# Vuild

> Vuild is an independent design, product, engineering and Super Intelligence studio, independent since 2012. It has shipped 100+ products with 1M+ installs and 1B+ views, for clients from Y Combinator startups to the United Nations.

Functional, thoughtful and beautiful technology, with principles. Awards: Webby Awards, Digital Hollywood. Press: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, CNN, The Guardian, Business Insider, VentureBeat, USA Today, MSNBC, The Independent, Daily Mail, All Things Digital, CNET, Ars Technica, NBC.
Clients include Adobe, Google, the United Nations, NASA JPL, Expedia, Fujitsu, Kodak and Ubisoft. Contact: hello@vuild.com or https://vuild.com/contact.

## FAQ
### What is Vuild?
Vuild is an independent design, product, engineering and Super Intelligence studio, independent since 2012. We make functional, thoughtful and beautiful technology, with principles: 100+ products shipped, 1M+ installs and 1B+ views.

### What does Vuild do?
Strategy (founder and CEO advisory, market research, roadmaps), design (UI and UX, design systems, content, print), engineering (native iOS, Android and Apple TV, web, e-commerce, performance) and Super Intelligence (strategy, assistant and agent design, LLM engineering, automation, evals and SI-native growth).

### Who has Vuild worked with?
Founders, engineers and department heads at Adobe, Google, the United Nations, NASA JPL, Expedia and Fujitsu, the Y Combinator startup AmpUp, Explore.org (Annenberg Foundation), Wikipedia co-founder Dr. Larry Sanger, and many more, from charities to acquired startups.

### Does Vuild work with startups?
Yes. From zero-to-one products like AmpUp (Y Combinator) to Megalytic, which was acquired, we help startups go from a blank sheet to launch and keep shipping as they scale.

### How does Vuild work?
Four stages: Discover (stakeholder discussions, market analysis, user interviews), Define (strategy, wireframes and prototypes tested early), Build (design systems, engineering, content and QA) and Grow (launch, SEO/ASO, iteration on real data).

### What are Vuild's Super Intelligence services?
Super Intelligence strategy and readiness, assistant and agent design (including A2A agents that work with other agents), LLM engineering (retrieval, tool use, structured outputs), automation and internal agents, evals, safety and cost, and SI-native growth. The concierge on vuild.com is an example.

### Has Vuild won awards?
Vuild's work has been recognised by the Webby Awards and Digital Hollywood, and covered in the popular press.

### How do I start a project with Vuild?
Use the contact form at vuild.com/contact, email hello@vuild.com, or ask the concierge on the site to pass your details to the team.

## Magnus (case study)
URL: https://vuild.com/magnus
Sector: Super Intelligence · SaaS. Active: 2025 – now. Platforms: Web · Mobile · Voice · 3D avatars. Engagement: Zero to one: product, design & engineering. Live: https://getmagnus.co
Magnus keeps a company's mission and goals at the centre of every day, and clears the busywork in the way. Set a mission, a handful of goals and some memory notes; Magnus plans, drafts and delegates by chat or voice, through a photoreal 3D face.
Challenge: Most Super Intelligence assistants are a blank text box that forgets what the business is trying to achieve. Founders needed a teammate that stays anchored to the mission, knows the company, and turns intent into finished work, without another tool to babysit.
Research: We designed the product around goals, not chats: mission and goals sit at the core of every turn, memory notes ground every answer, and integrations let Magnus read and act across the tools teams already use. A real-time 3D avatar that lip-syncs and keeps eye contact makes it feel like a colleague, not a chatbot.
Results: A complete Super Intelligence chief of staff: 13 photoreal faces, voice in and out, model choice across Claude, OpenAI, Grok and OpenRouter, one-click exports to PDF, Word, Excel, CSV and Markdown, and connections to Google, GitHub, Slack, Notion, Stripe and more.
Conclusion: Magnus shows what SI-native product design looks like when principles come first, useful, grounded in your own context, and focused on moving the business forward.
Services: Product strategy, Brand & visual identity, UI / UX design, Real-time 3D avatars, LLM engineering: Claude, OpenAI, Grok, OpenRouter, Integrations: Google, GitHub, Slack & more, Document generation: PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, Voice interface.
Key numbers: 13: photoreal 3D faces that lip-sync; 4: Super Intelligence model providers to choose from; 18+: tool integrations.
Client quote: "Reach your goals faster." (Magnus, getmagnus.co)

