Who's Merlin?

You're a design studio, creative agency, or internal team with an ambitious concept. You need a digital creative partner who can build the experience the way you imagined it, and occasionally push it further than you thought possible.


Every project at Merlin is approached with multi-disciplinary expertise across the entire web-based craft spectrum to achieve experiences that resonate and offer a seamless user experience to as many people as possible.
Creative coding, immersive 3D experiences, interaction design, and digital product development with a design-first mindset baked into everything we do.


This means that whether we’re working with design studios, creative agencies, or internal teams, we bring our signature blend of accessibility, motion and 3D, and performance to every collaboration. This design‑first mindset is reflected in our experience and interaction design.


We are Merlin, a code boutique, proving what’s possible by offering top-tier digital craft to exceptional design teams.

Quality, Communication, and Speed

When we work with design teams, we zero in on three critical aspects.

In our eyes, these are the three key things to creating balanced award-winning work.

• Quality: Every piece of code and craft is checked by at least four eyes to ensure that nothing compromises the final outcome. Our commitment to quality means we can anticipate potential issues in responsiveness accessibility, and semantics from the very start of design.
• Communication: Proactive communication is essential. By planning ahead and keeping short lines open with our specialist team, we maintain a seamless collaboration. This ensures that the design is never compromised by miscommunication. Our clients praise us for being upfront, quick to respond, and open.
• Speed: Our ability to move quickly comes from both being able to start fast and build faster. Our “follow-the-sun” workflow and central location allow us to coordinate across different time zones effortlessly. Our model is based around a strong core team and building a network of trusted specialists so we can curate the absolute best team for every challenge.

"I love it that I can brief you one day then wake up the next, and it’s fixed the way we envisioned."

Balance

Our process is built around maximizing the potential of every project. By integrating collaborative communication and early quality control on design assets and structures, we create the space needed for experimentation, motion prototypes, and ideation. Next to that, we create the opportunity for balance.


Striking the right balance between strategy, design, and motion is our baseline. We believe awards aren’t won by creating Michael Bay websites filled with explosions; instead, it’s about the elegance of typography, design, motion, 3D, and accessibility. For us, accessibility means making careful choices about contrast, design patterns, text sizing, keyboard accessibility, and content availability. Accessibility is a broad term to describe a multitude of design choices you need to consider when crafting a digital experience.


A common misconception we encounter is that a website heavy on animation or 3D automatically becomes inaccessible or slow. In our experience, experiential behavior can be adjusted based on keyboard navigation usage or “reduced-motion” settings in browsers. Merlin even developed tooling that enables users to navigate a 3D web experience using keyboards or assistive technologies like screen readers. By writing HTML and CSS as intended by the W3C, we create the opportunity for SEO and accessibility to harmonize with motion or 3D.


By fostering collaborative communication, maintaining balance, and focusing on the web experience setup, we ensure the experience has the opportunity to thrive without compromise.

Process and Continuous Improvement

Our project process begins with onboarding our teams so that everyone is familiar with tasks, expectations, and planning.


We offer partners direct contact through Slack or email with the people actively working on the project. With a background in both technology and design, everyone at Merlin is equipped to offer instant help and creative input.


Once planning is complete using tools like Gantt charts and scheduled QA/feedback rounds, we begin the work. Throughout the project, we share ideas, experimentation, motion prototypes, and progress via instant links on our hosting platform, Vercel. This real-time sharing helps us detect issues early and align expectations transparently.


Our commitment to quality is further reinforced through rigorous testing across multiple devices, browsers, and even different versions of those browsers. Next to that, we test with assistive technologies ourselves, such as MacOS VoiceOver, to ensure usability and accessibility. If it’s not right, we fix it; right there and then. No excuses.


After completing a project, we hold a retrospective meeting where we discuss the good, the bad, and areas for improvement. This feedback loop ensures that every project builds on the lessons learned from the last, enhancing our collaborations continuously. This continuous improvement has helped us ship interactive campaigns like Recycled Records

Harmonize

Award-winning digital campaigns and experiences alone usually won't deliver the direct results you’re after. Strategy, marketing, account management, and design must all align closely to create an experience that truly resonates across every touchpoint.


It’s all about finding the right balance.


At Merlin, we've been around the block. That’s why we proactively encourage our partners to prioritize strategy and marketing before diving into crafting experiences. Our work thrives when it connects meaningfully with users, and those users first need to be reached with compelling messaging and clear calls to action.


Establishing a funnel through socials, relevant platforms or sharing campaigns, allows your experience to thrive and gain momentum in the current world of information overload. To explore how we can help with platforms and campaign builds, see digital products and platforms.

Conclusion

Crafting in a state of clarity and balance during projects and collaboration is key to an award-winning collaboration. Whether you’re launching a product, (re)branding, or creating a seasonal campaign, our team of specialists upholds the highest quality standards.


Our methods and clear communication across teams with varied expertise let us work effectively with design teams and deliver high-quality outcomes.


For design studios, creative agencies, or internal teams looking to enhance their digital experiences, Merlin is ready and happy to help.