Work highlights
Embedded execution and strategic vision, from AAA franchises to ambitious indies — the games you grew up on, and the ones you're grinding right now.
UX Strategy & Art Overhaul — in-house at Scopely · Mobile
A team struggling to align and communicate — and the product showed it. Irena led a GTM clarification built on an aligned player-persona strategy, then a full art overhaul coordinated moment-to-moment with music, audio, animation, and VFX. The result: gameplay changes that built an organic UA loop through social design — validated week over week by team playtests and post-play surveys.
Embedded UX & UI · PC / Console
Mythical had special features due on a crunch-worthy timeline and no UX bandwidth to spare. We embedded within 24 hours of first contact and were turning around working Figma files in days — redesigning skills and inventory access, plus event onboarding for new players, inside their sprint cadence.
Combat Design & Prototyping · PC / Console
Turning a famous card game into a video game — on a short timeline and a lean budget, with art that deserved UX to match. We concepted and prototyped core combat and designed an intuitive deck-builder. The game never made it to market, but the prototype proved the gameplay.
Inscription Interface — in-house at Blizzard · PC
From a rudimentary design document to a fully functional inscription interface. We began with a summoning circle and expanded it with glyphs, slots and glowing geometry — new customization without breaking familiarity.
Battle Screen Design · Mobile
Corporate espionage with anime wackiness — a real-time card-builder with multiplayer. We brought AAA know-how to an indie mobile title, evolving a dense battle screen into something legible and fun.
Fast Travel Map Design — in-house at 38 Studios · PC / Console
Every open-world MMO needs fast travel. We designed a system that made the time investment legible and created logical blocks of time — room for players to grab food, take a break, or call their mom. The game never shipped; the systems thinking did.
