♠️ BetRivers Poker - App for Rush Street Interactive
Rush Street Interactive

2 years
4 Product Designers, 1 Product DIrector, 1 QA, 1 PM, Dev Team
iGaming App
Optimize the Design System and workflow processes to accelerate production velocity, improve design consistency across platforms, and streamline the handoff between design and development.
Remote from Bangkok (GMT+7) with structured async handoff across EU timezone. Operational overlap with Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo without schedule constraint.
Mission 1 : Design Ops & Design System
🕵️♂️ Our Organization
BetRivers Poker is part of Rush Street Interactive (RSI), which also includes two other teams: Sportsbook and Online Casino. These teams are directly connected to RSI’s global Design System, ensuring consistency across their platforms.

However, our Poker team had specific needs that required a separate Design System. We needed:
By developing our own Poker Design System, the idea was to optimized production velocity, streamlined handoff, and created an agile design workflow tailored to our product’s unique requirements.
🗃️ Folders presentation
The BetRivers Design System is composed of 5 main folders and I participated in their construction :
1.🕵️♂️ Ds Ops

This folder contains files used to improve our work processes.
📁 Workflow Design Team
The purpose of this file was to review and optimize our processes for handoff creation, initiating design explorations, integrating new features into existing designs, and managing the archiving process efficiently.

📂 Fima Folders - Rework
This file aimed to restructure our Figma organization, separating the UI kit (the single source of truth for components) from templates used by product designers. The challenge was to allow designers to customize components for interface building without breaking the UI kit. This led to the introduction of contextual components, a concept we plan to revisit later.

📂 Style and Product - Rework
This file aimed to refine content organization by improving categorization and grouping of styles and components while identifying missing items to ensure better structure and clarity.

📂 Discovery - Design Team process
This file aimed to audit our current organization and assess how the product design team used, documented, and collaborated within our files. It identified pain points and improvement expectations from team members. Based on these insights, I created an impact-effort matrix to prioritize solutions and define a clear roadmap for optimization.

📂 Fusion RSI and Bet River DS - Workflow
The aim of this project was to build a plan to help better integrate our Ecosystem within RSI DS.

📂 MTT - PKO Concept Exploration
This file aimed to explore new design approaches for the Knockout tournament theme using a Crazy 8 ideation session to generate innovative feature concepts.

2.🕹️ Samples

This folder contains files that showcase component interactions, helping product designers and developers better understand their behavior. It also provides an overview of all style combinations, as our game offers multiple customization options for its appearance.
📁 Table
This file is dedicated to representing the different styles available for the table's appearance.

📁 Prototype Table
For optimization reasons, a separate file is necessary when adding multiple interactions to illustrate various features within the same prototype. Including them directly in other files would make them too heavy, as those files are focused on isolating and presenting individual features.

📁 MTT Sample
This file is dedicated to representing the different styles available for the MTT appearance on the different areas (Table,Mtt Lobby,Mtt Dt Lobby,Result,Buy-In)

3.🎨 Design

This folder contains our UI Kit components and Foundations, essential for building all our poker products and serving as the single source of truth. I am responsible for their maintenance and functionality. The components are organized into 5 distinct areas for better structure and usability.
📁 Table
This file is dedicated to both basic and complex components for the table area. Each page includes its own specifications and a dedicated prototype to illustrate its features.

📁 Lobby
This file is dedicated to both basic and complex components for the lobby area. Each page includes its own specifications and a dedicated prototype to illustrate its features.

📁 Custom UI
This file contains custom atomic components (different from RSI DS) that are used throughout our application.

📁 Assets
This file contains all our foundations (color,fonts,icon,img,illustrations,logo)

📁 Poker Settings
This file is dedicated to both basic and complex components for the poker setting area. Each page includes its own specifications and a dedicated prototype to illustrate its features.

4.📚 Documentation

This folder contains files that define and summarize our app’s various interactions and main specifications. It also includes our design kit for building different legends in our Figma file, along with our guidelines on naming conventions, file structure, and contribution process.
📁 Table Documentation
This file is dedicated to summarize our main spec and interactions on our Table for mobile and desktop.

📁 MTT Documentation
This file is dedicated to summariwe our main spec and interactions for MTT DT Lobby product.

📁 Design System Kit
This File is dedicated to build our differents legens in our figma and also contain our guidelines, naming conventions, file structure and contribution process.

5. 🧰 Products
This folder provides product designers to build all the necessary interfaces to illustrate the various possible user flows within our product.
📁 MTT Detail Lobby
This file illustrates all the key elements needed to build the MTT Detail Lobby, one of the most complex parts of our product. It includes contextual components, specifications, mockups, and prototypes.
To achieve this, I introduced the contextual component concept, allowing product designers to create scenario-specific components without modifying the UI Kit’s core components. This ensures consistency while enabling flexibility. As the Design System lead, I can update a component in the UI Kit, and all contextual components will inherit the changes without altering their text or context.

