Creating Taste Models

tl;dr Create your own taste models by sampling websites, building from scratch, or customizing public models. This feature is available to Create, Iterate, and Scale subscribers. Learn more

Why create your own model?

Our public models are world-class, but sometimes you need something specific to your brand, your client, or your creative vision. Custom taste models let you capture exactly the aesthetic you're after, and then reuse and refine it across every project.

Three options

1. Sample: turn an existing website into a new model
2. Build: describe your model, layering style and components via chat
3. Remix: create your own take on a public model

Method 1: Sample and save

The fastest path to a custom model. Found a website whose design you love? Sample it: Sample https://linear.app and create a taste model called "Linear-Style"

Your AI will visit the page, extract the colors, typography, and spacing, map them to semantic tokens, and save the result as a taste model you can use immediately.

This is perfect when you're inspired by an existing design and want to capture its essence. See Sampling from Websites for the full workflow.

Method 2: Build from scratch

For complete creative control, describe exactly what you want:

Create a taste model called "Midnight Garden" with:
- Deep navy background (#0a1628)
- Soft cream foreground (#f5f0e8)
- Emerald green primary (#10b981)
- Playfair Display for headings
- 12px border radius
- Subtle shadows

Your AI formats these into a valid taste model with all the required semantic tokens. You don't need to specify everything; your AI will fill in sensible defaults for tokens you don't mention.

Required tokens

Every taste model needs these semantic tokens to work properly:

Surfaces: background, foreground, card, card-foreground, popover, popover-foreground

Brand colors: primary, primary-foreground, secondary, secondary-foreground, accent, accent-foreground, muted, muted-foreground, destructive, destructive-foreground

Borders & focus: border, input, ring

Shape: radius

Your AI validates these automatically and tells you if anything's missing.

Optional: Add components

Want consistent button or card styling? Add component definitions: Add a button component with rounded corners, bold text, and a subtle hover glow

Optional: Content direction

Guide how your AI writes copy when using your model:

Add content direction:
- Warm, conversational voice
- Short sentences, clear language
- Avoid corporate jargon

Optional: Asset direction

Guide image generation:

Add asset direction:
- Watercolor illustration style
- Muted earth tones
- Hand-drawn feeling

Method 3: Clone and remix

Love a public model but want to tweak it? Clone it: Get the Melt taste model and create a copy called "My Melt" with a teal primary color instead of pink

Your AI will grab the original, apply your changes, and save the new model to your private collection. This is great when a public model is 90% right and you just need to adjust a few things.

Updating your models

Taste models evolve with your projects. Make changes anytime by describing what you want:

Update "Midnight Garden" to use a warmer cream color

Add chart colors to my "My Melt" model

Make the buttons in "Linear-Style" fully rounded

Your AI will typically save changes to the existing model automatically, but you can ask it to if you don't see that happening.

Tips & tricks

Start with inspiration

Screenshots, URLs, and mood boards help your AI understand what you're going for. The more context you provide, the closer the first draft will be to your vision.

Be specific about colors

Instead of "blue primary," try "deep ocean blue primary (#1e40af)" or "primary color like Linear's purple." Specificity saves iteration time.

Test on different UI

Once you have a model, ask your AI to generate a few different components (a card, a form, a pricing table) to see how your tokens work together. You'll spot issues faster this way.

Name models meaningfully

"Client-Acme-v2" is more useful than "New Model 3" when you're juggling multiple projects. Your future self will thank you.

Common questions

What's the difference between principles and components?

Principles are your raw design tokens (colors, fonts, spacing values). Components are specifications for UI elements (buttons, cards, inputs) that reference those principles.

Can I have dark and light modes?

Yes, just ask your AI to include light and dark principles in your taste model

How do I share taste models?

You can share private taste models by clicking the share button on the top right of the Connect page.

What's next

• Sampling from Websites - Extract tokens from existing designs
• Building Landing Pages - Put your taste model to work
• Taste Models - Understand how models work
• Principles - Deep dive on design tokens