Design at this early stage in the journey was still very much service oriented, so my team was part of Client Services, Sales & Marketing. Pitching and presenting market research, business strategy, web design, ad media designs, marketing campaign concepts and product designs to both internal stakeholders and clients happened often. In many ways, this dynamic was very similar to the flow of agency work.

At the same time, my team was also working closely with product and engineering, designing our product and user experience, and developing our platform.

Mercatus was growing, our feature set was expanding and a more focused design team dedicated to our product was needed so our team moved. As a result of this restructuring, our product and user experience levelled up significantly. We also made improvements in our process, design infrastructure, research and testing. We invested in design systems (scaleable, flexible) style and component libraries; and made sure research, testing and documentation was a priority. We created internal feedback programs and with those insights, augmented our design-dev flow and handoff package.

The results were undeniable and is proof that small teams with the right process, systems, infrastructure and culture, can stay nimble but still accomplish a lot.

Mercatus was a great place to work. My role involved both leading Design organizationally and leading our design team. It’s important to note that as much as I was “leading Design”, design is a team sport, and other leaders and team members were integral in the success of our design culture.

As a design leader, I tried to focus on: being a good listener, providing our team with clarity, intention and purpose; ensuring communication and alignment were a priority; finding balance between work and growth; and ultimately, helping our team set the right goals, tracking our progress and developing timely feedback cycles.