Taste Is Conviction, Not Correctness

The Idea

"Good taste" in product design isn't about choosing the "right" values (metrics vs. craft, engagement vs. flourishing). It's about having strong conviction and avoiding the mediocre middle.

The metrics maximalists win (TikTok, Zynga). The taste maximalists win (Apple, Linear, Stripe). The "let's balance everything" crowd ships forgettable products nobody cares about.

The Real Failure Mode

Not "optimizing for the wrong thing." It's having no clear opinion at all:

• Kind of following data, kind of following intuition
• Kind of optimizing engagement, kind of caring about user wellbeing
• Shipping things that are fine, that nobody hates, that nobody loves

Why This Matters

As building costs decrease, differentiation comes from conviction. Anyone can ship. Few have a point of view worth following.

Strong opinions, loosely held > weak opinions, tightly held.

Related

• Commoditization of "Fake Knowledge Work" — taste as one of the things hardest to automate (generative, contrarian, risky)
• Short video debate: Is TikTok "bad"? Maybe not—it's extremely committed to its pole. The products exploiting attention and pretending to care about wellbeing are worse.
• "Stand Out of Our Light" by James Williams — attention economy ethics
• "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman — predicted entertainment culture's effects