Novice Enthusiasm: A Matter of Taste
A few months back I sent my cousin a proof of concept with an accompanying audio moodboard I created for a product I’ve been working on. I was curious to hear her feedback. A couple of hours went by and she texted me saying, “This is SO good! I love your taste in music. Everything together makes so much sense”.
Since this collection was arranged to accompany a visual presentation, I asked her what she loved about it. She said, “I dunno… it’s funky… it’s loud… and there’s so much feeling. It’s very you.”
Feeling.
That’s the key to defining your personal taste as an artist, or as an appreciator. In my experience, artistic taste is directly connected to how deeply you allow yourself to feel. The more you can feel, the more range you have in interpreting and understanding art. It’s how you learn to communicate through it.
Using my own product as an example, the visuals were made stronger by the story the music was telling underneath. The result was immersion into the world I built. When the words, images, and sounds work together, that’s what I call the holy trinity of communication. The emotions they stir up form a shared experience. This can be repeated and applied to almost anything. Choosing how to use this process is an art form in itself.
This isn’t as abstract as it might sound. Think about when you’ve tried to set a mood at home. Maybe you’ve hosted a dinner, a party, or a romantic evening. You probably thought about lighting, smell, and music. You curated those details to create a feeling. If the mood matched the intention, your guest experienced your taste. They felt it.
Taste, at its core, is emotional curation.
In a world that’s becoming more automated, the ability to curate taste will only become more valuable. I would even say it’s an artist’s responsibility to develop their taste. It helps you communicate more clearly and more powerfully.
That kind of responsibility shouldn’t feel heavy. It’s actually exciting. It means paying close attention to what inspires you and diving deeper into it. It means being a hungry consumer of anything that makes you come alive. There’s no right or wrong here, only growth.
As your taste expands, so does your awareness. You start noticing what you love and what moves others. You start to see patterns in what creates emotion.
We all know someone who seems confident in their taste. The friend who dresses with a seemingly effortless flair, whose home feels intentional without feeling stuffy, who can mix things that shouldn’t work together and somehow make them feel right. That confidence comes from knowing what they like and trusting it. This is an emotionally centered person.
When you understand how art, design, words, and sound make you feel, you start to use them with purpose. It becomes a process of emotional refinement that leads to a calm kind of confidence. A peace that comes from alignment.
You’ve already experienced this in small ways. The playlist that gets you through a workout. The movie that comforts you when you’re sad. The way your home feels when you’re happy. Taste mirrors emotion and emotion builds connection.
In the business of art, confidence in your taste becomes your greatest tool. It helps you sell a piece, a collection, an idea, or a product, because you know how to make people feel something. You know how to tell a story. Emotion is your medium.
And once you can tell a story through curated taste, the hardest part of the work is already done.
About the Author
I’m Sean Miller, a visual designer and producer who helps people and brands communicate emotion through story-driven design. Over the past decade I’ve worked across comics, entertainment, gaming, and high-end brands to develop visuals that connect and inspire. Through my philosophy, Novice Enthusiasm, I teach creators and teams how to reconnect with their curiosity and communicate with clarity.
If your product needs direction, storytelling, or creative development rooted in taste, I’d love to collaborate.