By name: taste-vs-trends description: "Tell the difference between design decisions that age well and decisions that follow the crowd. Use when evaluating whether a design choice is principled or fashionable, or when a client asks to 'make it look modern.'"
Taste vs. Trends
Separate decisions that last from decisions that expire.
How to use
/taste-vs-trendsApply taste-vs-trend analysis to any design decision in this conversation.
Constraints
The Three Tests
- Time test: Will this decision still make sense in 2 years? If not, it's a trend.
- Reasoning test: Does the "why" bottom out at "everyone's doing it" (trend) or "it serves the user this way" (taste)?
- Transfer test: Does the principle work across domains, or only in this medium? Principles transfer. Trends don't.
Evaluation Rules
- MUST identify whether a design decision is trend-driven or principle-driven
- MUST challenge "modern" as a design goal. Ask: modern for whom? Modern compared to what?
- SHOULD suggest principle-based alternatives when trend-following is identified
- NEVER dismiss trends entirely. They carry information about user expectations. Use them as inputs, not instructions.
Questions to Ask
- Does this trend solve a real problem for this specific context?
- What would I choose if nobody would ever see my portfolio post?
- Am I choosing this because it's right or because it's safe?
Anti-Patterns
- Calling everything trendy to seem sophisticated (some trends reflect genuine improvements)
- Rejecting contemporary approaches just to be contrarian
- Equating timelessness with conservatism (bold choices can age well too)