## AmpUp (case study)
URL: https://vuild.com/ampup
Sector: EV · SaaS. Active: 2019 – 2020. Versions: v1.1 – v3. Platforms: iOS · Android · Kiosk · Web. Engagement: Zero to one: blank sheet to go-to-market. Backed by: Y Combinator. Live: https://ampup.io
AmpUp enables anyone to offer their chargers to the public and provides easy management for charging networks of all sizes. We shaped the product from the first sketch to launch, and kept shipping as it scaled into enterprise.
Challenge: Designing iOS and Android apps that let private owners make their chargers public, gave enterprise the tools to manage whole networks, and put an interactive map of available chargers in the hands of EV drivers who need a charge, now.
Research: In-depth market research, user interviews and competitor analysis surfaced the pain points and the opportunity. The research made one thing clear: win the charger networks first, while nurturing a consumer base in parallel.
Results: From a 2019 start-up to a thriving SaaS business whose enterprise clients include Holiday Inn, LEGO and Under Armour, while thoughtful consumer features keep the grassroots network growing.
Conclusion: AmpUp's success comes from user-centric design and features built for grassroots network growth, combined with a highly scalable, adaptable interface that enterprise can roll out without training or maintenance.
Services: iOS app design, Android app design, Kiosk screen design, Graphic, visual & icon design, Content & asset selection, Marketing materials, SEO, UI / UX consulting.
Key numbers: YC: Y Combinator backed; 4: platforms designed from zero; Enterprise: Holiday Inn · LEGO · Under Armour.
Highlights: Working for a good cause; Startup environment; Growing industry; High energy.
Tasks: UI/UX Design; Marketing; SEO & growth advice; Consulting.
Client quote: "Sent by the startup gods." (Tom Sun, Founder, AmpUp)

## Explore.org (case study)
URL: https://vuild.com/explore
Sector: Non-profit · Streaming. Active: 2012 – 2018. Versions: v1.1 – v5.4. Platforms: iPhone · iPad · Android · Apple TV. Engagement: Consumer remote-cam system for mobile & TV. Funded by: Annenberg Foundation. Live: https://explore.org
The Explore.org app suite spans iOS, Android and Apple TV. Averaging a 4.3 rating over hundreds of thousands of installs, these live-streaming apps entertain people worldwide, every day.
Challenge: An app that could stream a constellation of global cameras whenever they were live, plus a video player, featured clips and documentaries, playback, photo galleries and social engagement built in.
Research: In-depth research, stakeholder interviews and market analysis defined the key objectives. Those insights guided a robust, well-tested product that was accessible and consistently grew engagement.
Results: Popularity grew quickly, and unique social campaigns earn more viewers every year. Averaging a 4.3 rating, the apps keep bringing joy to people, raising awareness and finding their way into the headlines.
Conclusion: Explore.org began with great live content that needed a larger audience. Through thoughtful design, a robust feedback loop and constant iteration, the suite reached hundreds of thousands of downloads. In 2018 app development moved in-house.
Services: Native iPhone & iPad app (v1.1 – v5.4), Native Android phone & tablet app (v1.1 – v5.4), Apple TV app (v1.0 – v2.2), Remote cam system (internal), Graphic, visual & icon design, Content & asset selection, ASO & SEO, UI / UX consulting.
Key numbers: 4.3★: average store rating; 100k+: installs across the suite; 6 yrs: of continuous releases.
Highlights: Over 100K installs (iOS/Android); Average 4.2 rating; Bug & crash free code; Millions of shares; Growing substantially; Featured in the popular press.
Tasks: iOS & Android design; iOS & Android development; Apple TV design & development; Robust testing, error handling; SEO & growth advice; UI/UX design.
Core products: iOS App; Android App; iOS & Android; System management; Live cams from around the world.
Extra features: Photo galleries; Documentary films; Popular & trending; Highlights & reruns; Snap & share live screenshots.
Client quote: "I love the TV app, we have it streaming in our office." (Charlie Annenberg, Founder, Explore.org)
Related project: Pearls of the Planet (Apple TV app, 2016 – 2018, v1.0 – v1.8). To celebrate the launch of Apple TV’s app store, Explore.org commissioned us to create an Apple TV app for their interactive exhibition, Pearls of the Planet. The app is still available on the App Store today & watched by people around the world.
Highlights: Early, fast launch; High quality design; Bug-free code; Updated videos.
Tasks: Apple TV development; Beta testing; General tech support; UI/UX design.
Core products: Apple TV app v1.0 – v1.8; Remote controlled; Live stream search; Siri.
Extra features: Accompanying exhibition; Info screen; Early access; Search.

