The New Creative Edge: Taste Over Execution

As AI continues to improve, getting the result you want is faster and frankly, easier than ever. This shift reduces the premium on execution and elevates the importance of intention. The designer’s value no longer lies in the act of making, but in deciding what to make and why. Put simply, curation and taste are becoming more essential than ever.

In the past, technical skill and execution were the barriers to great design. The tools were complex, and mastery took time. But today, AI levels that playing field. Anyone can prompt a visual, generate layouts, or produce iterations in seconds. The bottleneck is no longer ability—it’s clarity of vision. As a result, the creative edge has shifted from production to perception. What matters most now is your ability to choose well: to define a perspective, to filter what’s noise and what’s signal, and to shape a story that resonates.

With that in mind, let’s look at two very different takes on taste: Schema and Unpinned. Both are tools for curation but they live on opposite ends of the spectrum.

"Schema is the clean, curated, gallery-wall vibe. Thoughtful. Structured. Polished. It’s the design equivalent of a perfectly organized bookshelf."

It offers a refined, editorial lens. The emphasis is on control—what gets shown, what doesn’t, how things align and relate. It’s a tool for designers who want to frame their taste with intention. Think of it as a minimalist gallery space, where every piece has been carefully selected and hung with precision. Schema is about elevation through reduction—less, but better.

"Unpinned on the other hand is the messy studio floor. You decide what stays, what goes, what tells your story. It’s looser and more personal. (Or to be less precise: it lets you steal Pinterest boards and make it your vision.)"

Unpinned thrives in the chaos of exploration. It’s not about perfect presentation, but raw collection. The value lies in openness—the freedom to gather without editing, to play with fragments before deciding what fits. It encourages spontaneity, remixing, and experimentation. If Schema is a gallery, Unpinned is the pinboard behind the scenes: unfiltered, emotional, alive.

Both approaches serve the same ultimate purpose: to build a curated experience. They reflect different philosophies but in the end, curation and taste, not execution, are becoming the true marks of creativity.

It’s not about how quickly or perfectly something can be made anymore—that’s increasingly table stakes. What sets someone apart now is how well they can see, choose, and tell a story through what they include (and what they leave out). Whether your style is polished like Schema or expressive like Unpinned, the future of creativity belongs to those with a point of view.