Cover Letter
Application for UX/UI Designer – win2day
Dear win2day team,
I am applying for the UX/UI Designer role because my strongest impact is exactly where win2day delivers every day: at the intersection of high UX expectations, regulatory responsibility, and technological complexity. I design experiences that do not just look “nice”, but build trust, work accessibly, and translate cleanly into engineering execution—supported by clear specifications, component‑oriented thinking, and a workflow that fits real product teams in Jira.
My story does not start with a perfect “designer career template”, but with curiosity and hands‑on practice. At around age 12 I started building websites—first because I loved creating things, and then because people actually needed them. Around that time I even had a library card for TU Wien: my school (EKMS at Karlsplatz) was close by, and I regularly read up on technology, design, and psychology there—topics I still apply in my work today. That combination of “how does a system work?” and “how do people think?” still shapes my approach.
Through Minecraft I entered a world where UX is immediately measurable: if a flow is unclear, if a form is frustrating, if a page is slow, or if support processes are hard to understand, users leave instantly. That is where I learned that UX is not decoration—it drives behaviour, trust, and retention.
Technology has never left my side. I learned Java early on, went deep into networking and infrastructure, and set up and operated Linux servers (including Debian, Arch Linux, Alpine). Later I added cluster and cloud infrastructure, monitoring, performance optimisation, and cybersecurity fundamentals. This perspective still informs my design: I never see UX in isolation, but as part of a system—with data flows, states, roles, security requirements, error cases, and real implementation constraints. In an environment like win2day, where security, transparency, and reliability are core product values, this mindset is a clear advantage.
At 13 I dreamed of building my own video game. At 15 I made it real: my first game project was programmed and playable. Since then I have worked with multiple engines—Unreal Engine, Unity, GameMaker, GameGuru, AppGameKit—and developed a deep understanding of interaction, feedback loops, motivation, progression, and system design. From today’s perspective, game development is excellent training for UX/UI: you guide people through complex systems, reduce friction, provide clear feedback, prevent frustration, design rules that are easy to understand, and ensure actions lead to predictable outcomes.
Since 2021 I have been self‑employed as a sole trader (no employees). That time taught me a lot: ownership, structure, reliability, prioritisation, clean documentation, and making decisions that hold up long‑term. I am used to working productively Monday through Sunday and at very different times, which makes me exceptionally flexible without sacrificing quality. At the same time, I am deliberately looking for a permanent employment relationship: stability, teamwork, and a long‑term perspective. My self‑employment will continue on a small side basis, but it will not impact my performance, availability, or prioritisation of my role in any way.
What excites me about win2day is the combination of high UX standards, regulatory responsibility, and technical complexity. Topics such as registration, verification, deposits/withdrawals, promotions, loyalty, and e‑commerce‑like funnels are highly relevant because impact can be measured clearly: drop‑off, conversion, error rates, support tickets, time‑to‑task, trust, and return behaviour. At the same time, the domain is security‑critical. This is where my technical background adds real value: I make UX decisions in the context of security, performance, and scalability, and I can bring implementation realities into the design early.
What I bring matches the role requirements well:
- Several years of UX/UI experience (web and apps).
- Strong in Figma & design systems: comfortable with libraries, web components, variants, tokens, states, and responsive breakpoints.
- End‑to‑end UX: research, user flows, wireframes, prototyping, visual UI design, and dev‑ready specs; confident in forming hypotheses and measuring impact.
- Accessibility by design (WCAG 2.1 AA): experience designing, testing, and documenting accessible solutions (contrast, focus management, keyboard navigation, screenreader logic, forms, error messages, reduced motion).
- Collaboration with engineering: clean handovers, component thinking, Jira workflow fit, and clear acceptance criteria.
- Data‑informed design: deriving decisions from qualitative and quantitative insights; experience with UX analytics and session replay / behaviour analytics tools (e.g., Glassbox).
My working style is intentionally pragmatic: I start with a clear problem statement, define hypotheses and success signals, and iterate quickly. I like using a small discovery set (e.g., interviews, support insights, analytics review) and translating it into journey maps, flows, and prototypes. Then I move into structured delivery: design‑system‑conform UI, defined states, edge cases, copy suggestions, accessibility checks, and finally a handover that genuinely accelerates engineering (specs, variants, tokens, acceptance criteria, risks, open questions).
Beyond “classic” UX/UI, I bring solid technical experience: PHP (incl. backend logic), databases, CMS systems, HTML/CSS/JS, and Java; I have built APIs and understand how data models and state logic shape the user experience. This helps me keep specifications realistic and avoid common implementation risks early—especially important in funnels and payment flows.
I also bring hands‑on creative practice: 3D design & modelling (FreeCAD, Blender, Cinema 4D), 3D printing, CNC milling, and laser engraving. That work trains precision, system thinking, iteration, and clean handovers—exactly the mindset that matters in design systems: components, variants, rules, tokens, and reuse so teams can scale.
Currently, I operate several Minecraft server networks with scalable infrastructure comparable to large multiplayer platforms. In that environment, user flows, performance, and stability are visible every day. I know the reality of peak load, monitoring, incident thinking, and community feedback. That is why I design interfaces not only to pass design reviews, but to remain robust in production.
To keep this as short as possible, I have left out many details. Over the years there have been countless learnings, iterations, and small “aha” moments—best explored in a conversation. What matters to me is this: I would like to contribute my experience long‑term at win2day and help raise the UX standard further—with a focus on consistency, accessibility, measurable impact, and collaboration that truly accelerates engineering.
For a first impression I would be happy to share my portfolio and focus on the projects that are most relevant for win2day. I can also bring a structured mini case study (e.g., registration funnel optimisation, an accessibility audit plus fix plan, or a design system extension including tokens & variants).
Kind regards,
Alexander Divos