## Piedaterre (case study)
URL: https://vuild.com/piedaterre
Sector: Heritage retail · E-commerce. Active: 2020 – 2023. Platforms: Shopify · POS · Marketing site. Engagement: Zero to one: blank sheet to go-to-market. Live: https://piedaterrevenezia.com
Piedaterre Venezia is an Italian heritage brand making traditional Friulane slippers. Vuild built the technology behind their e-commerce business from launch, including point-of-sale integration. They've grown rapidly and now have three physical locations in Italy.
Challenge: A beautiful Shopify experience that honoured a heritage story while spotlighting the modern update to the product, plus the extra features needed to complement their physical store and inventory.
Research: Extensive interviews with stakeholders and staff defined the brand identity and audience. The goal: a digital extension of the in-store experience, Italian craftsmanship and personal service, online.
Results: The move to Shopify, the rebrand and an integrated inventory system improved efficiency, organised stock and let them grow more effectively, positioning the brand to expand quickly.
Conclusion: Piedaterre began with a beautiful heritage product and a strong team. Thoughtful research, applied stakeholder feedback and simple design are helping them become a leader in their niche.
Services: E-commerce store with POS, Marketing site, Graphic, visual & icon design, Content & asset selection, SEO, UI / UX consulting.
Key numbers: 3: physical stores in Italy; 1: unified online + POS inventory; 0 → 1: launch to growth.
Client quote: "Amazing stuff. Very grateful for your help." (Paul Deneve, Co-owner, Piedaterre)

## Dr. Larry Sanger (case study)
URL: https://vuild.com/sanger
Sector: Knowledge · Web. Active: 2019 – 2022. Versions: Sanger IO v0.1. Platforms: Web · Brand · Consulting. Engagement: Founding advisor · design · build. Client: Wikipedia co-founder. Live: https://larrysanger.org
We consulted, designed and coded the web interfaces for Dr. Larry Sanger's new project Encyclosphere, his consultancy business and his personal site, considered “a fundamental player in the history of the modern internet”.
Challenge: Three distinct properties, a movement, a business and a personal voice, each needing its own identity, all needing to be fast, credible and ready for serious traffic.
Research: Web design, brand development, logo design and content adjustment, anchored in a simple, mobile-first system, plus business consulting and ongoing social support.
Results: Fast-performing, beautifully designed, bug- and crash-free sites that are ready for high traffic from day one.
Conclusion: A long-running partnership spanning strategy, advice and craft, and the kind of feedback every studio hopes for.
Services: HTML / web development, Graphic & visual design, Logo design, UI / UX, Consulting, Team management, Marketing, Mentoring.
Key numbers: 3: properties launched; 100%: mobile-first; High: traffic-ready from day one.
Sanger IO · Highlights: Fast performing; Beautiful design; Bug & crash free code; Instantly growing.
Sanger IO · Tasks: Web design; Brand Development; Logo design; Content adjustment.
Sanger IO · Core products: Web site; Strategy; Advice.
Sanger IO · Extra features: Simple, mobile first design; Business consulting; Social support.
Encyclosphere · Highlights: Founding advisor; Fast growing community; Working for a good cause; Mentoring volunteers.
Encyclosphere · Tasks: Project management; Consulting; Design & development; UI/UX.
Client quote: "That is gorgeous. ThankQ!" (Dr. Larry Sanger, Wikipedia co-founder)

