Designing and building creative tools and intelligence products for humans

We build human-first products that treat the human side as seriously as the technical side. Interfaces that are conversational, systems that explain their reasoning, and AI technology that fits into how people actually work rather than forcing them to adapt.

For over 20 years, we've solving problems alongside teams at Google, IBM, Air New Zealand, Kpler, EE, News UK, Tesco, and The Economist, sitting in the space between product strategy and hands-on engineering, designing systems and shipping products that make the complex feel simple.

Emmly

Creative workflow product for briefs, references, and generative tools. We use it on our own work; Seedance through Gemini sit in the same pipeline.

ProductsAIDesktop

https://emmly.xyz

Emmly

Workflow management for creative teams sitting on existing inspiration and work, wired into generative AI tools from Seedance to Gemini.

Mass

Desktop client for the same synthetic runs, backed by local LLM models so research stays on the machine.

Desktop

https://holdmass.com/desktop

Mass

Multi-agent synthetic research. Persona agents that think, reason, and respond like a target segment, so we can pressure-test messaging and creative before real fieldwork.

AIProducts

https://holdmass.com

On the River

Maps for rivers and canals we use ourselves. Public waterways across Britain, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and Belgium: locks, clubs, channel guides, and route planning.

Products

https://ontherivermap.com

Beryl

E-commerce website for Beryl, a London-based bike light and transport company. Today, they support over 300,000 people using their bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters and cargo bikes to get to work, to university, and to explore.

Web

Appo

Prototype build to help businesses automate customer support and sales for dental practices using AI and chatbots, with HIPAA-compliant data collection, storage, and insights.

Web

FaultFixers

Identity for FaultFixers, a facilities maintenance company.

FaultFixers

Product design, thinking machines, and AEO.

The human side is as serious as the technical side. Interfaces that feel conversational, systems that explain their reasoning, and technology that fits into how people actually work.

Product design and engineering

Designing the interface and writing the code that makes it happen. This is the core of our fractional consultancy work, and what we do every day.

Thinking machines

How people talk to it, how it reasons, how it fails, and how it stays in production. Not just designing the interface, but engineering products that make inference trustworthy.

AEO and GEO

Answer engine optimisation for your site and products, making them the source an AI assistant quotes when it answers a question. Unlike SEO, which competes for a ranked link, AEO competes for a citation inside a generated answer.

Let's talk

If you're building a product and you need the human side of the engineering as well as the system, tell us what you're building and which services you need. Either reach out by email or feel free to book some of our time on our calendar.

hello@thingsthat.com

We're always honest about what we can and can't do. If we're not the right people for it, we'll tell you straight up. We have a large network of incredible designers, engineers and innovators, so if we're not the people, we'll know someone who is.