The TasteMakers Handbook

Once accepted into TasteMakers, you are officially part of our contributor network and eligible to be considered for future opportunities.

After acceptance, contributors are invited into communication channels including WhatsApp groups, Notion resources, project announcement channels, and community updates. These channels are where many opportunities, onboarding instructions, and project announcements are shared.

New opportunities are shared on a rolling basis as projects launch. Each opportunity includes a project overview, required skillsets, expected availability, compensation structure, timeline, testing requirements, and application instructions. Apply only to opportunities that genuinely align with your background, interests, and availability.

Most opportunities require some form of assessment, calibration task, or review process before staffing decisions are finalized.

It could be: portfolio review, short sample tasks, structured evaluations, calibration exercises, paid tests for certain projects, or multi-stage review. Most assessments are intentionally lightweight and respectful of your time. Not everyone passes every assessment.

Contributors who pass assessments and project review may move into active staffing.

At this stage you may receive acceptance notifications, project onboarding materials, background check requests (when required), contracting and compliance documentation, payment onboarding instructions, kickoff call invitations.

Once onboarded, contributors participate in project work alongside other selected TasteMakers.

Contributors who communicate clearly, respond promptly, and consistently deliver high-quality work are significantly more likely to be staffed repeatedly.

Contributors who consistently perform well are often invited back across multiple projects and workstreams. Repeat staffing is heavily influenced by quality, reliability, communication, responsiveness, professionalism, and prior project performance.

Golden set creation

Creating benchmark-quality examples that represent exceptional execution: product interfaces, frontend experiences, SVG assets, diagrams, presentation assets, motion systems, design systems, and interactive experiences. These assets are often used to evaluate or benchmark model quality.

Frontend engineering & design engineering

Building polished frontend examples and interaction systems using React, Next.js, Vue, Svelte, Swift/SwiftUI, Tailwind, HTML/CSS/JS, motion systems, and modern UI frameworks. Highly design-sensitive work focused on implementation quality, interaction fidelity, realism, and polish.

Design evaluation & critique

Evaluating visual outputs for typography, layout, hierarchy, accessibility, consistency, interaction quality, UX clarity, and visual polish.

Prompting & AI-native workflows

Structured prompting, creative generation systems, evaluation, and human-in-the-loop creative systems.

Structure

Most TasteMakers opportunities are structured as per-task or per-deliverable engagements, short-term project or sprint-based work, or independent contractor engagements.

For many projects, compensation is benchmarked using an estimated average handling time (AHT) for a task or deliverable.

Some projects as pilot programs, undefined workflows, QA functions, or Team Lead responsibilities, are compensated hourly instead. Rates vary with seniority and specialization, project complexity, quality and reliability.

Payments

Taste operates on a semi-monthly payment cycle: work completed between the 1st and the 15th is paid by the last day of that month; work completed between the 16th and month-end is paid by the 15th of the following month.

Once a cycle closes, our Finance Team emails you the amount to be paid for that period (typically within ten days of the cycle closing). First payment from Taste? Reply to that email with your banking details (a Wise tag also works), within two to three days so the payment processes on time. Paid before? No action needed. All payments are made via international bank transfer and we can accommodate most currencies.

Questions about payments: finance@tastelabs.com.

Contractor structure

Most contributors work as independent contractors. We are flexible on structure, individuals, sole proprietors, LLCs/corporations, and small personal studios.

AI tool usage

Important: for deliverables that require original human judgment (critiques, evaluations, written analysis), using AI tools to generate, rewrite, or meaningfully paraphrase your work is prohibited. Tools for spelling, grammar, and translation are permitted. Full policy details are covered during project contracting.

How it works

Refer someone who would be a strong fit. They apply through the Multi-Disciplinary Makers application and include your name as their referrer in the form. A referral is successful once they complete 20 QA-passed prompts, tasks, or assets, or 20 hours of equivalent QA-passed project delivery. The bonus is paid in the pay cycle following that milestone.

• Referrals should be people you know, have worked with, or can confidently recommend, please don't blast the application on social channels.
• Referred candidates must include your name in the form for you to receive credit.
• Referrals stay active for 90 days from the date the candidate applies; duplicate referrals credit whoever submitted first.
• Bonuses apply only to new referrals not already in our pipeline or on a project. Self-referrals don't qualify.