Defining taste, leaving my X (Twitter), Barbie & design, AI-generated slides

Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.

Published in

UX Collective

4 min readJul 31, 2023

People think taste is subjective, until they start to design things. Paul Graham argues that most people keep their thoughts on taste as unexamined impulses, starting from childhood. When they like something, they have no idea why — it could be because their friends like it, because it’s fashionable, or because a movie star uses it. But when you grow up and start to design things, you realize the relationship between taste and good design.

Taste is something we all need to examine more objectively.

What is taste? →
By Caio Braga, Fabricio Teixeira

Decktopus AI →
[Sponsored] Gone are the days of spending hours formatting your slides. With Decktopus AI, simply write down your presentation idea in a few words and let the AI do the heavy lifting.

Editor picks

I sent an email, but nobody read it →
So I sent out an invite.
By Raoul Flaminzeanu
Are data dashboards vanity projects? →
The complexities of data visualization literacy.
By Irina Wagner, PhD
Jon Ive’s way of doing personal projects →
Why it’s the best approach for designers.
By Darren Yeo
Liminal spaces in software →
Every software should have a space to just relax a little.
By Lee Fischman
Too young, too old, too female →
Ageism and sexism in the workplace.
By Jocelyn Wright Powell

The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and illuminates the path to design mastery and critical thinking. Here’s how we’re boosting stories through our partnership with Medium.

Barbie logo: the vibrant history of an iconic brand →

Make me think

Generative AI and the future of work in America →
“The jobs in the two lowest wage quintiles are disproportionately held today by those with less education, women, and people of color. Women are heavily represented in office support and customer service, which could shrink by about 3.7 million and 2.0 million jobs, respectively, by 2030.”
Write like you design →
“I am not suggesting that the design community considers writing unimportant. It is just treated as something else. The aesthetics of the visual and textual will continue to be disconnected until that changes. Writing is design. There is no separation.”
The looking glass: higher-level design →
“Maybe we call it creating, or architecting, or founding, or directing, or communing with the muse or whatever. But if there is one thing I hope you take away, it is this: design is any creative endeavor in pursuit of an outcome.”