Why taste might be the most valuable creative skill today
AI can generate endless work. But deciding what’s actually good still takes taste. How creatives build it, refine it, and use it to stand out.
In a world awash with algorithmically generated art, writing, and design, one intangible quality is fast becoming the ultimate creative currency: taste. As AI systems churn out infinite variations at the click of a button, what sets truly great work apart is the ability to discern which of those outputs carries weight and meaning within the creative industry. The most valuable skill today is the ability to cultivate creative taste and style. Nevertheless, taste has always been the defining factor, even before AI existed. Technology may change the tools, but the instinct to choose, refine, and stand behind what matters has long been at the core of meaningful creative work. The word taste often resists simple definition. In a creative context, it refers to a refined sense of judgment, an instinct for quality, coherence, and style that shapes every aesthetic choice.
Former Harvard dean Nitin Nohria describes it as: “the instinct that tells us not just what can be done, but what should be done. ” Philosophers have long debated what we mean by taste. In Of the Standard of Taste (1757), David Hume argued that beauty exists not in objects but in the mind that perceives them, though he believed taste can be refined through experience and discernment. Later thinkers expanded the idea. Hannah Arendt described taste as a form of judgment shaped through dialogue and participation in culture, while Susan Sontag showed how what is dismissed as ‘bad taste,’ such as camp aesthetics, can reveal new cultural values. Hans-Georg Gadamer framed taste as a deeper understanding developed through exposure to art, ideas, and experience. In this view, taste is not fixed or innate but cultivated through interpretation and engagement with culture. At major creative festivals, judges are framed as arbiters of taste whose decisions indicate what the industry should value next. Awards are presented as recognition from respected peers, and the judging process itself has become part of the event’s public narrative. Festivals increasingly show how decisions are made, using the process to teach what ‘great work’ looks like. Through awards, language, and rituals, juries become the mechanism that defines quality in an industry where creativity is hard to measure.
How is taste cultivated?
Good taste might seem effortless, like the product of a privileged education or natural flair. But in practice, it’s almost always built, not born. It comes from deliberate exposure, thoughtful observation, and the slow layering of influences over time. Many of the most tasteful creatives draw from unexpected places, and when it resonates with others, it becomes recognizable and, in a way, shared. People begin to see the patterns in what inspires you. The idea that ‘taste is just personal preference’ is misleading. If taste were purely subjective, there would be no way to get better. Yet as people practice and refine their craft, their tastes evolve, and that challenges pure relativism and suggests there really are standards of good taste. If creativity is about output, then taste is about input. It comes from what we’ve lived, seen, and loved. That means immersing yourself in great examples of art, design, literature, music, architecture – anything that can fuel your aesthetic sense. By filling your mind with diverse references and noticing what makes the best of them work, you start to form an internal benchmark for quality. This broad cultural literacy is the soil in which taste grows. And, by making conscious choices about what you admire (and what you don’t), you sharpen your taste.
The act of curation is essentially taste in practice – it exercises the muscle of choosing and justifying why one thing is better or more interesting than another. That’s your real creative engine. It’s how you build a sense of what works and why. To quote David Lee, CCO of Squarespace: “Good taste is the currency of the future.” The ultimate act of creation is being able to shape your thoughts into something that genuinely reflects how you see the world and how you believe things should be made. Alongside exposure and curation, feedback from others and mentorship can further refine taste. Tasting ‘with’ someone more experienced can accelerate your own development, much like a sommelier training an apprentice’s palate. At TOML Collective, individual taste is valued and shaped through guidance from creative leadership, building toward a shared sensibility that informs thoughtful, relevant work.
Creative judgment is not seen as fixed but as something that grows through exposure, dialogue, experimentation, and the exchange of different perspectives.
As our founder and creative lead, Virtyt Pula, says: “In a world where everyone can make, taste becomes the visible difference. But judgment is what gives it meaning: knowing where to direct taste, what to reject, and what not to make.”
How is taste cultivated?
In the age of AI, perhaps taste still remains a human strength because it leads culture forward, while AI can only respond to what already exists. In a world where all content competes for attention on the same level, creativity becomes about standing out in sameness. But while this flatness can lead to chaos and polarization, it also opens up new ways to connect, mobilize, and reshape culture if we use it with intention.
We’re still the best pattern recognizers. We question them and challenge them. And, we don’t just spot trends; we also shape them. The strongest creatives use taste to move into unfamiliar territory. They take risks that may feel odd or uncertain at first and explore what those choices mean over time. That willingness to lead, rather than follow, is what opens new aesthetic horizons. This takes imagination, courage, and a willingness to be wrong in the pursuit of the new. That willingness to challenge what’s accepted and set new standards is a human skill, rooted in creativity, judgment, and leadership. That’s where our value sits: not just reacting, but guiding. That’s what we celebrate: the power of individual taste to shift perspective and change the whole paradigm.
Originally published on the Drum.
Written by Debora Deva
Debbie is a writer, art director, and multidisciplinary creative at TOML Collective. With a background in advertising, she brings fresh perspectives to the journal — aiming to educate, question, and spark new ideas.
Get in touch with debora@tomlcollective.com