This post by Benji Taylor got me thinking:

Taste is maybe the biggest deciding factor in whether a product ends up feeling good or not, regardless of how much skill is involved.

It resonated with me because taste, in design, isn’t just about technical skill—it’s about developing an instinct for what feels right.

Taste, in essence, is about how large and detailed your internal index is—an ever-growing collection of what you've seen and experienced. The more exposure you have to well-designed products, the sharper your taste becomes. By using thoughtfully crafted tools like Arc Browser, Eagle, Amie, Raycast, etc., you internalize what makes them great.

To improve taste, it's important to apply the solutions from these products in your own work. Practice helps you understand why certain choices feel better than others and how they contribute to the overall user experience. Taste isn't static—it's refined over time, and the more you experiment, the more intuitive your sense of what "feels right" will become.