Intro
When working with an established brand, the most important milestones are rarely about changing how a product looks. They are about helping a brand adapt to a changing environment without losing what made it successful in the first place.
Built Over Two Decades
Sesame’s story did not begin online.
More than two decades ago, the brand opened its first land-based casino and began building what would eventually become one of the most recognizable gaming networks in Bulgaria. Today, Sesame operates more than 20 venues across 14 cities.
Over the years, the brand developed a clear identity rooted in quality, service, and customer experience. These values became the foundation of everything Sesame represents today.
In 2019, the company entered a new chapter with the launch of Sesame Online. This marked the beginning of its digital journey and its entrance into an environment evolving at a dramatically different pace from the one in which the brand was originally built.
Over the years that followed, Sesame Online grew into one of Bulgaria’s leading operators.
When working with a brand that has spent more than twenty years building recognition, trust, and reputation, the goal is not to start over. The challenge is understanding what made the brand successful in the first place and ensuring those qualities continue to thrive in a completely different environment.
From Physical Presence to Digital Experience
In the physical world, brands have many tools available to shape how customers perceive them.
The venue itself, the interior design, the lighting, the atmosphere, the service — every element contributes to the overall experience. A significant part of a brand’s value is communicated through the environment surrounding it.
Online, those tools disappear.
Users do not walk into a venue. They do not experience the atmosphere or interact with staff. Everything they learn about a brand happens through a screen and within a matter of seconds.
Because online, the next competitor is never far away. It’s one click away.
This makes the digital space significantly more competitive. It is easy to enter and even easier to leave. Every element competes for attention, and every brand competes not only against direct competitors but against every digital experience users interact with daily.
User expectations are no longer defined by industry standards. They are shaped by the best products people use every day — whether that is Netflix, Spotify, Instagram, Amazon, or their favorite mobile app.
As a result, brands face an entirely different set of challenges. Visual hierarchy needs to be clearer. Content needs to be more structured. Colors need to perform in a highly competitive visual environment. And perceptions of quality must be created through hundreds of small details that users may never consciously notice.
Preserving Identity in a New Environment
Projects like this do not begin with the question:
“What can we change?”
They begin with a different one:
“What should never change?”
Over the years, Sesame built more than brand recognition. It built a feeling. A feeling of quality. Trust. Premium positioning. These qualities cannot be created through a single campaign or a new visual identity. They are earned through years of consistency and become some of the most valuable assets any brand can have.
That is why our objective was never to create a new identity. The goal was to find the best way to adapt the existing one to modern digital expectations without losing its character.
Every decision — from color systems and contrast to content structure and visual hierarchy — was guided by a simple principle:
Preserve what makes Sesame recognizable while creating a digital experience that feels relevant, modern, and competitive.
When Technology Enables the Vision
Every design project eventually reaches a point where creative ambition meets technical reality.
In many cases, that means compromises. Great concepts are often adjusted to fit platform limitations, technical constraints, or predefined frameworks.
This project was different.
One of the key factors behind its success was the level of flexibility provided by EGT Digital. Their platform gave us an unusual degree of control over the front-end experience — something rarely seen in projects of this scale.
With this initiative, Sesame Online became the first operator in Bulgaria to gain the ability to independently configure and manage such a significant portion of the front-end experience.
Rather than working within predefined templates, we had the freedom to shape Sesame’s digital presence around the brand itself.
This allowed design decisions to be driven by user experience and brand strategy first, instead of platform limitations.
Of course, projects of this scale are never the work of a single team.
This was a collaborative effort between Sesame, EGT Digital, and LogicPlay, where every decision was driven by a shared ambition: building a product capable of representing the full potential of the brand.
Not the Destination, But the Starting Point
As important as this redesign was, it was never intended to be the final destination. Instead, it serves as the foundation for everything that comes next.
Before introducing new features and user experiences, it was essential to establish the right visual and structural foundation. A platform that could support long-term growth while remaining true to the brand behind it.
Over the coming months, Sesame users will see a series of new improvements focused on solving real user needs and creating a better overall experience.
Some of these improvements will focus on usability and convenience. Others will introduce entirely new concepts.
Several of the initiatives currently in development have no direct equivalent in the market today and are part of a much broader long-term vision for the future of the product.
What you see today is only the beginning.
Stay tuned.