Before tools, before wireframes, before colour palettes, there’s something deeper guiding every creative decision: taste.

Above it sits inspiration. At the top are the choices the world sees.

Taste: The Foundation

Taste isn’t inherited. It’s not a talent you’re born with, in fact it’s a skill you can develop over time. It grows through exposure and reflection: by seeking what feels right, analysing why, and revisiting it often. Your lens becomes sharper as you surround yourself more and more with great work and curious thinkers. Discussions about why something works, not just how, changes instinct into judgement. That’s how personal taste evolves into team culture.

Inspiration: The Filter

When taste becomes your compass, you stop copying and start interpreting. You begin to see inspiration not as a collection of screenshots, but as a field study of ideas.

Inspiration is everywhere: in products, blogs, debates, even error messages. Scrolling design galleries without discernment is mimicry. Filtering them through your own sense of value is creativity.

The point isn’t to replicate what’s admired, but to translate its essence into your own context. That’s how inspiration matures into originality.

Choices: The Visible Tip

The best design choices seem easy, but they're based on a lot of thinking you don't see. Without taste and inspiration underneath, choices fall apart.

I’ve seen teams stuck in loops of endless tweaks and approvals. Not because they lacked skill, but because they lacked a shared foundation. When taste and inspiration are aligned, choices feel inevitable, they click.

At Domino’s, alignment between product and design meant every decision had a shared “why.”

At Cashfree, open channels where people shared examples helped create collective taste.

When everyone sees good work together, they start to sense coherence, not just design it.

Leadership: Building the Base for Others

Design leadership isn't about picking the best layout. It's about helping others make good choices. Expose your team to quality work.

Encourage people to give feedback based on reasonings & principles, not just opinions. Make taste a shared standard, not a personal preference.

When taste becomes collective, every decision, from pixels to policy, starts to align.

Final Thoughts

Design doesn't start with tools. It starts with taste.

And without that base, inspiration becomes copying, and choices lose integrity.

So before you use Figma, ask yourself:

What’s shaping my taste today?