I make complex products easier to use and brands easier to trust.
I’m Ikenna ‘Marley’ Ajoku, a lead product designer, brand strategist and creative director. For over a decade, I’ve helped businesses simplify digital experiences, build distinctive identities and connect design with business growth.
10+
From visual communication and brand building to products, systems and creative leadership.
6
Brand and marketing leadership at Fine & Country West Africa.
End-to-end
Connecting the big picture with the details people see, use and remember.
West Africa
Products. Brands.
Better connections.
Different briefs, connected thinking. A selection of product and brand work shaped around the people and businesses behind it.
Making everyday finance easier to understand, navigate and act on.
A connected wellness experience, from discovery to check-in.
A distinctive visual identity designed to bring consistency to a skincare brand.
A considered brand identity expressed across a clear, coherent visual system.
The whole experience matters.
Product Design & UX
I make complex journeys easier to navigate, with interfaces and systems people can use with confidence.
UX/UI · Prototyping · Design systems
Brand Strategy & Identity
I help businesses define what they stand for, then build an identity people recognise across touchpoints.
Positioning · Identity · Brand systems
Creative Direction & Digital
I connect the idea, message and execution across websites, editorial work and campaigns.
Art direction · Editorial · Web experiences
Design should make the
next step obvious.
A product that makes sense.
A brand that feels right.
I care about the moment the work clicks: a journey becomes simpler, a message becomes clearer, or a business starts showing up with confidence. My job is to connect that thinking with careful execution — across the screen, the brand and the bigger picture.
A clear direction.
A considered result.
Five stages, adapted to the challenge. Select a step to see how I work across products, brands and digital experiences.
Understand before creating.
Explore the business, the audience and the current experience. Use AI to critically explore questions and frame requirements, then check findings against the project context.
Supporting tools Notion
IN PRACTICE
Map user needs, business goals and open questions into a clear brief. Verify AI-assisted findings before treating them as evidence.
Turn complexity into direction.
Turn findings into information architecture, workflows and priorities. Establish the direction, useful constraints and decisions the team needs to move forward.
Supporting tools ChatGPT · Claude
IN PRACTICE
Prioritise the key user actions and document a clear flow, hierarchy and shared definition of success.
From exploration to execution.
Explore interfaces, design systems and visual directions, then refine the details into a coherent experience. Professional judgement guides the move from generated exploration to finished design.
Supporting tools Photoshop · Affinity · Brandly
IN PRACTICE
Develop reusable components, purposeful interface states and prototypes; refine visual assets for the project.
Make every decision defensible.
Review prototypes against critical tasks and project goals. Evaluate usability heuristics, accessibility and responsive behaviour, and refine what is unclear. AI feedback supports critical review; it is not formal user testing.
Supporting tools ChatGPT
IN PRACTICE
Review a critical flow across screen sizes, document accessibility issues and challenge assumptions before handoff.
Designed to move forward.
Prepare components, assets, specifications and design documentation for implementation. Support a clear handoff and record the decisions that will guide future iteration.
Supporting tools Photoshop · Affinity
IN PRACTICE
Organise handoff assets, document component behaviour and clarify important implementation decisions.
Creative range.
Commercial perspective.
I’m Ikenna Ajoku, though most people know me as Marley. My career began in visual communication and grew into brand strategy, creative leadership and digital product design.
Working across commerce, premium real estate and technology has taught me to understand the business as carefully as the brief. Today I work at Neuron Innovations and take on selected independent projects through Marley Designs Co.
Based in Lagos. Open to international roles and collaborations.
Built through real work.
Product Designer & Creative Strategy Lead
Neuron Innovations
Product design, reusable design systems and creative strategy for digital experiences.
Founder & Creative Director
Marley Designs Co
Independent work across product design, brand identity, creative direction and websites, from early strategy to final delivery.
Brand & Marketing Lead
Fine & Country West Africa
Led a six-person team across brand communications, campaigns, editorial design and digital marketing for premium real estate.
Graphic Design Lead
Fine & Country West Africa
Design and creative execution across property marketing, publications and brand communications.
Senior Graphic Designer
Jumia Nigeria
Digital design, campaigns and brand communication in a fast-moving e-commerce environment.
I use AI to widen the options, explore directions and speed up parts of the workflow — then review the work against the brief, the audience and the business.
Let's make something
worth choosing.
A new product, a sharper brand, or a clearer digital experience. Tell me what you’re working on.
info@marleymaine.com · Email me to arrange a call.
© 2026 Ikenna Ajoku · Marleymaine