10 reasons why 2016 was a good friend for Merixstudio

Ok, let’s be real - when it comes to worldly events, 2016 could’ve been a bit better. There is even going to be a movie about it!* Our office, however, seemed to have some kind of special power, because the last year was actually quite good for us! We added many interesting projects to our portfolio, worked with really great clients, created new initiatives, and continued the old ones. Obviously, if you know us even a little bit, then you know that all of that was accompanied by parties, puppies, and food. But enough with this introduction - it’s time to list everything and prove my words to you!

*Ok, the trailer is not real, but I couldn’t not share it :)

10 reasons why 2016 was a good friend for Merixstudio

1. Busy bee is a happy bee
3. We are all for games and fun, but sometimes we have to get some work done! Here you can see how PM department can collaborate with PR :) #work #office #hardwork #colleagues #poznan #interactiveagency
4. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 2 Lut, 2016 o 3:57 PST
5. 
   Let’s talk a bit more about the most important thing for every software house, which allows us to constantly develop our skills, hire new 15 people and come up with interesting initiatives. I’m obviously talking about nothing other than work! We were lucky to work on some really awesome products that required us to use the latest technologies. Here are projects, that made us particularly proud this year - check them out in our portfolio:
   
6. U project - an educational application that improves and explores new learning models (such as interactive multi-touch whiteboard) to teach sciences in Primary and Secondary Schools [Stack: HTML5, React.js & Redux, ES6 JavaScript, Fabric.js, Websockets‬];
7. Flavr - a Belgian startup for hobby & professional chefs who want to sell homemade meals [Stack: Mean.io, Angular Material Design, ES6, Babel, Websockets];
8. Competenz4u - a SaaS startup for students in Austria who want to improve their math skills [Stack: HTML5, CSS3, Django];
9. 2016 was a year of Digial Signage
11. When you want to listen to some music, but not want to wear headphopes #struggleisreal #headphones #office #officelife #softwarehouse #poznan
12. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 10 Cze, 2016 o 5:13 PDT
13. 
    2016 was also a big year for us when it comes to interactive games for Digital Signage. These projects allow us to get creative with the freshest of technologies while having fun coding.
    
14. Balance - a fun game targeted to kids at the age of 7 to 13, where the main goal is to earn as many points as possible by dropping blocks that vary in weight and shape while constantly maintaining the balance of figure [Stack: HTML5, ES6, Phaser]
15. Ice Cream Express - the purpose of the game is to compose an ice cream that matches the picture presenting the final result (ready ice cream composition) while making sure that the queue is as short as possible [Stack: HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Webkit, Node.js, GSAP library];
16. Shuffle - a puzzle matching game with four difficulty levels [Stack: HTML5, JavaScript, Angular, Canvas]
17. Knowledge is power
19. What a month! We have published articles in AdMonkey, Nowy Marketing and Marketing w Praktyce. Anita, Ola and Bartek did a really good job, congratulation Guys! #articles #softwarehouse #poznan #poznandev #goodjob #congratulation
20. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 31 Mar, 2016 o 2:32 PDT
21. 
    Sharing is caring, there is no doubt about that. And we care about those of you that want to get their learning hats on and find out something more about our fields of expertise. For this purpose we used one of the most efficient weapons there is - written words. Every week we published articles on our blog, where our talented developers showed their readers ins and outs of both front and back-end development. We also talked over interesting issues regarding web design, marketing, HR, and more.Some of those articles were also published by well known websites/newspapers of our industry, such as Nowy Marketing, AdMonkey, or Marketing w Praktyce! The crown of the most widely published author of Merixstudio goes to Paweł, whose article was turned into an eBook and got published by non other that Awwwards, which doesn’t have to be introduced to anyone who has contact with the world of website creation! Let’s just hope that it was only the beginning of sharing our knowledge with the wider readership - we are definitely ready for more!
22. Ain’t no party like a Merixstudio party!
24. Oh #happyday! We are having Pizza Party in the office! As God is our witness, we'll never go hungry again! #pizzaparty #officeparty #fun #funwork #softwarehouse #poznan
25. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 20 Maj, 2016 o 5:54 PDT
26. 
    Well, I cannot lie - our people like to both work and party quite hard. We obviously know our limits, but from time to time there was an occasion to loosen up a bit. Each month we had AT LEAST one company outing or communal lunch during work. During 2016 we were even able to have some fun while keeping it a bit athletic - we went to Jump Arena (oh boy, the whole office was sore on the next day) or shot each other on the paintball field. We also took more of an traditional approach and went for pizza and beer while participating in a pub quiz. The most recent event, our Christmas party, was probably the most fun - we stayed in the office, what allowed us to feel relaxed and at home. There was dancing, a lot of food, games - what more do you need?!?
    