## Beezwax (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/beezwax
World-class FileMaker experts in Oakland, California, serving industry giants. Delivered: Design systems · Training · UI/UX · Internal tools. Active: 2023.

## UB Fitness (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/ubfitness
Connected fitness across phone, web and wrist. Delivered: iOS · Android · Web · Apple Watch · Content. Active: 2016 – 2018. Versions: v1.0 – v4.7.

Highlights: Popular content: 2.8M / 1.7M / 663K / 589K; Over 10K uniques a day onsite; Large, fast growing network; Bug-free code; Hundreds of service providers; Large institutions.
Tasks: iOS & Android design; iOS & Android development; SaaS development; SEO & growth management; Social media; Ongoing maintenance.
Core products: Web SaaS; JSON API; iOS & Android; Content acquisition; Growth & promotion; System management; High quality design.
Extra features: Multi-language; Playable login screen; Augmented Reality directions; Voice search; In-app purchase; Scheduling plugin; Crypto support.

## Pipster (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/pipster
Crypto sentiment analysis. Delivered: Fintech · Web · Animation. Active: 2019. Versions: v2.0.
Funded by leaders in the finance industry, this crypto-focused startup performs deep public sentiment analysis of leading currencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin & more.
Highlights: High quality development; Hand coded design; Bug-free code; Animations.
Tasks: Site coding; Site Animation; Bug fixes; Design & SEO Advice.
Core products: Web design; Mobile design; Landing page design.
Extra features: Professional advice; Basic server management; Content editing.

## Center (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/center
Blockchain data management, made easy. Delivered: Blockchain data · Web · Product. Active: 2024.

## Dash for iOS (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/dash
Glanceable data on iPhone and Apple Watch. Acquired. Delivered: iOS · Apple Watch. Status: Acquired.

## ROWAN (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/rowan
The Rural Orphans & Widows AIDS Network: web, promo content and consulting for a charity. Delivered: Web · Promo content · Consulting. Active: 2012 – 2019. Location: Uganda – Colorado. Status: Charity.
With a combination of web design, management, consulting & promotion, ROWAN has grown from helping a handful of people to over 30 villages.
Highlights: Grown to 1000+ people; Reaching 30+ villages; Medical & health care; Urgent needs; Hundreds of kids educated.
More: Electricity for the first time; Donation management; E-mail campaign management; M-commerce; Consulting.
Core products: Website; REACH Integration; Startup help; Growth & promotion; System management.
Extra features: High performance, fast loading; Hundreds of scheduled posts; Ongoing security patching; Campaign drives.

## Kenor (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/kenor
Abstract artist whose work covers trains, buildings and F1 helmets. Delivered: Website design · Growth advice. Active: 2014.

Highlights: Web management; Documenting; Exhibitions & events; Image manipulation.
Tasks: Site design; Content management; General tech support; Training.
Core products: Website; Content management; Site & system; Hosting.
Extra features: High performance; 100% uptime; Sales management system; Ongoing consulting.

## Adam Radly · iImagine (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/iimagine
Entrepreneur, author and TEDx speaker: custom tablets, the iImagine site and more. Delivered: Hardware (tablets) · Website · Platform · Brand. Active: 2014 – 2015. Versions: v1.0.
iimagine is the world’s first open source philosophy that combines technology, lifestyle & emotional needs into a single form.
Highlights: Complicated social site; Large, fast growing network; Film Festival; Popular TEDx Talk.
Tasks: SaaS development; System management; Data-heavy UI/UX design; Training.
Core products: Template design/development; Content acquisition; Consulting; System management.
Extra features: Thousands of listings; Graphics & assets; Branding; Asset selection/acquisition.

