#3 But Why
Since this is an article celebrating the best of all-time posts on the Awful Taste But Great Execution subreddit, let's go back to the story of its inception. In a previous article on Bored Panda, one of the moderators for the community told us that a person created it after their submission got rejected from the S****y Car Mods subreddit.
"In the beginning, /r/ATBGE focused heavily on automotive-related posts, but we knew doing this would potentially limit our user base," the moderator told Bored Panda back then. "To make /r/ATBGE more appealing to the masses, we opened up the subreddit to include things beyond autos (tattoos, fashion, décor, etc.)."
#6 Asked My Mum For A Bedside Table Lamp For Christmas And Received This Sassy Young Lady
Once they decided to include all kinds of aesthetic fails, the community grew magnificently. "As we grew, moderators were added and subreddit rules were further refined," the moderator told Bored Panda in 2020. “Now, we are here, and things are still looking good. We continue to add new subscribers each day, which is a good thing (considering we all do this for free)."
The moderator team has its own way of describing the kind of content that's featured on the subreddit: things that "display quality craftsmanship in the least elegant way possible." Even if the objects featured in the pics are tasteless, over-the-top, or just plain weird, the representative for the subreddit told Bored Panda that "you won't know whether to love it or hate it."
So, who decides what is tacky and what's done in good taste? Is there an arbiter who can tell us whether a person's style or interior design choices are tasteless? Or should we just go with our gut and trust our own opinion because, ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder?
We decided to consult a professional in this field: lifestyle blogger and graphic designer Nikki Lo. She knows all about style, fashion, decor, and the aesthetic lifestyle, and she kindly agreed to weigh in on the topic.
We asked Nikki whether aesthetically pleasing things are an important part of her daily life. "For me, personally, aesthetics are very important!" she tells Bored Panda. "I'm definitely one of those annoying people [who] loves to have everything look pretty, from my outfit down to little things like my shampoo bottles or the band on my keychain."
We also asked Nikki whether aesthetics should be important to the average person. "I don't think the average person has to care about aesthetics at all if they don't want to," she says. "As an example, my boyfriend doesn't put much effort into decorating his living space. As long as it's clean, safe, and comfortable, he's good – and I think that's more than fine. But I know better than most that pretty things can make a person happy and add little bits of joy to your day, and that's totally okay, too!"
Let's get to the hard part: what does 'good taste' even mean? Nikki starts out by saying that good taste is very subjective, just like all things related to aesthetics are. Yet she asks people to consider four main things when thinking about whether something is aesthetic or not: "I think good taste is a combination of visuals, timing (what's trending), quality, and background (for example, if there's a story or special meaning attached to an item)."
