Pushing Boundaries in iGaming Design: An Interview with Yevhen Ivliiev, RISK Marketing Design Head

In the fast-paced world of iGaming, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. We sat down with Yevhen Ivliiev, the Marketing Design Head at RISK, to discuss his innovative approach to design, the challenges of working in a dynamic industry, and his vision for the future of iGaming design. From creating a unified design community to navigating cultural nuances across different markets, Yevhen shares valuable insights into the world of iGaming design.

Let's start with your initiative to create a design community. Can you tell us more about this project and its goals?

Yevhen Ivliiev: Absolutely. This initiative was born out of a need to consolidate our design vision across different products and brands within the company. Our design department is distributed across various projects, so we needed a way to bring everyone together and ensure a consistent approach to design. The initiative to create this community came from my colleague, and I was asked to help in the organization.

The primary goal of this design community is to keep all designers updated on company-wide changes and design standards. But beyond that, it's about creating a space for designers to share experiences, exchange ideas, and grow together professionally.

We also plan to invite external speakers to keep our team informed about the latest industry trends and to improve brand awareness for each product. It's all about consolidating and bringing together all designers in one environment for knowledge exchange and learning.

How many people are involved in this community?

Yevhen Ivliiev: Currently, we have 39 specialists. It's not just designers - we also have people who work with creative aspects like media buyers and affiliates. They want to stay informed too. Anyone who wants to learn about the latest news in the design sphere and stay aligned with trends can join this community.

Your community brings together iGaming design experts from different regions. How do you approach the differences in user mentality based on geography? What nuances do you need to consider?

Yevhen Ivliiev: That's an interesting question. I've had experience working with clients from various geographical locations, and it's true that they have different needs for products. User mentality in different countries varies based on several factors: psychographic aspects, the country's economic level, and behavioral factors.

For Tier 1 countries - wealthy nations - players value high quality and professional design. They appreciate experiences that combine aesthetics with intuitive design. The designer doesn't necessarily have to be local; professionalism is key here. Users in these countries prefer modern, clean designs without unnecessary details. It's also crucial to consider requirements for security and responsible iGaming in these markets.

In the Asian sector, gaming culture can be significantly different. Players there often value brighter designs rich in small details, often with an emphasis on traditional motifs and symbols of luck and fortune. We incorporate these elements into our designs for these markets.

How do you learn about these cultural differences? Is it based on experience or do you conduct research on local trends and culture?

Yevhen Ivliiev: Thank you for highlighting this. Before entering a new geographical market, we indeed conduct thorough analysis. This includes competitive analysis and in-depth user research, including user interviews and focus group testing. We look at how social media and advertising are designed in these regions to understand which messages and visual concepts are more relevant.

Of course, all of this needs to be tested. It's important to look at analytics to see how users engage with different designs. We then summarize our findings and move forward with adaptive elements that work for that region and its users.

Considering RISK's positioning as dynamic and out-of-the-box, how do you balance adapting to user requests with maintaining our authentic expression? Do we set trends, or do we design for our users?

Yevhen Ivliiev: RISK is about the courage to be different. Here, we need to maintain structure and consistency while pushing boundaries. The key is constant feedback and interaction within the team. We regularly conduct brainstorming sessions to generate new ideas and check them against our standards.

We always need to balance speed and quality. Creative solutions need to be not only quick but also effective. And this is where collective intelligence comes into play.

As a person - “Yevhen Ivliiev” , how do you personally balance your tastes with traditional industry tastes? Can we not only follow the user but also bring something new and educate the user's taste?

Yevhen Ivliiev: This is a constant challenge for us. We need to consider the user's experience, as they may already have a formed vision of design in a particular domain or sphere, and it's easier for them to communicate with something familiar. At the same time, we need to infuse the brand's character and express ourselves among the competition while remaining interesting to the user.

The balance here is that we sometimes have to restrain ourselves because we need to maintain a balance between individual creative expression, brand vision, and certain standards we must adhere to. Sometimes we can't incorporate certain ideas because we understand that they might conflict with brand values.

It's a constant challenge for us. A clear understanding of the values and strategy of both the brand and the company allows us to direct creativity in the right direction. We don't strictly separate user experience and our own initiatives - we try to integrate new interesting trends, but very pointedly. And this must be followed by further testing and analytics to understand how well it worked.

For example, if we want to include a bold solution in an advertising campaign, we do testing first. After that, taking into account factors of user experience with our product, the mission and values of the brand, and creative expression, when all these planets align, we manage to create a really great design that's effective for both the company and the user.

One of the industry's challenges is constant regulatory changes and advertising restrictions. How do you manage to find creative approaches while walking on thin ice, so to speak?

Yevhen Ivliiev: This is indeed an important point. There are always regulatory changes regarding business conduct that affect design. Each geographical region has its own regulators, and this is always a constraining factor for creativity.

For example, in British iGaming or betting advertising, there's a clear prohibition on using children under 16. There are also regulations on the use of creatives. In Eastern markets, there's more room for creativity. However, issues of cultural appropriation often arise, where using certain cultural elements or traditions can touch on sensitive topics related to tradition or religion. 

Our marketing and legal departments take care of this, constantly updating information in terms of relevance. We try to develop solutions that can be easily adapted to new requirements without significant changes to the main design concept.

