Tasty
#5 20/02/2026
Dear B,
People have started to use AI;DR (AI; didn’t read) in response to content that is obviously AI generated slop.
Most identify slop through excessive use of em-dashes (RIP), parallelisms (that’s not X, it’s Y), and emojis 👀.
For me, it’s indicated by a lack of taste.
Taste isn’t ‘I like this’.
The feeling experienced when something is technically fine, but somehow not right.
The ability to feel the delta between almost and actually.
The late, great Dieter Rams pointed at this with his ten principles of good design.
Purposeful. Honest. Long lasting. Unobtrusive.
Not a list of things he liked.
The feeling something gives you that just feels right or wrong.
People without taste ignore that feeling (and send emails or linkedin posts that are clearly and unashamedly AI generated slop).
People with taste sit with the feeling until they better understand it, and can articulate it.
Some businesses have taste.
Apple, obviously.
But taste isn’t exclusive to design led or luxury fashion brands.
Monzo.
Dyson.
Braun. (Dieter, again)
All of them made choices that required people to say ‘no, not yet’, in place of ‘good enough’.
They understand what the absence of taste costs.
Forgetability. Clunkyness. Sameness.
They don’t see taste, or people with taste as a threat.
The barrier to building stuff is lowering.
3D printers massively accelerate physical product development.
Vibe coding gets a founder from idea to funding for next to no investment.
But just because you can build it fast and cheap, doesn’t make it a good idea.
Taste helps build ideas with differentiation.
Ideas that resonate, stand the test of time and are hard to copy.
The problem with slop is the lack of thought.
And the lack of value the person placed in that thought.
AI removes the friction of thought.
The friction where judgement and taste manifest.
Sitting with a blank page. Editing a bad first draft.
Thinking about what you’re actually trying to say.
About whether it’s actually worth saying.
Without that friction, you end up with content that has no substance.
Technically correct, but superficial.
You’ve read it before, it’s just arranged slightly differently.
It’s not just inefficient. It’s embarrassing. 🙃
The good news though, is that taste is trainable.
The bad news is that it is slow and needs commitment and attention that most can’t be arsed to invest in.
I will point you toward things. Introduce you to the stuff I develop my taste with.
But I can’t develop your taste for you. Nobody can.
It requires you to want it enough to sit with things when the easier option is to move on.
Here’s how I train my taste:
Slow down.
You can’t develop taste at speed.
Find something you like and stick with it long enough to articulate why.
Find something you don’t like and do the same thing.
Linger. Think about it. Be willing to have your mind changed.
Learn to describe it.
‘I don’t like it’ is infuriating.
Language and perception develop together.
Learn to be precise in articulating what you like, don’t like and feel.
Those that can do this are formidable.
Go wide.
Taste is comparative and works across many domains.
Reading only about your industry, direct competitors or single hobby will narrow you and your taste.
The connections that product genuine judgement usually come from unexpected places.
Architecture leads to art, which leads to fashion, which leads to music.
Seek out tasteful people.
Find those whose taste you respect and pay attention to their choices.
Don’t just copy them.
Understand the standard they apply and work out how you can apply it yourself.
Edit more than you create.
Anyone can add. Especially AI!
Taste and judgement help you know how much to take away and cut, to build something in its simplest, most effective form.
None of this will happen quickly.
And that’s entirely the point.
Love,
Dad