Session 10
The topic of the class was “taste.” How one acquires it, why do we lean towards one specific type of taste and how does one develop a taste for that such thing?
One isn't born with a specific type of taste nor is taste always fixed. It is moulded into us over a period of time. It is something which is acquired into us. It can change over a passage of time. How is this taste ingrained into us? With a long time of exposure and the accessibility of it, one starts developing the taste for it. This is phenomenon is very much common and applicable in our life e.g living in a typical army household where watching Indian movies and listening to Indian music was frowned upon, I and my siblings used to watch English movies and listen to English music because of which now I am not a particular fan of Indian music, I can listen to it but I don't like too. If asked why? simple it's not of my taste. The same applies for my cousins but switch the role of Indian music in my case with English music, they can listen to English songs and they do it when the AUX or Bluetooth is in the control of us siblings but they don't prefer to listen to them, why? because it’s not their taste. ( and that is okay, I respect their taste in music and they respect ours)
Tastes do evolve with time, they aren't constant and arent meant to be it either. Something which you used to like as kid now you don't. What you used to hate before now you love it. What causes this change? What are the factors contributing to this change of preference? Honestly, sometimes it is just the peer pressure or the pressure from the society to fit into the normal rather than be an outcast which makes people like a particular thing which may be something they hate. I remember I used to be hesitant at some point of my life in telling people I like watching anime and I listen to Jpop because the “weeb” community or people who like watching animes are considered weird or (as I would like to use a social media terminology) cancer to the overall community. This idea of being cast aside and being labelled as “weird” made me shy away from telling people I love watching animes. But over time and as I mentally became more mature it dawned upon me why do I have to hide something which makes me, me? Animes do play a huge role in my life, why should I hide it from the people? Preferences vary from people to people and it is okay to like something which the others don't. Some tastes genuinely evolve over a period of time.
One of the roles designers play is in evolving peoples taste. They create new tastes and offer it to the people labelling it as something the consumer “needs”. Designers play a considerable role in developing the tastes of the people and to use those tastes in designing a product for the people. As the future generation of designers, it is our duty to use the taste of our people in designing something which benefits society or in evolving the taste of our people for the better.
