tastefile
a couple weeks ago i was talking to dave about visual literacy and how it blocks people from being able to execute projects from idea—> living thing with as much fidelity as they would like. plenty of people can acknowledge when they know something looks good but it gets harder when they try to describe it to someone else (movies, moodboards, websites, albums, etc…) it gave me an idea for an algae capsule which turned into tastefile.org
the gap of fidelity between seeing + understanding is the reason i made tastefile.
visual literacy is just the ability to understand the thing you’re looking at. being able to identify the fonts, the palette tones, where the inspiration came from, what emotional/cultural/aesthetic moment it’s pulling from, etc... once you can see those things, it’s easier to talk about them, apply them, and incorporate what you like into your own taste profile.
every medium has its own language. design has one, music has one, layout has one, type has one, video has one, etc... and the best way to learn a language (for me at least, different strokes… for different folks lol) is to have the discipline to look for contextual clues, follow the breadcrumbs, ask the “dumb” questions, and then practice and/or study the thing until you can explain it to somebody else. tastefile is a tool to get you there faster.
what it does
you give it a board from (or Cosmos) but mainly built on arena’s new API
it hands you back a style code:
- the color palette, with hex codes
- the fonts and font types
- mood descriptors for the overall feel
- an “avoid” list/ the stuff that would break it
so instead of a vague feeling, you get the actual grammar of the board you like. here’s a couple of examples of it in action with a board from are.na and a board from cosmos (with assistance from clippy, microsoft office pioneer). no clippy’s were harmed in the process… but clippy does come loaded with existential dread.
anyways… then once you’ve got it, take it and run. drop it into whatever tools you use and turn it into a research prompt to go deep on the style or tweak it into a skill file so you can make something in that language. use it to recreate something, or to make something new that lives in the same world. the tool gives you the map, everything after that is how you choose to apply it to your own design rules.
tastefile is for people who are into graphic design, ui, layouts, or just some specific art style and want to understand it better. it’s for people who consume things and want to stop and learn more about the patterns they like.
loaded up with 500 uses per day~
partially that’s because running this costs real money on the backend and i’d rather keep it good than keep it unlimited/ partially because i’m not trying to build another thing that makes you pay a fee into every time you breathe. looking to actively improve this throughout the month so don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or comments.
(PS shout out for the new API launch)