    On our Facebook you can find few videos (for instance grill&paintball and pub quiz) that will show you in detail what happens when we have fun - check them out :)
27. Friendly competition is friendly
29. With a little delay because only yesterday, we had our #officeolympics closing ceremony. As you can see, it was extremely #exciting and full of good feelings. #office #olympics #busyday #officelife #sport #challenge #medals #gold #merixstudio
30. Film zamieszczony przez użytkownika @merixstudio 24 Sie, 2016 o 1:57 PDT
31. 
    As we proved many times before, you don’t have to leave the office to have some fun. To make sure that our workplace, while being professional, is still fun, we organized few internal tournaments. A lot of our coworkers are quite competitive, so they do not oppose the opportunity to participate in some games. Some of the organized games were simple and non-time-consuming, such as Rock-Paper-Scissor or Baby Boom. The other ones lasted few weeks and contained many different competitions, such as Office Olympics, about which you can learn from the video summary we posted. If you want to read more about how we have fun in (and out of) the office, check out my article How to organize integration in an easy and inexpensive way, where is described it in a more detailed manner.
32. Geekiness is strong in this one!
34. And with this ensemble Wiesiek finally destroyed #GeekShirtFriday with his awesomeness. We hope that the #pokestop near our office is not distracting him too much, but judging by the photo we are probably just kidding ourselves. #pokemongo #pokemon #pokemonclothes #teaminstinct #pikachu⚡#pikachuhat #geekhat #geek #softwarehouse #poznan
35. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 23 Wrz, 2016 o 1:00 PDT
36. 
    Every Friday on our Instagram is dedicated to #GeekShirtFriday, which puts our geekiness on the pedestal and proudly shows the whole world that we know a thing or two about the world of games, movies and tv-shows. The undisputed king of #GeekShirtFriday is Wiesiek, whose t-shirt wardrobe is probably bigger than a small house - he is constantly wearing some new articles of geeky clothing. However, during the Pokemon craze that swept the whole world this year, Wiesiek outdone himself - he decided that his team Instinct t-shirt and jumper (the latter not pictured) were not festive enough, so he matched them with his Pikachu hat. We love your fashion sense, Wiesiek, keep it going!
37. Grown-ups go to (Dev) College
39. We're back with our Dev College workshops! 🎓 Mateusz and Dominik are sharing their huge knowledge about React library 😊 we're glad that our web dev meeting gaining more and more popularny - thanks! ❤ #merixstudio #softwarehouse #workshop #webdev #meeting #poznan #geeks #frontend #saturday
40. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 5 Lis, 2016 o 1:14 PDT
41. 
    One of the things that we are particularly proud of (apart from our projects) are our DevCollege workshops, during which we share our knowledge on various aspects of web and game development with people. During 2016 we organized four of those meetings, during which we respectively talked about React, project management, Django Channels, and (per your request) once again about React. But we hope that we won’t leave you without the opportunity to learn something new - remember to check out DevCollege website for details about our future endeavors!
42. Go Kopanito, go!
44. Are they watching a presentation about some new project? Well, no, they are playing Kopanito during working hours! Today is the premiere of our game, so we celebrated with pizza, cold beverages and obviously with playing:) ⚽ 🎉 🍕 🎮 #Kopanito #game #newgame #footballgame #soccergame #officeparty #officefun #happyoffice #softwarehouse #poznan
45. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 16 Lis, 2016 o 7:15 PST
46. 
    You are reading this article, so you are probably familiar with our company and what we do. Therefore it’s safe to assume, that you know about Kopanito All-Stars Soccer, our arcade, 2D soccer game that is filled with a lot of whimsical moves. This year we finally shared its final version with the world, what was celebrated by a launch party organized in our office! We ate pizza, drank cold beverages, and (obviously) played the game! But I don’t have to describe it to you - we have a video that tells you the tale of what happened! :) If you are interested in the design aspect of Kopanito’s development, check out Paweł’s article on our blog. If playing, not reading, is more of your jam, then go to the Kopanito’s profile on Steam, where you can not only buy it, but also find gaming tips and latest updates.
47. The D is no longer silent!
49. Miłosz is our undeniable star at Merixstudio, but not without the reason - check out how hard he is preparing to his presentation at #DjangoHotspot! We are starting in less than an hour, see you soon! #ITevents #poznan #django #webdev #Merixstudio #softwarehouse
50. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 1 Gru, 2016 o 8:14 PST
51. 
    This year we started our new series of events - Django Hotspot, which goal is to gather Django community. We wanted to create a place where everyone can exchange experiences, talk about the issues they encounter, as well as gain some knowledge and simply meet up with like-minded people. At the end of December we organized the first event of the series, which, we are happy to announce, was quite a success! Big thanks to Miłosz, Miron, and Guys from Tenesys for making interesting presentations and teaching us something new! See you next time!
52. It was a doggy-dog year
54. Look who's back! One of our #furry friends is visiting Merixstudio's folks 🐶 It's the second time when Json paid us a visit. Wonderful! 😊 #lookwhosback #Jsonattacks #dogintheoffice #officelife #softwarehouse #merixstudio #friyay #wholetthedogsout
55. Zdjęcie zamieszczone przez użytkownika @merixstudio 28 Paź, 2016 o 5:19 PDT
56. 
    Well, I obviously couldn’t forget about the animals that visited our office during the course of the year! How anyone could not remember Gacek, Feta, Luna, Budyń, Rojber, Hefajstos, Mila, and JSon? No one, that’s who! Those pupperinos (and Luna the Kitten) were able to brighten even the gloomiest day with their sad eyes during lunch hours and happy faced when playing catch. The office was a bit louder and more chaotic during their visits, but I don’t see anyone unhappy about it. So that’s it, we have a New Year resolution - in 2017 we will have more pets visit us in the office!

That's all for this summary! On the behalf of the whole company I would like to say big THANK YOU for sticking with us, working with us on your projects, reading our articles or simply liking our posts on social media! Without you we wouldn't be able to do the things we do!See you next year!