ANGEL MILLAR
Author • Cultural Strategist • Creative Advisor
Myths and symbols structure our experience of the world.
All memorable experiences.
All giants in their fields.
All great brands.
These become icons, legends, and stories.
Harness The Hidden
My work explores the forces that shape how we perceive, desire, and transform—
from myth, symbolism, and language, to behavior and identity—
and how these can be harnessed to give brands and individuals an edge.
The Unconscious Undercurrent:
Beneath every identity is a story.
Patterning every story are symbols.
Embodied in every symbol are primal forces and motivations.
The Unconscious Momentum:
We build from what we see, know, and imagine. But something else is always at work: primal impulses and desires.
The challenge is to recognize and integrate them—to harness their force before the person or brand loses momentum.
Reflections
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Brand Transformation is Evolutionary Psychology
How did streetwear brand Supreme sell Laura Ashley’s aesthetic when Laura Ashley couldn’t? Heritage brand transformations often fail because executive leadership focuses on sales and relevance. Consider this contrast: Laura Ashley and Supreme. Once the icon of English fashion, the former was known for its dense floral patterns. After the death of its founder in…
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Beauty and the Sublime
In 2021, Dior unveiled a fashion collection based on the Tarot. Accompanying it was the short movie Le Château du Tarot, directed by Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone, during which, fashion models appeared, dressed in Dior, but representing various Tarot cards. Originally a card game, Tarot became associated with the Mysteries (at least, primarily) during the…
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Creative Flow as an Altered State: Trance, Focus, and Originality
It was the Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who first articulated the notion of “flow.” Accordingly, an artist, author, sportsperson, or other such creative types of people are able to enter a highly-focused state that is conducive to creativity (or, we might also say, adaptability). That state is was coined “flow” by Csikszentmihalyi (1934-2021). Before him,…
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AI Art: Mirroring Dreams & the Ancient Mind
If you’ve used AI to create an image, one thing is immediately noticeable: AI programs do not produce art in the same way that humans create it. An artist drawing a flower might begin at the base, draw the stem, and then draw the petals and centers of the flower. Or, drawing a human figure,…
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Creative Thinking: More Complex (but Clearer) with AI
If you’ve started working with node-based AI architectures, linear “prompting” already feels archaic. Writing text instructions is still part of the job, but it’s no longer the core of the work. Creative thinking has become three-dimensional—weaving distinct threads of data (including instructions and images) across an open canvas. Node-based AI connects various models into a…
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Leadership Psychology: The Shift Needed for The AI Era
AI can already do some things perfectly. So, in an emerging era of AI, what will the psychology of the AI-driven leader need to be? “Perfectionism”? “Perfectionism” is often just another name for “insecurity.” It’s a delaying tactic, not a decision. And it’s definitely not a strategy for winning. Leadership in the AI Era: The future…
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