When camera phones first came out, suddenly everyone could take photos and videos.

No DSLR. No studio lighting. No training. Just a phone and something to shoot.

But here’s the part people forget, Once platforms like Instagram and YouTube exploded, it became obvious:

Most of that content was trash.

Shaky. Overexposed. Zero story. Zero taste.

Because access ≠ excellence.

Then a few creators stood out, not because they had better tools.

Everyone had the same phone. Same filters. They stood out because they had taste.

They knew what to shoot, what to crop, and what to leave out.

They trained their eye.

They edited with intent.

They had judgment.

They made 100 bad photos before 1 good one.

100 bad videos before a single hit.

That’s what made them different.

That’s exactly where we are with AI and software right now.

Code was the moat but now isn’t the gatekeeper anymore.

Now it’s Fast. Commoditized.

Same tools. Same AI. Some people ship noise. Others ship magic. That’s not luck. That’s taste.

With enough knowledge of coding you don’t need a team on the first version of the product.

The difference? Taste.

Taste is the new edge.

You can build agents, tools, sites, and apps in a weekend. But that doesn’t mean it’s worth using or will be used by millions. Taste is what separates the useful from the forgettable.

Taste is knowing:

It’s product sense.

It’s judgment.

It’s a muscle you build over time not something you’re born with.

And just like great photography or video storytelling, it’s earned by:

Taste now drives distribution.

In today’s world, technology is culture.

People don’t just use products anymore.

They live with them. Share them. Build their identity around them.

So whether it’s a note-taking app, an AI agent, or a hardware device, If it doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t spread.

Because in a world of infinite creation, taste is how you earn trust and traction.

This isn’t new. We’ve seen taste-driven products win before AI:

Notion - made writing and organizing feel like crafting. There were already hundreds of note-taking and productivity apps but the notion wasn’t just a notes app, it respected whitespace without shouting loudly features on screen. It brought calm into productivity with its flexible structure and people felt it with early adoption by designers, founders, and indie hackers the right taste-makers.

Headspace - made meditation approachable. Meditation apps existed, but Headspace used soft visuals, gentle narration, and playful UX to make calm feel accessible. It didn’t just guide you, it invited you. The taste gave it mass appeal.

Linear - made issue tracking feel like design. It wasn’t built for PMs drowning in tickets. It was for fast-moving teams who valued speed, clarity, and taste. Every micro-interaction from keyboard shortcuts to dark mode whispered craftsmanship. It felt like the first tool designed by product people for product people.

Raycast - turned the Mac command bar into a command center. In a sea of clunky launchers, Raycast felt intentional. Fast, extensible, and beautiful by default. You didn’t just use it, you bragged about it. It made your workflow feel elite.

None of them won just because of features.

They won because they understood the user’s emotions, environment, and context.

They had taste and that shaped adoption.

And it’s more relevant than ever.

AI will keep lowering the barrier to create.

But taste will keep raising the bar to matter.

Articles along this line that are worth reading:

https://www.workingtheorys.com/p/make-something-heavy

https://www.workingtheorys.com/p/taste-is-eating-silicon-valley

https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/on-taste-part-3-d7d9f069f0b2

https://www.paulgraham.com/taste.html

Practice studying products like Brian Lovin’s: https://brianlovin.com/app-dissection

Build and share ideas like Jordan Singer: https://ideas.ibuildmyideas.com/