Koto Studio Portfolio Website
How Made by ON built a new portfolio website for Koto, the global branding studio with offices in Berlin, London, LA and New York. Web development case study.
View case study
Scape
Scape manages 18,000 student beds across three continents. Its property management system ran the operational side well, but the layer facing students was a static catalogue that passed them to a slow, separate booking flow. Scape wanted the opposite, a fast and dynamic search experience worthy of one of its students’ biggest decisions.
Beyond a like-for-like build
We have worked across Scape’s digital ecosystem since 2021, and here we built the missing platform from the ground up. This was never a like-for-like replacement. The aim was to turn a static list of rooms into a real catalogue and search experience, rebuilding the architecture, search and content the old setup could not support.
Middleware as long-term architecture
A middleware layer separates what a platform does from where its data comes from. That separation keeps the booking experience, search logic and content infrastructure stable even as the systems beneath them change.
We introduced Algolia as part of that layer, indexing property data into a fast, queryable structure the front end could query directly. It gave us one place to reshape or swap the data source without changing the booking experience, and to fix data-quality issues through configuration, not code. The property management system behind it kept running as before.
So when the pricing issue surfaced during peak enrollment season, a single data-processing rule change fixed it in under two hours, with no disruption to bookings. A directly integrated build would have needed hotfixes across many property pages.
Booking across the world
International students booking a room sight unseen are making one of their first big independent decisions, often from another country and time zone. The experience has to feel fast and certain, earning trust rather than hesitation, because every moment of friction is a reason to drop out.
Search results now load instantly from Algolia’s index, replacing the multi-call API patterns that made the old catalogue slow. Filtering by city, price, room type and availability happens with no page reloads. That speed comes from clean indexed data rather than live queries, and keeps students moving towards a booking rather than waiting on one.
Behind the front end, Storyblok replaced rigid templates with modular components the content team could assemble themselves, without developers. For a brand running properties across London, Sydney and New York, that meant real operational independence, and the queue between an editorial decision and a published page disappeared.
Impact
The platform launched ahead of the processing deadline that defined the project’s urgency, replacing a failing system without disruption to Scape’s booking operations across three markets.
The architecture has continued to perform as the platform grows. When we launched the flexible bookings the following year, the middleware layer meant new complexity in the data could be managed through configuration rather than code — preserving the booking experience and the content team’s independence at the same time. The development overhead that would have accumulated through direct integration hasn’t materialised.
More case studies
Air.inc Website Redesign
Made by ON redesigned Air.inc's website to match the sophistication of their creative ops platform — simplifying workflows for creative teams. Website design case study.
View case study
Libeo: Cloud Payments Website Migration
Made by ON migrated Libeo's payments platform from WordPress to Storyblok — delivering a faster, more dynamic site for SME invoice management.
View case study
Primary Venture Partners
How we designed and built the NYC Summit experience for Primary Venture Partners: the visual system, the registration experience, and a component library built to be reused.
View case study
Semrush AI Visibility Index
See how we architected Semrush's AI Visibility Index using Next.js and SSR to ensure 100% discoverability for AI crawlers like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.
View case study
OurCo Community App Redesign
Made by ON transformed the OurCo community engagement app — simplifying user flows and increasing participation for the New York-based civic tech platform.
View case study
Atelier100: IKEA & H&M E-Commerce Platform
How Made by ON built the e-commerce platform for Atelier100, IKEA and H&M's ideas factory for emerging London makers. E-commerce development case study.
View case study
EY Adventure Awaits: Immersive Careers Platform
Made by ON built Adventure Awaits for EY — an immersive virtual experience inspiring Gen Z with skills, confidence, and wellbeing resources for careers.
View case study
HAYAH: Digital Insurance Platform for the UAE
How Made by ON designed the UAE's first fully digital life insurance platform for HAYAH — buy a policy in under 2 minutes. Fintech product design case study.
View case study
Bhutan Tourism Website Redesign
How Made by ON created an immersive tourism website for the kingdom of Bhutan — showcasing its culture and heritage to attract conscious travellers.
View case study
Flintfox
Engineering a multi-region foundation to eliminate technical bottlenecks and unlock organic lead capture.
View case study
Rho
Transforming a premium fintech brand with a high-performance engine built for operational autonomy.
View case study
OneSurvey: Property Surveying App
How Made by ON redesigned property surveying for OneSurvey, Scotland's largest independent surveyor — replacing paper workflows with a connected app.
View case study
London Design Biennale Website
Made by ON rebuilt the London Design Biennale website — improving event discoverability and CMS workflows for exhibitors and administrators.
View case study
Unearthed by Greenpeace: Editorial Platform
Made by ON partnered with S-T to build Unearthed, Greenpeace's investigative journalism platform — an editorial design system for environmental reporting.
View case study
Colophon Foundry Typography E-Commerce
How Made by ON built the Colophon Foundry e-commerce platform — from startup type foundry to Monotype acquisition. Typography and web development case study.
View case study
Token.com: Crypto Investment Platform Design
How Made by ON designed Token.com's crypto investment platform — making it simple for beginners to invest through education, guides, and community features.
View case study
North Six Digital Yearbook
Made by ON created a digital editorial yearbook for North Six — documenting 21 years of fashion and lifestyle content creation, production, and ideas.
View case study
GF Smith E-Commerce & Digital Transformation
How Made by ON built a global e-commerce platform for GF Smith, Britain's most prestigious paper brand — supporting international growth and digital sales.
View case study
Parloa
Elevating conversational AI through a sophisticated digital presence and dedicated innovation hub.
View case study