## Liberty Sentinel (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/liberty
Independent news site for journalist Alex Newman and The Sentinel Report. Delivered: Website build · Consulting & advice.

## The Equinest (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/equinest
Our own equine publication, built and grown end to end: brand, site, content and audience. Delivered: Founded & built · Brand · Content · Growth · SEO.

## Optimal (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/optimal
A health and wellness subscription: brand, responsive site, mobile and email design. Delivered: Brand · UI/UX · Web design · Mobile · Email. Active: 2021.

## Prepaire Shield (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/prepaire
Folded print leaflets for a medical countermeasures company. Delivered: Print · Tri-fold leaflets · Brand application. Active: 2023.

## Chinawhite (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/chinawhite
In-club posters for London's world-famous nightclub. Delivered: Print media · In-club posters.

## General Flynn · TSS (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/flynn
An apparel brand, its merch and three online stores: General Flynn, The Shirt Show and America's Future. Delivered: E-commerce · Merch design · UI/UX · Store setup · Brand. Active: 2021 – 2023.
The Shirt Show started as our own apparel brand for original American-made designs. Its General Flynn line, the three-star stencil tee, #JusticeForAll and #FightLikeAFlynn, became the merch of a movement, which led to helping General Flynn and America's Future stand up their own online stores.

## Big Limos (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/biglimos
Brand, websites, search and paid search for Big Limos, custom limousine builders, and All Star Limos, limo rentals in Orange County. Delivered: Web design · SEO · SEM · Branding · Build. Active: 2008.
Big Limos builds custom stretch limousines, from dual-axle Hummers to gull-wing Corvette stretches, and sells them worldwide. Its sister company All Star Limos rents the fleet across Southern California. We looked after most of the digital side of both: brand, websites, SEO and SEM.

## Boone Cutler (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/cutler
An illustrated character and brand assets for Boone Cutler: combat veteran, author of Callsign Voodoo and radio host. Delivered: Illustration · Character artwork · Branding. Active: 2024.
Boone Cutler is a combat veteran, author and nationally syndicated radio host with an unmistakable look: red beard, dark glasses and the tattoos on his forearms. He needed artwork that carried that identity across his shows, books and socials.

## The Counter (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/counter
Search strategy for the custom burger chain, back when it was one or two venues. Delivered: SEO advice.

## Uriginal (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/uriginal
Barcelona surrealist painter of giant walls, from London to Miami. Delivered: Artist · Website · Online sales · Press.

## Irene Lopez Leon (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/ill
Barcelona fine art painter, with an inventory and sales system. Delivered: Artist · Website · Online sales. Active: 2016 – 2018.

Highlights: Simple, high performance theme; Online sales system; High quality design.
Tasks: Site design; Content management; General tech support; Training.
Core products: WordPress theme; Core content; System management; Consulting.
Extra features: Photography; Document creation; Artwork management system.

## Megalytic (project)
URL: https://vuild.com/megalytic
Analytics reporting from MIT/NYT alumni. Acquired. Delivered: Web · Dashboards · HTML/CSS. Active: 2012 – 2016. Versions: v1.1 – v4.0. Status: Acquired.
Based in Union Square, NYC, Megalytic was launched in 2012 by successful entrepreneur Mark Hansen (fmr MIT/NYT). The goal was to aid businesses & organizations in deep analysis of their big web data. Acquired Q4 2019.
Highlights: Startup stages; Responsive design; Bug-free code; Brand update.
Tasks: Site design; Data-Heavy UI/UX design; General tech support; Consulting.
Core products: Front end design; Front end development; Content creation; Template designs.
Extra features: Consulting; Social media; Publishing; Graphics & assets.

## Making vuild.com readable by AI agents (blog post, 2026-09-30)
URL: https://vuild.com/blog/agent-ready
More people now meet a company through an AI assistant than through its home page. Here's what we changed so ChatGPT, Claude and the rest can read our site accurately, and how other agents can now talk to ours.

