Slott – A Brand New Effort

A Blank Page Means a Fresh Start

Imagine being handed a blank sheet of paper and an abstract challenge. That was the starting point for Slott. All we had was a brand name, a mascot, and a loose concept. The rest – from the Tone of Voice to the actual product – had to be built from scratch.

I saw it as a unique opportunity: NeoGroup trusted me and the team to bring this idea to life, and it meant designing the platform with UX in mind from the very start. It was a chance to apply lessons from past mistakes and insights right away – to build something truly valuable in the end.

Project in a Nutshell

My Role

UX Writer & Designer · Tone of Voice Owner · Localization Lead (EN → DE/RU)

Timeline

MVP1 in ~4 Months → Ongoing Feature Work

Markets

EU focus (DE, ES, IT, FR) + CIS with Full Regulatory Compliance

ToV Registration & Onboarding Payments Loyalty & Cashback Referrals Achievements Seasonal Events Localization Pipeline Other Features ;)

Team & Collaboration

Worked alongside the Head of UX, 2 UX Researchers, 2 Designers, a Platform Coordinator, and 3 Developers. Served on the 3-person UX review board. Mentored 4 junior UX writers and aligned with Legal/Compliance and Country Managers.

My Highlights

Defined ToV that became a company standard across locales.
Launched MVP1 on schedule in EN/DE/RU with fully compliant core flows.
Shipped features that increased engagement and retention (Achievements, Referrals, etc.).
Cut localization turnaround from days to hours with a scalable workflow.

Tools

Figma, Miro, Jira, Notion, Trello, internal microservices for localization, GPT‑4/3.5 for ideation.

Starting Point

The first phase focused on finding answers: defining what the brand should stand for, what kind of experience to create, and how to communicate with our audience in an authentic way. The real challenge was less about producing design and content assets and more about asking the right questions, testing different approaches, and shaping a clear plan to guide design, content, and product decisions in the months ahead. On paper, the task seemed simple; in practice, it was huge: build an engaging iGaming website from scratch.

Top Priorities

Clarify the brand's role, explore different directions, and build a foundation that balances authenticity, compliance, and user engagement – setting the stage for design and content decisions to follow.

Core Objectives

• Drive new registrations
• Encourage first deposits
• Ensure full compliance with EU regulations (Germany, Spain, Italy, France…)

Iterative Testing & Improvement

In the first testing phase, I mapped and analyzed user journeys in detail. This revealed several factors that negatively affected the overall UX: from flow inconsistencies and technical bugs to UI choices that made the experience less intuitive than we aimed for.

We addressed these findings through a structured design thinking cycle: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. By repeating the process until issues were resolved, we refined the product step by step while staying aligned with user needs.

Thanks to this pipeline, our team delivered a high-quality, ready-to-launch product in record time without compromising on UX or accessibility.

Recreated early project stages — A recreation of the project’s early stages: storyframes, first Tone of Voice definition, and lo-fi prototypes with draft app texts. Visuals are based on a different project. Since sharing internal files is restricted by contract, I created this illustrative example instead.

Recreation of ToV definition phase — This is a recreation of what the first Define phase looked like when we laid the foundation of Slott's Tone of Voice. It became the reference point for all later design and content decisions.

Tone of Voice

I defined the brand’s Tone of Voice early on. The core principle: clarity above stylistic indulgence. The language is always inclusive, approachable, and user-first.

The full ToV document was over 20 pages, covering everything from basics, rules, and examples to punctuation and even questions like "Oxford comma: yes or no?". Knowing no one would read such a long file cover to cover, I distilled it into a 17-slide presentation that became a quick reference for the entire company.

Under my supervision, the Tone of Voice was later localized and adapted for each market in collaboration with country managers and translators, ensuring consistency and cultural relevance for every user.

MVP1 and Beyond!

For MVP1, I worked on the core flows: registration, onboarding, payments, early promos, and localization into English, German, and Russian. The MVP launched on schedule and met all regulatory requirements.

After launch, the work didn't stop. I became one of three decision-makers on the UX review board, where every new feature had to pass our review before development. In parallel, I owned or contributed to major flows such as the Loyalty Program, Referral Program, Achievements, Advent Calendar, and some other yet unannounced features. Each project went through our iterative UX design process: research → prototyping → testing → refinement.

My role went beyond words: I made sure the product kept evolving in a way that felt as natural and user-friendly as possible to our audience. Slott continues to grow – not only as a gaming product, but as a unique experience designed to engage, convert, and retain users while remaining intuitive and enjoyable.

Slott Android app landing page — Example of our ongoing product improvement: the Android app landing page, one of many landings we created to promote and strengthen Slott throughout its lifecycle.

Impact

Building Slott was a cross-disciplinary effort for me, where I could take on new roles and expand my expertise. I helped shape the platform's design, content, and product decisions, influencing both how players experienced the service and how the brand communicated with them. Here are the key results:

• Boosted engagement & retention. Features such as Achievements drove clear increases in registrations, first deposits, and weekly retention.
• Defined the brand's voice. The Tone of Voice I developed became a company-wide standard, applied consistently across product, marketing, and customer support. It gave Slott a recognizable, human, and trustworthy personality.
• Accelerated localization. By building a scalable content pipeline and overseeing local translators, I cut localization time for new features from several days to just a few hours – without compromising quality or compliance.
• Cross-team alignment. I worked at the intersection of UX, design, and compliance, ensuring that new features met user-experience standards, business requirements, and regulatory checks in the EU markets.
• Team development. I trained and guided a team of 4 junior UX writers, introduced review practices, ensured style consistency, and mapped out growth paths. This turned content from a support task into a strategic product asset.
• Implemented key product flows. co-led decisions on loyalty programs, referral systems, and seasonal promotions, ensuring that content and UX were integral to product strategy.

Learnings

Slott became a crash course in building both a product and a brand from the ground up. The experience pushed me to grow from a simple UX designer into a strategic partner in product design, compliance, and growth. Here are the key lessons I took away:

Balancing creativity and requirements. I learned to create engaging, playful communication while still meeting strict regulations and business needs, finding solutions that worked for everyone.
Scaling a unified voice. Creating Tone of Voice guidelines was one thing. Making them work across multiple countries and languages was another. I learned how to adapt a brand voice without losing its essence.
Thinking like a product owner. Serving on the UX review board taught me to decide not only as a UX designer but as a strategist, balancing user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility.
Leading through content. Mentoring writers and working across teams showed me that content leadership shapes not just words but also processes, features, and even company culture.

The Slott logo, brand, mascot, and website are owned and operated by Bluewave Interactive N.V. I do not claim any rights to these assets – they are displayed here solely for the purpose of demonstrating my professional contributions to the project as an employee and later contractor of NeoGroup.