---
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-trends` Apply 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)