💪 Main Challenge
Scaling & Structuring BetRivers Poker’s Design System

As BetRivers Poker evolved, the lack of a structured Design System (DS) created inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and a slow production workflow. Unlike other RSI products (Casino & Sportsbook), which were linked to the RSI global DS, Poker had to build its own due to unique product needs and the need for faster iteration cycles.
However, this approach created fragmentation, leading to design debt, inefficient handoff processes, and a disorganized workflow. The challenge was to restructure the system, ensure better DS governance, and optimize collaboration with RSI while maintaining Poker’s independence and production speed.
🔍 My Design Ops Discovery Process

This structured approach ensured that every improvement was data-driven, prioritized for impact, and tailored to the team’s real needs.
1. Reducing Design Debt & Structuring the UI Kit
📔 Context
The UI Kit was not properly structured, leading to:
🚨 Problem & Consequences
💊 Solution

2. Handoff & Documentation Inefficiencies
📔 Context
There was no structured process for documentation, and handoff was inefficient:
🚨 Problem & Consequences
💊 Solution

3. Broken Collaboration with RSI & Poker’s Isolation
📔 Context
🚨 Problem & Consequences
💊 Solution

4. File & Branching Organization Issues
📔 Context
🚨 Problem & Consequences
💊 Solution

✔ Governance Rule → One designer per component page update per sprint.
✔ Branching Guidelines → Clear separation process between current production, upcoming features, and exploratory design.
5. Lack of Accessibility & UX Tracking
📔 Context
🚨 Problem & Consequences
💊 Solution

Learnings & Key Takeaways
By structuring the UI Kit, optimizing handoff, improving collaboration, and implementing clear file governance, the BetRivers Poker team significantly improved design efficiency and product quality. These changes not only enhanced production speed but also reduced technical debt, ensuring a more scalable and maintainable design system.
• Fully integrate accessibility best practices in all component creation.
• Improve data-driven UX tracking with real user analytics.
• Expand collaboration with RSI DS for better long-term alignment.
Mission 2 : Designing & Structuring the MTT & Detail Lobby
Main Challenge
1. An Incomplete Design That Required Continuous Adjustments
📔 Context
When I joined the MTT Lobby & Detail Lobby project, some initial designs had been created, but they were not finalized. Many use cases had not been anticipated, leading to inconsistencies and gaps during development.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

2. No Structured Handoff, Leading to Development Issues
📔 Context
The project lacked a structured handoff process between the design and tech teams. This resulted in constant back-and-forth, significant time loss, and misinterpretations during development.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

3. Poor Information Hierarchy
📔 Context
Critical information for players (rankings, buy-ins, blinds levels, etc.) was poorly structured, making the interface difficult to navigate and interpret.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

4. Ensuring Adaptability Between Desktop & Mobile
📔 Context
The project needed to be fully responsive, but no clear adaptation logic had been defined before my involvement.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

5. Managing Multiple Tournament Types
📔 Context
The MTT tournaments included multiple formats (Freezeout, Knockouts, Satellite, Re-Entry etc…), but there was no standardized template to efficiently structure them.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

Learnings
🔹 Structuring an ongoing project without starting from scratch → A methodical and progressive approach.
🔹 A good handoff doesn’t happen by chance → Feature breakdown and branch organization are key.
🔹 Adaptability is essential → Implementing a flexible and modular design to ensure cross-platform consistency.
Mission 3 : Enhancing User Engagement with Micro-Interactions & Gesture Design
Interaction Design Process & Implementation Strategy
Key Interaction Features & Design Solutions
1. On-Table Themes & Customization

🎨 Allowing users to personalize their poker experience while preserving game clarity.
📔 Context
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

2. Color Marking & Notes UI

🕹️ Helping players track opponents without interfering with in-game interactions.
📔 Context
Poker players need to mark opponents (e.g., aggressive, passive) and take quick notes during gameplay. This feature must be quickly accessible without conflicting with other UI elements.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

3. Player Chat & Emoji System

💬 Enhancing the social aspect of poker while maintaining a distraction-free environment.
📔 Context
Poker players need to mark opponents (e.g., aggressive, passive) and take quick notes during gameplay. This feature must be quickly accessible without conflicting with other UI elements.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

4. Tooltips & Toasts (UX Feedback Mechanisms)

🤖 Providing real-time feedback without cluttering the interface.
📔 Context
Poker relies on real-time decisions. Players need instant feedback (e.g., successful actions, errors) without being overwhelmed.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

Learnings
Designing micro-interactions in a fast-paced gaming environment presented a unique set of challenges. One of the key takeaways was the importance of balancing interaction complexity with user efficiency—ensuring that every action felt instantaneous, intuitive, and non-disruptive. The project reinforced the need for precise interaction hierarchy, where each gesture had a clear and distinct purpose, avoiding feature conflicts (e.g., Color Marking vs. HeroIQ).
Additionally, the experience highlighted the value of structured design documentation and iterative testing. Working closely with developers through Figma branches, Asana specs, and Rive animations allowed for smoother integration and faster adjustments based on real-world feedback. The collaborative approach across design, development, and UX research was key to refining gestures and ensuring seamless cross-platform interactions.
Lastly, we learned that UX optimizations should be data-driven. Through internal testing and real usage data, we were able to refine reaction speed, menu placement, and interaction timing to align with player expectations, improving overall usability and engagement.
Mission 4: Documentation & Handoff process
Main Challenge
Given these constraints, a structured approach was necessary to ensure that the handoff process remained efficient, scalable, and error-free.
Structuring the Documentation for Clarity & Efficiency
📔 Context
To make UI specifications clear and actionable, I implemented a systematic approach to documentation, ensuring that every component, feature, and interaction had a dedicated reference.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

Implementing an Effective Handoff Process
📔 Context
Since Figma Dev Mode was not an option, a manual but highly detailed handoff approach was required to provide developers with precise specifications.
🚨 Problem
💊 Solution

Key Documentation & Handoff Solutions
Learnings
📚 Key Learnings
By implementing a clear, structured, and highly detailed documentation process, I ensured that designs were seamlessly translated into development. Despite not using Figma Dev Mode, my manual documentation system provided developers with precise, actionable specs, leading to faster, error-free implementation.
Key Result
Outcomes
Process constraints