Valencia, September 7th, 2022

O0 Design is a full-stack design studio focused on working with product teams and driving positive change. The agency designs brands, products (digital and physical), marketing campaigns, and produce live-action and animated videos.O0 values 3 things: heart, thirst for knowledge, and honesty. They love their jobs and the people they work with.

Based in Spain, Illya Krupenikov is the General Manager at O0 Design. He described the challenges of building the agency as its co-founder and the key features that differentiate O0 from the rest. He went through the impacts experienced from Russia’s invasion to Ukraine and highlighted the importance of building a solid relationship with all customers.

To kick things off, could you tell us your favorite thing about where you live?

I live in Valencia, Spain — one of the most beautiful cities in the world. So I love spending my free time here walking and sightseeing, doing sports or making picnics in the park. Of course, beautiful beaches, snowy mountains, and lots of lovely villages all around are essential. But I love that the city is so different from any angle that the vibe might change by turning a corner.

As a Co-founder, which have been up until now the key challenges in building the agency?

When you rule a service business, you have two main pipelines: finding new leads and finding the best people. So, like everybody else, we faced different challenges at different stages. At some point, building proper financial and capacity planning were a bit challenging. Now we are building our lead generation process. As most of our projects come from our network and references, which is good but unsustainable. However, I’m pretty confident we will solve it by the end of the year.

What do you want O0 Design to be associated with?

With the most cutting-edge technologies, people are going to use in the next 5 — 10 years.

For Partners: we are a cloud design studio to cover ANY of their design needs. For Employees: we are a no-drama third-wave coffee shop that works only with the best products.

In the current state of affairs, with the war, how is your family, friends and colleagues?

As my family has not lived in Ukraine for five years, we are good. Just stressing a lot for our friends and relatives in Ukraine. As all of us. Regarding the team, it was complicated. We had people fleeting under the shelling from Bucha, Kharkiv, and Mariupol. Thank God, now they all are relatively safe.

The first days of the invasion were terrifying and uncertain. We lost less than 10% of our revenue in March. However, it took us less than 2 weeks to get back on track. Moreover, we’ve hired 10 new people since then; rebuild many of our processes; started 30+ new projects; gained European Design Awards. And, of course, donated a lot for UA Army, now it’s more than $100.000

What unique challenges do Ukrainian agencies have at this moment?

Ukrainian creative market almost died for some time. The main challenge for agencies now is to find new customers from abroad. And I really wish them luck. Ukraine is full of unique and talented people who do world-class designs.

From your personal standpoint, why does Russia care so much about Ukraine?

Because of its imperial past and congenital bloodlust. Russia was trying to enslave Ukraine for the last 300+ years. So yes, people who knew history well were predicting this war years ago.
Unfortunately, not me. I was hoping that the possible economic impact will stop the crazy tyrant. But now I’m sure that this war will end up with Ukrainian Victory and the fall of the Empire of Evil.

Of all the recent projects your agency has produced, which one are you most proud of?

Good question. I’m really proud of our Partnership with Microsoft. Also, I love spaceryde.com website; nuka.me branding and website; https://petcube.com/ — huge and complex work as well as dressx.com. Of course, beautiful videos for Destinus, Swayable and ContentEdge.

How much time do you spend with customers?

Half of my planned weekly schedule is communication with our customers. We don’t call people we work with “customers” or “Clients”. We are Partners, as we are collaborating on something awesome together.

If you could change or improve anything about the interactive industry, what would it be?

I’d suggest paying attention to Ukrainian talents. The whole world knows about Ukrainian software developers, but nobody knows anything about how talented are Ukrainian creatives.

When looking at the technological landscape today, what makes you think “wow”?

Everything connected to the aerospace and drone industry. Also, I see a big future for the creative economy in all these web3 products. However, at this point, most of them are not mature enough.

Does the majority of staff work remotely?

Yes, from day one we were a remote-first company. I’d say that we are doing great with managing ourselves. As I mentioned before, our processes are very transparent and sustainable. So, everyone understands what and why he or she does and how impactful are the projects they are working on.

Do you focus more on problem-solving or opportunity creation?

It depends on the project and the Partner’s needs. However, more on opportunity creation. As on some projects, where we’ve started as problem solvers (hands) and ended up creating opportunities.

What are your favorite ways to decompress outside of work?

Traveling with family and doing different sports and activities.

How can our global interactive community help the people of Ukraine during this crisis?

Keep supporting us by buying Ukrainian products. Check our initiative: spendwithukraine.com. You will be impressed of how many Ukrainian products you are already using. Or by spreading a word about Ukraine. Just remember, Ukraine stands not only for its freedom, but for the freedom of all the people around the world. Be brave like Ukraine.

Please share a fun-fact that not many people know about you.

Oh, I’m a too open person, so there is nothing hidden in the woods.

Thanks Illya!

• Learn more about O0 Design at https://www.ozero.design/
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