Oh hi Reader!
I've been thinking a lot about taste lately. Not the kind you get from a really good flat white (tho that's always on my mind, obviously ๐), but the kind we talk about when we say someone has "good taste" in design, or music, or whatever it is they're into.
And here's what I've noticed - most people treat taste like it's something you're either born with or you're not. Like it's this mysterious gift handed out at birth to lucky designers and architects and the kind of people whose houses always smell good and never look lived-in for a second.๐คฃ
But I don't think that's true. Personally, I think taste is about paying attention, over time.
Think about it like this: when you first got into your field - coaching, consulting, whatever it is you do - you probably couldn't tell a good client conversation from a bad one. You couldn't spot the red flags. You didn't know what "off" felt like yet. And then, slowly, you did. Not because someone handed you a manual, but because you experienced more. You kept showing up, paying attention, and noticing what worked and what didn't.
Taste in design is exactly the same. It evolves - and I think mainly it's about noticing with intention.
Noticing why one Instagram post stops your scroll and another doesn't. Paying attention to the spacing on a website that feels calm versus one that feels chaotic. Spotting that your favourite brand uses the same two fonts every single time...and that's kind of the point.
You've probably got more taste than you think - you just haven't been given permission to trust it yet. And that's the bit I want to gently push back on today. Because if you're building a brand, your taste can really make a difference. It's what makes your work feel like you and not like a template someone else filled in.
The gap between where you are now and where you want to be visually isn't a talent gap. But it may be an attention gap. And attention is something you can absolutely close, a bit at a time, without burning out or buying a hundred courses. Just give yourself the permission and time to get curious.
Anyway - speaking of noticing small things that make a big difference...
It's the little things
One of the things I genuinely enjoy about Canva is that every now and then, a feature quietly shows up that may not be mind-blowing, but has the potential to REALLY make a difference to how you work day-to-day.
That's exactly what happened with Canva Components at Canva Create this year. While the AI stuff was getting alll the attention (like pretty much everywhere else all the time ๐ซค), this one slipped under the radar a bit. And honestly it might be the most practically useful thing they've added in a while.
Components let you turn any design element into a reusable, linked block - so when you update the original, you can push that change out to every copy of it across all your designs in one click. No rebuilding every time or hunting through old files to find it. Just one "source of truth" for important parts of your design.
In this week's tutorial I walk you through how to create them, how the update process actually works, and there's a little discovery at the end about using them in video workflows that I'm pretty excited about.๐
โCheck it out on my YouTube channel now.โ
Meaningful Creations
It's been a while since we had a dance break ๐ but today I want to share a brilliant piece of choreography - just because it's inspiring.
โIt's Not That Serious, a short dance film directed and choreographed by Ricky Ubeda, is set to Sympathy by Vampire Weekend. It's less than four minutes long and I promise you, you will not want it to end.
Watching young talent like this just loving and working at their craft is one of those things that just makes me feel genuinely good about the world. The styling, the choreography, the athleticism..it's just pure creativity.
What I love about this piece is how it manages to feel completely fresh and contemporary, while sometimes reminding me of older styles that were also ground-breaking in their day - Bob Fosse's choreography specifically. I's got that same power and that thing where every single body part feels deliberate, controlled and expressive all at once. (If you don't know Fosse's work, please do yourself a favour and look him up after you watch this. You're welcome.๐)
But honestly, more than anything this just made me want to get up and move. There is something so necessary about pure joyful physical expression, and I think most of us don't do nearly enough of it. I certainly don't. So consider this your gentle nudge. Click below, turn up the volume and maybe - just maybe - have a little dance? Nobody's watching. ๐ค
OK folks, take care and please give yourself some space to relax and disconnect (literally and figuratively) this weekend. ๐ค
PS: CanvaOS 3.0 is launching in less than 2 weeks! Eeeekk!! ๐ฌ If you know anyone who would benefit from learning how to use Canva like a pro, I would so appreciate it if you'd send them to waiting list page createdbywayne.com/canvaos. But more on that next week!
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