Can you share a challenge that was overcome, which in hindsight, you now see as a victory?

Yevhen Ivliiev: We face challenges every day. We overcome many innovations, restrictions, etc. This happens thanks to our adaptability, ingenuity, and innovation, which the company instills in its values. Sometimes we need to take responsibility and be brave in new solutions, and this is a challenge.

It may not be perceived well by our internal customers and may not have support, and here it's important to convey our thoughts and ideas in the user's language. To convey the values we've embedded in the design. And it's important to stick to this, just in dialogue and communication we can reach some solutions.

Of course, this isn't in the format of "I'm the designer, this is how I see it." That's not constructive or professional. A professional should use professional language and explain why something is important. And we're also open to feedback, but also constructive feedback. Our customers provide their vision with arguments. There's always a question of what specifically they don't like and why. Maybe there's data or previous experience they're relying on. We're open to such ideas and information that will help us create more unique and functional designs.

As a manager, how do you balance the creative souls of your team with the need to meet deadlines in such a dynamic industry?

Yevhen Ivliiev: This is an interesting question. Balancing creativity and deadlines is crucial. Here, the ability to delegate tasks and communicate specific ideas is very important. I always try to optimize many operational processes to spend less time on them and invest more in creative activities.

We always balance on this edge of functionality and meeting deadlines on time. There are many solutions and tools: task managers, different approaches, and of course, planning and communication. We have daily task planning for the week, we conclude conditional points at each meeting about what we will do next week, and each performer takes on a separate volume of tasks. We also prioritize tasks according to deadlines. In communication with other teams, we've reached a consensus to do media planning a month in advance. And according to this, we plan creative assets. Nothing will work without communication. We need to communicate cross-functionally, highlighting the importance of planning to our internal customers.

Time management is crucial. I measure the speed of task execution of my designers and understand their capacity. I also help with recommendations and optimize the process in this way. I find various product solutions to speed up the work process, using certain plugins and tools. The same AI, accordingly, with its technologies, helps to save a lot and focus on creativity.

We've touched on AI. I know this is a relevant topic for you. How is AI changing the user experience in iGaming?

Yevhen Ivliiev: We can talk a lot about AI, and there are nuances to its use in every field of activity. Specifically in the experience with iGaming, betting, or esports, there is great potential for significant changes in these areas. Thanks to AI, I think games can become more interactive and adaptive to user needs.

AI can learn from user behavior and provide them with individual recommendations regarding game style or betting strategy, offering new challenges or adapting game difficulty according to the player's skills. This can also help the user understand that there is personalization and attitude, and that we value their experience as an individual user. And AI helps with the analysis of this experience, developing certain strategies and insights to improve the game.

In your opinion, how does AI influence or set new trends in the design sphere of iGaming? Is there already an impact here?

Yevhen Ivliiev: Regarding trends, AI is a tool. Creativity will always come from the designer, from the human. Ideas are generated by people with certain values, vision, and all this is embedded by people through the matrix of brand values into the product or design itself.

I understand that there is a certain fear that AI can take jobs from designers. In fact, the fear that AI can steal jobs from creatives is understandable, but I believe that AI will most likely be a tool that helps unlock our potential in general. I use it to automate routine tasks, for example, and this helps me free up time for creativity. Creativity will always remain the prerogative of humans.

AI will be a very convenient, multifunctional tool that helps realize these ideas faster and more efficiently. Runway, Midjourney, and others help create certain drafts very quickly, which can then be worked with. And use it in UX/UI to create user flows. It creates a general structure that previously took several days. The final move is always up to the human.

Where is the iGaming design heading? Can we talk about long-term trends here, or is everything always changing quickly, user-oriented?

Yevhen Ivliiev: Yes, this question interests me too, how trends are formed. There are many trends in both design and user experience, and in graphic design. For me, there is a tendency towards greater interactivity and individualization of the user experience. That's why concepts like gamification are popular now. Creating a certain experience with the product so that the user is interested in interacting with the product, even if it's about monotonous processes.

To engage in the product, various achievements, ratings are created, and this gamification process helps a person interact more interestingly with a product. And there should always be a certain interactivity, interaction with the product. This affects the positive experience, and I think in iGaming, we need to focus on technologies like AR/VR. This will allow creating a more immersive virtual environment, it can be in the form of augmented reality products, when you can be at a match thanks to glasses and look from the first person and immediately place bets. We need to strategically plan the involvement of these technologies in our business.

To wrap up, can you summarize what RISK means to you?

Yevhen Ivliiev: The name itself implies a certain meaning. We risk confidently, pragmatically, balanced, boldly, understanding the numbers and the cost of error. It's about risk that creates a spark and even adrenaline to open new challenges for ourselves.

If we think about it in terms of the company, it's certainly about stability, about being human-oriented - that the company is focused on us as people who have our own vision, interests, and traditions, and all this is paid attention to and respected.

RISK is also about constant development, as the company always invests in training and developing our competencies. So in summary: it's about innovation, it's knowledge-based, and human-oriented. People are the driving force that pushes the company forward.

Thank you for this engaging conversation. We look forward to seeing how you and RISK continue to push boundaries and set new standards in the world of iGaming design.

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