How To Have Aesthetic Taste
Using lessons from Steve Jobs.
I. The Aesthetic Taste Of Steve Jobs
One weekend — after Apple hit a 3-year record low stock price — Steve Jobs went to Macy’s in Palo Alto to study kitchen appliances.
The following Monday, Steve bounded straight to the iMac team, and said:
“Buy a Cuisinart. Study its lines, curves, and bevels. Then write a new draft of product design changes. The first iMac should have a friendly appearance.”1
After launching, the iMac became the best-selling computer. Apple eventually rebounded — becoming the first $1 trillion company.
Thanks to the aesthetic taste of Steve Jobs.
II. Contrarian Thinking
Terry Oyama, who worked on the original iMac team credits Steve for teaching him what it meant for a computer to be “friendly”.
”Even though Steve didn’t draw any of the links, his ideas and inspiration made the design what it is. To be honest, we didn’t know what it meant for a computer to be ‘friendly’ until Steve told us.”
Steve had the foresight to know the aesthetic value of a computer, insisting that it should look friendly — like your grandma’s Cuisinart kitchen appliance.
This was a contrarian idea.
Microsoft was the market leader. But they lacked the ability to make valid judgements about aesthetic value.
In Steve Jobs’ view, that’s why Microsoft builds third rate products.
“The only problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste. Absolutely no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way — I mean that in a big way. They don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their products.
Fonts, for example, come from books. Had Steve not seen the aesthetic value of different typefaces, and programmed that into the iMac, this essay’s font might be Times New Roman rather than Slab.
III. How To Have Taste
Taste is the ability to recognize what is aesthetically excellent. There’s three ways to develop aesthetic taste:
Read old books that have been around for centuries. If an idea has stood the test of time, it’s worth reading.
Strive to write something high quality (like I’m trying to do with this essay).
Make aesthetic judgements yourself. The amount of ‘likes’ on social media has replaced independent judgement of aesthetic value — keep ‘flexing’ your knack for taste by asking yourself ‘what is quality?’.
In doing so, you refine your taste, broaden your understanding of what is truly good, leading to more tasteful work in the future.
That’s how you develop a taste for aesthetics. Just like Steve Jobs.
Thanks for reading.
— Grant Varner
I originally read this story on: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-steve-jobs-love-of-simplicity-fueled-a-design-revolution-23868877/
This is an especially interesting concept:
“The amount of ‘likes’ a post has has replaced independent thought about the value of a post. Taste is a capacity for critical judgement, and the ability to recognize what is aesthetically excellent.”
That ‘taste’ is a form of intelligence, and therefore an expression of our humanity. That to be fully human is to have good taste. Reminds me of how the Catholic Church invests in art and cathedrals, seemingly unrelated to religion, yet because it is beautiful, it helps us realize our dignity as humans and informs our Faith.
Certainly something I am working to get better at is having good taste. Decorating my apartment, carrying conversation well, making good weekend plans - they are all part of me being human!
In a modern world where you consume 100,000+ words, how do you discern good from bad information?
"That which takes time to repeat in words, the heart pronounces at every moment" - A book written in 1700