383 Group and LION+MASON merge to launch a new proposition for AI-driven digital product innovation
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Tuesday 7 October, 2025 | 383 Group, a respected digital product agency and LION+MASON, a market-leading strategic research and design consultancy, today announced their merger. The move unites two highly complementary businesses to launch a new, integrated proposition designed to solve the most pressing challenge of modern digital development: building valuable, human-centric AI products. The new entity will be a single, cohesive partner for the entire product lifecycle, delivering next-generation, AI-powered products and services.
“LION+MASON’s deep research and UX expertise brings senior capability across multiple sectors. When you blend that with our Friction Mapping® framework, which helps companies identify and prioritise customer pain points, alongside our AI and product delivery capabilities, you get a truly compelling end-to-end client offering." - 383’s Group CEO, Sukhi Dehal.
"Strategic design has always been our core expertise, the ability to take a deep understanding of user behaviour and translate that into highly effective design outcomes, especially as new technologies emerge. Our merger is a deliberate move to combine our strategic foresight with 383 Group’s established expertise in AI, product development. Together, we’re creating a new kind of partner that helps clients build AI-driven products that are technically brilliant, valuable, and effective for users from day one." - Andrew Machin, Founder of LION+MASON.
The merger combines LION+MASON’s deep UX design and research capabilities with 383 Group’s proven IP and delivery expertise, creating a stronger foundation for two of 383’s most distinctive offerings:
- Friction Mapping® - Already a registered trademark of 383 Group, Friction Mapping® pinpoints the hidden blockers in customer and service journeys, to prioritise where change will have the biggest commercial impact. With LION+MASON’s advanced research methods and behavioural insight, the methodology is now enhanced with even richer data, sharper prioritisation, and greater confidence for clients making strategic investment decisions.
- Loyalty Programmes - 383 has long been recognised as a specialist in building loyalty and referral schemes that drive trust and long-term engagement. By adding LION+MASON’s user-centred design expertise, these programmes are strengthened with deeper customer insight and evidence-led UX, ensuring that loyalty experiences are not only personalised through AI, but also designed around real human needs.
Together, these capabilities position the new group as a single partner that can both diagnose and design for growth, combining unique IP with human-centred research and AI-enabled delivery.
The unified business will operate under a strengthened leadership team and offer clients a single, accountable partner across the full product lifecycle:
- Next-Generation Strategic Design: A deep, strategic understanding of how emerging technologies are changing user behaviour, allowing for the creation of human-centric AI products from the ground up.
- AI-Led Product Delivery: A robust development capability with established expertise in AI, providing the technical foundation to deliver new digital products and services.
- Long-Term Partnership: A commitment to guiding and fostering continuous product growth, helping clients grow their products and services and drive long-term value for their businesses.
About 383 Group
383 Group is a digital product agency with a proven track record in designing, building, and running innovative web, app, and platform solutions for a range of global brands. They work with companies like Volkswagen Financial Services, The Glenmorangie Group, Hastings Direct, and Jaguar to help businesses drive growth and stay ahead in a competitive market, with an expanding capability in AI and a portfolio of successful client work.
About LION+MASON
LION+MASON is a market-leading strategic research and design consultancy based in Leeds. Founded in 2016, the studio is renowned for powering digital transformation through strategically grounded design. They work with a range of global brands, including Best Western Hotels GB, Johnson & Johnson, Harley-Davidson, and Allianz to tackle complex challenges via user research, UX and UI design, product strategy, prototyping, and accessibility audits.
