Morena Pixels Design Leadership

Background

Morena Pixels is a stock media platform making a diversity of image, video, and audio content of Africa and people of color accessible to the rest of the world. Founded in 2021, MorenaPixels aims to have an unmatched, extensive selection of different photos and videos from different parts of the world to help content creators, experts, designers, thought leaders, journalists, and other professionals across the globe.

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Pre-Design User Research

Before we started the project, we carried out user research interviews with a closed group of 20 people. We asked them specific questions to try to determine what features should be included in the MVP to meet the user goals.

We received the following results:

• 40% of the participants said that they would like to have multiple payment options, like crypto.
• 60% of the participants wanted to be able to earn on referrals and have some control over the process
• 10% of the participants wanted to be able to take a pay cut so their content can be on the front pages when customers search (A pay for ads situation).
• 30% of the participants said they would like to choose if they want to sell the content for a one-off fee or get royalties.
• 20% of the participants wanted there to be quick support for when they have problems using the platform or getting paid.

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Task co-ordination

We used clickup to coordinate tasks and used sprints to break down tasks into quick and easy bits of work to allow us move faster. We used the kanban method and had statuses we used to keep track of the progress of the work.

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Task Detailing

Because I was working with junior designers with not enough real world product design experience, I needed to break things down as much as possible. I created each task with detailed descriptions, acceptance criteria and sometimes screenshots of design inspiration to reduce the time spent trying by the designers I was leading to figure out how things should work.

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Setting up Figma

We were using a free plan and as such couldn't create an extensive design system. All the components were housed on the same file but on a different page to make management easier. We had a separate page for each product arm and we also had a page where we moved files that were ready for development. This means that we could stay organised even with the restrictions of a free plan.

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Reflection

Leading a small product design team to create a stock media platform for people of color was deeply enriching. It pushed us to focus on representation and inclusivity in digital spaces, making every design choice resonate with our mission to empower and celebrate diversity. This project not only refined my leadership and design skills but also underscored the transformative power of media.

It reinforced to me how as a team lead, it's crucial to be approachable and attentive, anticipate unforeseen challenges, and provide clear directions and feedback, considering the unpredictable nature of human problems.