Let’s start with the basics. Why are we having this conversation?
Olena Zanichkovska (co-founder of The Gradient): Well, this is not just about numbers or anniversary cakes. It’s about remembering what we’ve done, what we’ve been through, and what we've built over the last nine years. Not just work, but meaning. And maybe also to give people a little glimpse of what makes Gradient, well, The Gradient. Because most of the time, clients only really find out how good we are once we start working together. It’s time we talked about it.
Take us back to the beginning. What was the biggest challenge?
Denys Skrypnyk (founding partner & CEO): Finding work. That was it. We had this ambitious strategy to earn a million in our first year. No clients, no traction—just a wild strategy spreadsheet, coffee, and some blind faith. The hunger was real, though. We just needed something—anything—that could get the machine running. Our first six months were chaos.
Oleg Gasioshyn (founding partner & design director): And the second challenge, which, looking back, was just as big, was understanding who we were. We were all over the place. The first version of our site was trying to be everything—a full-stack digital agency. We said yes to everything — branding for a gate factory, marketing for a coffee shop, you name it. And somehow, that confusion was the path. It helped us realise what we didn't want to do. And eventually, what we did.
How did the focus shift toward digital product design?
Denys: It wasn’t a grand decision. It was more like: we had no technical co-founder, no one to lead dev. So we naturally leaned into what we knew and loved: design. The big shift came with our first real startup client, Jaja Finance. They were early-stage, had an idea for a mobile bank, and Oleg made a pitch video that helped them secure investment. From there, we started designing their app. That project showed us what we were good at and, more importantly, what gave us energy. We realised: we want to build digital products from scratch. Not marketing campaigns. Not brochures. Real, usable, scalable digital products.
So, what were some of the defining achievements over these nine years?
Denys: Honestly, over a hundred projects, give or take. But the number isn't the point. It's what those projects meant. The people we met. The problems we solved. The pivots. There was this one project where our design ended up in a white-label banking product for the UK, which was implemented in the Post Office. That’s a wild sentence, right? But it happened.
Let’s start from the far. There was Robinhood, an American financial services company, not a company yet at that time, but projects that followed in the wake of its influence. Trading apps with clean interfaces, investment platforms that needed a serious UX overhaul. After Robinhood’s boom, we saw a wave of clients trying to modernise — and we were there for it.
There was also a stretch where we worked with clients building investment tools — stock trading platforms that followed the Robinhood trend. One project in particular was trying to bring a clean, accessible UI to European markets, similar to what Robinhood did in the US. That one stuck with us because it showed how much trust users place in the visual layer of something as serious as a trading app.
Olena: We also worked with Moovel, a Daimler-owned mobility app project. It was a market research assignment for Ukraine, but it gave us a rare opportunity to go deep on transport ecosystems. We also did positioning and design for a host of smaller but mighty projects, including gate manufacturers and coffee shop brands. Those early odd jobs helped pay the bills, sure, but more than that, they helped us calibrate.
Jaja sounds like a big moment. What happened next?
Denys: We worked with them for years. They were tiny when we started. Then they grew. We went through a few redesigns, helped with their white-label product.
Oleg: I remember going to a session in the UK and someone waving an Asda Payment card at me. It was the white-label version we made. The design wasn’t perfect—creepy plastic, actually—but it worked. Cashback, features, the whole thing. It was surreal.
Denys: That’s when it clicked: this thing we do, it scales. It touches real users. It shapes businesses. And, kind of hilariously, we stopped working with them for a while. We thought we’d outgrown them—that the work wasn’t exciting anymore. But looking back, they were evolving too. We might’ve missed out.
That’s one of those early lessons: sometimes you grow with the client.
Speaking of legacy, Daimler came pretty early too?
Olena: Wildly early. Like, year one. They found us on a Top interactive agency list. Invited us to research a new public transport app for the Ukrainian market. We actually told them not to launch. The timing wasn’t right. And they paid us for that. That was our intro to enterprise.
The enterprise shift. What did that look like?
Olena: It started with banks. Fintechs were doing sexy stuff, so big banks got nervous. They came to us for that startup magic. They wanted to move fast, look fresh, break the legacy vibe. Suddenly, we were working with teams that had massive budgets but no idea how to build modern digital products. That tension was powerful. We could offer clarity, speed, and design maturity. That’s when we realised: we’re not just a design studio anymore. We’re a strategy partner.
Denys: A great example of this evolution is our work with Ukrsibbank. In 2023, we helped them launch a digital banking experience that reimagined how traditional banks engage with users. Ukrsibbank has a reputation for stability and trust — it’s a BNP Paribas Group member and a household name in Ukrainian banking. So when they approached us, it wasn’t about a facelift. It was about building a user experience that matched the expectations of modern customers while preserving the bank’s legacy. That project was a big moment — it showed we could bring a fintech-grade UX to a classic institution and make it feel like a natural evolution, not a rebrand in disguise.
So after Daimler, you pivoted toward MENA? B.TECH was a big one.
Olena: Massive. A traditional offline retailer is trying to relaunch e-commerce and jump into fintech. We helped them roll out a BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) product. And the collaboration lasted years. They were catching up fast with global trends. That whole Arabic wave brought us Saudi Fransi Capital, OneBank. We kind of fell into a pattern—one contact moving between companies and bringing us along.
Denys: We also worked with Azercell, one of the largest mobile operators in Azerbaijan. It was a turning point for us, not just in terms of scale, but in how enterprise clients engage with design. We joined the project after winning a tender against some of the best agencies in the region and helped rethink how Azercell’s customer experience could reflect its market leadership. It was deeply corporate and deeply human at the same time.
