing, product, brand - and the cross-domain axes

  1. 54Typography
  2. 55Color
  3. 56Layout
  4. 57Motion
  5. 58Writing
  6. 59Product
  7. 60Branding
  8. 61Effortless or Try-Hard
  9. 62Striking or Loud
  10. 63Rich or Cluttered
  11. 64Resolved or Fussy
  12. 65In the Pocket or Off
  13. 66Soft or Sharp
  14. 67Warm or Cool
  15. 68Grave or Light
  16. 69A Voice or a Costume
  17. 70Sincere or Ironic
  18. 71True or Fake
  19. 72Fresh or Derivative
  20. 73Witty or Labored
  21. 74Friction or Frictionless
Maturing Taste13 chapters

trends, the tribe, originality, your own taste, and mastery that never stops

  1. 75Trends Are a Cycle
  2. 76Taste Is a Tribe
  3. 77The Snob and the Omnivore
  4. 78The Quiet Flex
  5. 79Cool, and the Algorithm
  6. 80More Than a Tribe
  7. 81Steal, Don't Imitate
  8. 82Your Taste Is a Pattern
  9. 83Performing Taste, or Having It
  10. 84The Curse of Knowing
  11. 85Taste Is Saying No
  12. 86There Is No Good in a Vacuum
  13. 87You Can't Borrow an Eye

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