A growing share of the people who find us never see our home page first. They ask an assistant, and the assistant reads the web on their behalf. If it can't read our site cleanly, it guesses, and guesses about a studio's clients, dates and work are exactly the kind of thing that goes wrong.

So we treated AI assistants as a first-class audience and made vuild.com easy for them to read, cite and talk to. Everything below is generated from the same content as the site itself, so it can't drift out of date.

 A map written for language models

The first step was llms.txt, a short plain-text summary at the root of the site: who we are, what we do, our case studies and projects with dates, and links to everything else. Beside it sits llms-full.txt, the long version, with every case study and project in full, the FAQ and what clients say about us.

Both are built from the site's content on every change, so they always match what's on the pages.

 Markdown twins

Every main page now has a markdown twin: the same facts as the HTML, without the layout. The AmpUp case study lives at /ampup for people and at /ampup.md for agents that prefer plain text. Each page links to its twin in its head, and llms.txt lists them all.

 Structured facts, not just prose

Search engines and assistants lean heavily on structured data, so we added more of it:

- FAQ markup on the About page, answering the questions people actually ask about us.
- Reviews: client testimonials are marked up as named reviews.
- Real relationships: case studies link clients to their sites and, where there is one, their Wikipedia page, and only name genuine backers as backers.
- Active periods on every case study and project, so "when did Vuild work on this?" has a clear answer.

 Telling crawlers what changed

Freshness matters. Our sitemap now dates each page by its last real change, taken from its version history, rather than stamping everything with today's date. Our robots file names the AI crawlers we welcome, so the intent is unambiguous.

And on every deploy, the site pings IndexNow with the pages that changed that day. IndexNow is an open protocol supported by Bing and others, which in turn feeds several AI search products.

None of this is about gaming rankings. It's about making sure an assistant that answers a question about us gets the facts right, with a link back to the source.

 Letting other agents talk to ours

The last step goes further than being readable. Our site has a concierge, the assistant behind the Ask Vuild button, and it now speaks A2A, the open Agent2Agent protocol. Another company's agent can find it through our agent card at /.well-known/agent-card.json, see what it can help with, and send it a message.


The concierge answers from the same site content as llms-full.txt, and remembers the thread of a conversation. It sits behind the same protections as the chat on the site: rate limits, strict request checks and clear boundaries on what it will and won't do.

 Why it matters for our clients

This is the work we now do for clients, so doing it for ourselves first was the obvious move. The questions are the same for any business: can an assistant find you, understand what you do, and describe you accurately? Can other agents do business with yours?

If you'd like the same for your product, start a project, or just ask the concierge on any page. It knows where to send you.

## Sculpting superheroes in code with Blender (blog post, 2026-09-29)
URL: https://vuild.com/blog/coded-heroes
Eight 3D pieces for our Then & now remakes, every one built by a Python script rather than by hand. What worked, what didn't, and how we keep them fast in the browser.

Every 3D piece in our Then & now remakes started life as a Python file. Superman, Batman, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, R2-D2 and the Game & Watch are each built by a script that drives Blender, exports a model, and hands it to a page that lights it live with three.js. Nothing was sculpted with a mouse.

That sounds like a party trick. It turned out to be the most practical decision of the project.

 Why build 3D with code

A model made by hand is a finished object. A model made by a script is a recipe, and recipes can be changed. When the feedback on Hulk was "his fists look like gloves", we didn't reopen a file and push vertices around; we changed how the fist was built and ran it again. When the forearms were too short, or a cape needed to fall over the shoulders instead of behind them, the fix was a few lines, and the whole model rebuilt in minutes.

It also means every piece is reproducible. The scripts live in the repository next to the site, and a shared toolkit handles the parts every bust needs: the torso, the plinth, the colour painting and the export.