And then there’s Cashee — a fintech startup now based in Saudi Arabia, focused on promoting financial literacy among teenagers. The app became one of the top 7 in the Saudi App Store and received a UX Design Awards: Product 2024, not just for how it looks, but for what it does. This one stood out because it wasn’t just about building features — it was about building confidence and financial independence in the next generation.
We partnered closely with their team to design an app that was bold, intuitive, and educational without ever feeling boring. Projects like this remind us why we do what we do.
Has the industry changed a lot since those early days?
Oleg: Absolutely. Back then, UX was just starting to be a buzzword. People didn’t really know why they needed designers. We had to convince them. Explain our worth. Now? Every serious company has an in-house design team. The bar is higher. Expectations are clearer. But also, competition is wild.
Everyone is a digital product designer now. Everyone has a playbook. The ocean’s crowded. But we’re not worried because we’ve got scars. And stories. And we’ve done this before, the hard way.
What do you think made The Gradient stand out through all of that?
Denys: We grew with the startups. We helped them become scaleups. And then we helped enterprises act like startups again. We weren’t just throwing out mockups — we were embedded. Helping teams make sense of their product. Helping founders make their pitch. Helping banks feel like fintech. That ability to flex and go deep — that's what stuck.
Have global trends influenced your journey?
Oleg: For sure. Innovation used to start in the US or UK, then take months or years to reach MENA or Ukraine. That gap is shrinking fast. Clients in the Emirates or Egypt now want the same quality and speed as New York or Berlin. And we’re already in that flow. That shift actually suits us — we speak global, we move fast, and we understand how to localise innovation without watering it down.
When did AI really start becoming part of the story?
Denys: Early 2023. At first, it was just content help. Then prototypes. Now we use it for research, design, image generation, validation—you name it.
Olena: It’s gone from tool to team member. We’re not just AI-powered anymore—we’re AI-native. It’s baked into the process. It lets us validate ideas quickly, run smaller teams, and experiment more. It’s also changed what clients expect. People want stuff fast. Younger clients, especially, they’re AI-native themselves. They come in expecting week-long timelines, not months.
Oleg: But the bar’s higher too. You can’t fake it with pretty UI. People want depth. Strategy. Outcome-driven work. That’s why we went back to product strategy. We realised design alone wasn’t enough.
Our talk starts to look a bit sugary. Was there a low point on your way? A real crisis moment?
Denys: Last year, for sure. War, recession, AI-everything collided. Some clients couldn’t pay. Others vanished. We lost major accounts. Everyone was figuring out what AI meant for their business. And for a while, no one wanted to invest in design.
Oleg: But it’s bouncing back now. AI is creating new categories, new interfaces, and new business models. We’re helping build things that didn’t exist two years ago. And we’re doing it faster. Smarter. With more focus. If there’s one upside to that chaos, it’s that it pushed us to rethink everything. We’re sharper for it.
What keeps the team motivated and engaged through all of this?
Olena: It’s the people. The ones who stayed are the ones who still burn with curiosity and care deeply about what they do. We’ve got a highly senior team now — no one’s here to just clock in and out. They’re here to create.
We often say, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” People want to be challenged, to learn from each other, to solve real problems, not just make pretty screens. And that energy is contagious.
What kind of people do you look for when building the team?
Denys: We’ve learned over the years that talent alone isn’t enough. What really matters to us is the mindset — specifically, the creator’s mindset. People who don’t just complete tasks, but treat the product as their own. Those who see the blank space as an opportunity, not a threat.
In the early days, we looked for potential hungry people who were eager to grow. Over time, we’ve shifted to finding those with a combination of taste, vision, and conviction. People who care about quality, not just deadlines. People who know that creativity is not about self-expression — it’s about building something meaningful for others, while still leaving your own mark.
We say it often: the task has to be hard — that’s what drives us. And we want to work with people who feel the same. Strong people want to work with strong people. It’s never about ego — it’s about showing up with curiosity, humility, and a deep desire to make something exceptional.
What kind of projects continue to challenge and energise the team?
Olena: Every project brings something new — sometimes it's the context, sometimes the scale, and sometimes it’s just the people involved. There are streamlined ones, where we follow a known structure — launch, design, iterate. And then there are ones where the client comes in saying, “We need a strategy for our service,” and you're like, “Alright, let’s do it.”. There are other ones, where the scope feels enormous and unfinished, like Lumiere, but the excitement kicks in, and your heart’s racing because you know this one matters.
What’s this new service we've heard about, Fractional CPO?
Denys: Yes! This has become one of our favourite new ways to work. It started organically — during a client session, Anna (our strategist) was on the field, asking the real questions, and suddenly it clicked: what this client needs isn’t another sprint or prototype. They need someone embedded, acting as a Fractional Chief Product Officer — helping shape the vision, strategy, and priorities from within. We didn’t package it formally at first, but we’ve now had a few of these roles evolve. And they work. They unlock real value.
So, after nine years, where is The Gradient heading?
Oleg: Honestly? At the most exciting point so far. We’re no longer proving we exist. We’re building the kind of studio we wished existed when we started. Full of smart people, good vibes, and zero bullshit. We don’t need to be loud. We just need to be excellent. And we are.
We’re exploring. NLM, AI design systems, zero-interface tools. It’s exciting again. Like we’re back at the beginning, but with a better toolkit. That’s the unexpected gift. You’d think after nine years, we’d be bored. But this? This is just a new starting line. And we’re sprinting again.
