BRAND DNA
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LOOK & FEEL
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COMMUNITY
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BRAND DNA ✳︎ LOOK & FEEL ✳︎ COMMUNITY ✳︎
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
There's a step most people miss when they start a business. They go straight from idea to execution — and wonder later why nothing sticks.
They launch without knowing if there is a market for what they want to sell, what they actually stand for and why anyone should care.
Irregular Brand Building is here to change that. Work through this online course and you'll emerge with the clarity and confidence to build your business on solid foundations — foundations that will shape and inform every aspect of your business, from product to marketing to community building.
Is this for me?
If you think you hate brands, and the very idea of building a brand is loaded with negative connotations, I hear you! It’s easy to focus on all the bad stuff: corporate greed, lies & manipulation, superbrands buying up or simply burying the little ones, the exponential and unavoidable presence of brands in all areas of modern life etc
But let’s remember something important: not all brands are evil.
At its heart, a brand is really just the manifestation of an idea, and successful brands are those which manage to effectively communicate their idea to the intended audience, or customer. It is the principle mechanism for getting your product into the hands of the people who want it, without having to do every sales pitch yourself, in person.
The nature of how your brand does this is entirely within your control: you just need to get involved, understand why it’s important and how it could help you sustain and grow your business/product idea.
About Mil
Hi, I'm Mil… designer, educator, dad to four grown up daughters, and recovering would-be pop star. (there's video evidence, and yes, there are white jeans)
I started late, enrolling at Art School at the ripe old age of 27 because I was interested in the world of ‘stuff’ and recognised that the main reason things work well or not is down to design.
Having studied product design at Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Art, I have spent the last 25 years working with corporate clients in the world of fashion, food & drink and retail as well as non-profit organisations, cultural institutions and government agencies.
My work has been worn on the feet of Italian footballers, drunk in bars, featured as a question on BBC's University Challenge and spent time in prison. What ties them together is a common approach, which always starts by looking for the underlying DNA at the heart of each project. Only by understanding the client’s core values & distinctive characteristics can one design responses which are not only attractive (hopefully!), but also meaningful and appropriate. This year’s cool will only take you so far!
Alongside my design practice I've taught part time at Glasgow School of Art for over 20 years, and since 2020 have been building my own brand Irregular Sleep Pattern with my wife Jolene — literally practising what I preach.