 Faces are hard, so we didn't start from nothing

Our first heads were built from primitives and deformed by maths. They read as heads, but not as people. Faces are where the eye is least forgiving, and no amount of clever noise fixes a nose that's slightly too long.

So we changed approach. Blender Studio publishes a set of human base meshes under CC0, free for anyone to use. We now start each face from that realistic head and reshape it by script: a heavier brow and wider jaw for Hulk, a square jaw and cleft chin for Superman, a snarl for Wolverine. Hands come from the same set, posed by script into a grip, an open palm or a fist.

The base meshes are public domain. We credit Blender Studio on the pages that use them anyway, because it's the right thing to do.

 Small details that took the longest

A few lessons we'd pass on to anyone doing the same:

1. Watertight or nothing. Remeshing parts together and then shrinking the result to save file size can fold the surface over itself, and folds render as dark holes. Our build now refuses to finish if a model isn't a closed, valid surface.
2. One material per mesh. Blender's glTF exporter keeps vertex colours on only the first material of a mesh, so every painted part is its own mesh.
3. Mouths shut until needed. Hulk and Wolverine keep their lips closed at rest; the roar and the snarl are shape changes that only play while you hold down, with the teeth hidden until the mouth opens.
4. Version every model. Browsers cache models hard, so each file is loaded with a version tag that changes when the model does.

 Light is half the model

On the page, each piece is lit in real time with three.js. Iron Man and Superman add bloom, a glow effect for the eyes, the arc reactor, the repulsor and the heat vision. It took some tuning. Our first Iron Man glowed so brightly the helmet disappeared, so the bloom now starts small and only opens up as you charge a blast.

Each piece gets its own scene too: a rainy Gotham rooftop, dusk over New York, the twin suns of Tatooine, a walnut desk for the handhelds.

 Keeping it fast

3D is easy to make slow. A few rules keep ours usable on a phone:

- Models load after the page is idle, never before the text.
- Scenes are built one at a time, in small chunks, so the page never freezes while it prepares the graphics.
- Graphics setup runs in the background before the first frame is drawn.
- Machines without a usable graphics chip get a still image instead of a stalled page.

The museum shelf at the top of Then & now shows all eight pieces at once, so it uses lightweight versions of each model: decimated, compressed and loaded only when needed.

 Where it goes next

The techniques behind these busts carry straight into client work: product configurators, interactive explainers, hero moments that load fast and respond to touch. Building them in code means they can change as quickly as the product they sit beside.

In the meantime, go and make Hulk angry.

## Then & now: redrawing our 2012 CSS art in 2026 (blog post, 2026-09-28)
URL: https://vuild.com/blog/css-remakes
In 2012 we drew six superheroes, R2-D2 and a Game & Watch in hand-written CSS3. Fourteen years later we drew all eight again, twice: once in HTML & CSS, once in 3D.

In 2012 CSS3 was new enough to feel like a trick. Gradients, rounded corners and transforms had only just landed in every browser, and we wanted to know how far they would go. So we drew with them: a series of superheroes (Superman, Batman, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Hulk), then R2-D2, then a Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch. No images, no canvas, just boxes, borders and gradients stacked until they looked like something.

Each hero took about a day. R2-D2 took four. The Game & Watch took a week, because we couldn't resist making it responsive.

This year we went back to all eight. The brief to ourselves was simple: same subjects, fourteen years apart, and no nostalgia discount. Each one was remade twice, in two very different mediums, and you can see all three versions side by side on Then & now.

 Two remakes, two rulebooks

Rendered is the direct descendant of the originals: pure HTML & CSS, still no images, no SVG and no canvas. What has changed is everything around the rules. Modern CSS gives us layered gradients with real colour mixing, clip-path for organic silhouettes, blend modes, filters for soft light and custom properties that let one value drive a whole character. The 2012 heroes were flat cut-outs. The 2026 ones have sculpted light, textured suits and weather.

3D throws the rulebook out. Each piece is sculpted in code with Blender's Python API, exported as a single model file and lit live in the browser with three.js. You can drag to turn them, and every one does something when you hold down.

