Ask for options

When you ask for one thing and get one thing, you have no way to judge it. It looks fine. Compared to what?

Three options give you a comparison, and the comparison is where your own taste becomes visible to you. Most people discover what they wanted by seeing something they did not.

Ask for them properly: "three different approaches, meaningfully different from each other, with the tradeoff of each stated." Without "meaningfully different" you frequently get one idea in three outfits.

Then choose one and say why. Instead of "I like the second one," say something specific such as "the second one, because it works at 360px without needing a second layout."

There is a cost to this approach. Asking for three options uses more of your budget and is unnecessary when there is one clear factual answer. Use variants for decisions that involve judgement, such as layout, naming, structure or tone. For facts, ask once.

Try this on one real decision today. Write down why you chose an option. The reasoning will be useful again on future decisions, even when the specific option is not.