Us designers love to talk about tools, processes, and skills. We debate software, trade shortcuts, and show off case studies filled with research frameworks and clever flows. All useful things. But what rarely gets talked about and showcased in portfolios is the one thing that actually makes a designer memorable: taste.
Taste gives you vision. It’s the lens through which you decide what matters, and just as importantly, what doesn’t. Without taste, design drifts into decoration or efficiency for efficiency’s sake. Devoid of feeling. With taste, you can see a brand clearly before it even exists, and then pull every detail into alignment.
Experience, on the other hand, is efficiency. It helps you ship faster, avoid mistakes, and manage the moving parts of projects. That’s valuable—but it doesn’t set direction. Being efficient without vision is like being a fast runner with no idea where the finish line is.
Knowledge gives you action. It’s the “how” of design—which fonts pair well, how to structure a layout, how to make a system hold together. But knowledge today is abundant. AI can surface it instantly, and a quick search can hand you the answer. Knowledge shouldn’t be taken for granted, but it’s no longer scarce.
Taste, though, is scarce. It can’t be automated, shortcut, or outsourced. It’s cultivated over years of looking, editing, comparing, curating. It’s what lets you create not just a good design, but a point of view. Luxury is born from that kind of consistency of taste—not from expensive materials, but from every detail feeling inevitable across every channel.
Of course, a strong career blends all three. Taste gives vision. Experience gives efficiency. Knowledge gives action. But if you had to choose just one, taste is the irreplaceable part. For me, this is particularly important when deciding who to hire or collaborate with.
In a world where AI can replicate knowledge and experience can be hired, taste is what actually sets you apart. Cohesion, distinction, character—it all flows downstream from taste.