Same subjects, fourteen years apart, and no nostalgia discount.

 Every piece does something

A drawing you can only look at felt like a missed chance, so each remake has one idea you can play with:

- Superman's heat vision follows your pointer and burns where it lands.
- Batman waits on a rooftop in the rain; hold down and the bat-signal lights the clouds.
- Wolverine's claws come out, with the sound effect to match.
- Spider-Man fires a web.
- Iron Man charges his repulsor and unibeam, and his faceplate lifts to show Tony underneath.
- Hulk stays calm until you hold down, then he roars.
- R2-D2 beeps, and in 3D he projects a hologram.
- The Game & Watch is playable: one LCD game in three devices, the original Wide Screen, a Game Boy and a Mini Classic keyring.

These are small things, but they are the difference between an illustration and a piece of software, and software is what we make.

 What fourteen years changed

The honest answer is: less about CSS than about how we work. In 2012 every gradient was a guess, refreshed and nudged until it looked right. In 2026 we could see a detail was wrong, describe why, and fix the cause. When Spider-Man's lenses looked off-centre, the reason wasn't the drawing: one lens was a mirrored copy of the other, flipped around an off-centre pivot. The fix was one number.

The 3D pieces taught the same lesson at a larger scale. Sculpting a face with nothing but code is hard, and our first heads were rough. Rather than fight it, we started from Blender Studio's free, CC0 human base meshes and reshaped them by script into each character. Hands went the same way. We wrote more about that process in Sculpting superheroes in code with Blender.

 A museum shelf for the lot

Eight pieces in two mediums is a lot to take in, so the top of Then & now is a museum shelf: all eight 3D pieces as small statues on a slowly turning turntable, each under its own spotlight. The statues are lightweight versions of the full models, loaded only once the page is idle, so the shelf costs almost nothing before you scroll. Click one and you jump straight to its row, where the 2012 original sits beside both remakes.

There is also a secret. If you know the code, try it.

 Why bother

Labs has always been where we try things before we need them. The 2012 heroes taught us what CSS could do years before we used those techniques on client work. The 2026 remakes did the same for procedural 3D, real-time lighting and building interactive pieces that still load fast on a phone. The next time a client needs something that moves, we will already know where the edges are.

Have a look at the whole set, or start with the 3D Superman and hold down.

## What clients say
- "You’re my hero." (Dr. Larry Sanger, Wikipedia co-founder)
- "Sent by the startup gods." (Tom Sun, Founder, AmpUp)
- "I love the TV app." (Charlie Annenberg, Founder, Explore.org)
- "The God of the Internet." (Mark Hansen, Founder, Megalytic (MIT/NYT))
- "This is amazing!!!!!!" (Chris Mattmann, CTO, NASA JPL)
- "I cried, in a good way." (Julian Nadel, Founder, Beezwax)
- "That looks perfect." (Steve Rubel, Edelman / Adobe)
- "Really useful. Thanks." (Eytan Elbaz, Google / Alphabet)
- "Very helpful. Thank you." (Nick H., WIPO / United Nations)
- "Amazing stuff." (Paul Deneve, Co-owner, Piedaterre)
- "Evil no, genius yes." (D. Colis, Founder, UB Fitness)
- "Yikes!!!! You are good!!!" (Tony Selznick, Founder, MSA)
- "You are always right!" (C. Kijeung, Megalytic / Amazon)
- "Amazing stuff." (Mike Dean, Producer)
- "I love you so hard." (O. Martinez, Artist)
- "Very well equipped to deliver." (J.S., Manager, Fujitsu)
- "I appreciate all of this." (A.R., HostGator)
- "One of the greatest experiences." (J.R., Manager, Expedia)
- "Vamos a la playa." (Kenor, Artist)
- "Bueno. Yo voy." (Irene Lopez Leon, Artist, Barcelona)
- "Really useful stuff." (Adam Radly, Founder, iImagine)
- "That is NUTS!" (Kelsey Hargadine, Founder, ROWAN)