Your taste is wider than your writing voice. Voice is how you sound on a page. Taste is what you find good or naff across everything: writing, design, the choices you make, the things you would recommend to a friend. You teach it the same way you teach voice, with real examples of things you love and things you cannot stand, plus a few words that name the feel. Save it to Memory or a Project and it colours everything Claude does for you.
To teach Claude your taste, gather real examples of things you love and things you cannot stand, say why in a line each, name the feel in a few honest words, then save it all to Memory or a Project so it applies everywhere.
Set it down in five steps
- Gather real examples. Pull together things you genuinely love, and a few you cannot stand: a piece of writing, a website, a product, a design. Real examples beat adjectives, because "clean and modern" means nothing while three things you actually like show the pattern.
- Say why in a line each. Next to every example, write the reason: the pattern, not just the label. "I like this because it says one thing and stops" is useful. "I like this because it is nice" gives Claude nothing to work from.
- Name the feel in a few honest words. Once the examples are down, the pattern usually shows itself. Name it plainly: "dry, spare, a bit blunt", or "warm but never soft". Honest words, not the words you wish described you.
- Save it to Memory or a Project. Paste the finished block into Claude's Memory, or into a Project's instructions, so it applies everywhere instead of one chat. Saved once, it colours the next answer and every answer after.
- Update it when your taste shifts. Taste moves. When you notice you have gone off something you used to love, or found a new thing that fits, edit the block. A taste profile you never touch slowly stops sounding like you.
The taste profile block
Paste this into Memory or a Project and fill in the brackets with real examples, not adjectives. The more specific each line, the closer Claude lands. The brackets are the file, so do not leave them as they are.
This is my taste profile. Use it whenever you write, design, choose, or recommend anything for me, across everything, not just words. Things I love, and why: 1. [A REAL EXAMPLE. For example: a certain newsletter.] Because [THE PATTERN, NOT THE LABEL. For example: it makes one point per email and never pads it.] 2. [A REAL EXAMPLE.] Because [THE PATTERN.] 3. [A REAL EXAMPLE.] Because [THE PATTERN.] Things I cannot stand, and why: 1. [A REAL EXAMPLE. For example: pages that open with a long story before the point.] Because [THE PATTERN. For example: it wastes my time and hides the useful bit.] 2. [A REAL EXAMPLE.] Because [THE PATTERN.] Words for the feel: [A FEW HONEST WORDS. For example: dry, spare, warm but not soft, a bit blunt.] References I trust: [PEOPLE, BRANDS, OR WORK WHOSE TASTE I WOULD BORROW.] My no list: [THINGS I NEVER WANT. For example: no stock-photo cheer, no buzzwords, no over-explaining.] When my taste is not clear from the above, ask me for an example rather than guessing.
Where the line is
- Taste is examples, not adjectives. A block that just says "clean, modern, premium" gives thin results, because those words mean something different to everyone. Three things you actually love do the work that ten adjectives cannot.
- It only knows what you show it. Claude reads what is in the block and nothing else. Keep anything private out, and do not paste examples you would not want surfaced in a later answer.
Write yours today
Do not wait until you have the perfect list. Open the block, drop in three things you love, two you cannot stand, and a line of honest words for the feel. Save it to Memory, then ask Claude for something and watch the answer land closer than usual.
Want the narrower version, just for how you write? Read how to make AI write in your voice.