On December 1st, creative director and #Merky Books author Niran Vinod will be joining Lecture in Progress on Instagram Live, to share his essential career advice, as well as what he’s learnt about building your brand on Instagram and beyond.

If you find yourself asking how to grow your personal brand or use Instagram for your work, Niran is likely to have some answers for you!

About the theme

Personal branding and Instagram are two topics that come up time and time again when it comes to building a creative career. And with many of us now working entirely online, the challenge of translating your personal brand virtually is an ever-present one.

But how do work out what your brand even is? And how can you translate that to a platform like Instagram? Luckily, Niran Vinod is something of an expert on the topic – he’s literally written the book on it! An ex-creative strategist for both Facebook and Instagram itself, Niran recently published How To Build It: Grow Your Brand, under #Merky Books, and is ready to share some of his essential insights and advice.

Meet the guest, Niran Vinod

“If you don’t ask, you don’t get” is a sentiment that Niran Vinod lives by. As Niran told us in his Creative Lives interview, the basis of his career came about in the form of a blog he founded in his second year of uni; teaching himself to write, strategise, take photos, art direct and keep clients happy.

After graduating with a degree in Creative Advertising Strategy in 2011, Niran worked at a range of agencies including WeAreSocial, Independents United and AKQA before joining Instagram in 2015. Working as a creative strategist, Niran helped to launch Instagram ads, before expanding his role to working on the wider Facebook family of apps. Most recently, Niran led creative strategy on the fashion and luxury clients for Instagram.

After leaving Instagram, Niran partnered with Stormzy’s #Merky Books to launch a book around building both personal and business brands, aimed at breaking down knowledge barriers and uplifting the next generation.

Today, Niran works as a creative director, and most recently he co-founded Deft, a consultancy that helps upstarts launch digital businesses and quickly scale them into global brands.

Meet the host, Steph Fung

Having graduated from LCC’s BA in graphic and media design in 2019, Steph has since built an impressive online presence, working with the likes of The Face magazine, Studio Moross and The Mill, before landing a role as a motion designer at Selfridges.

Send us your questions!

Steph will be asking Niran all your questions, so make sure you submit something when you sign up for this event. We look forward to seeing you there!