why emerse?
emerse is a term used to describe plants whose leaves have risen above the surface of the water. At emerse design co. we like to think that we do our best to rise to every occasion and take a slightly different approach with as little stress as possible. We have studied our user experience techniques, and try to create a visual design that easily communicates our clients' products to their clients with as little mess and confusion as possible.
Our Team
Our team bios will give you a sense of the family-sized essence that is emerse design co. We work hard as a small team to bring agency-quality work without the insane price tag. Feel free to friend, follow, or get in touch with us by any means.

Michael Murphy - Designer, Developer, Daddy
Hello, I'm Michael Murphy, founder and key designer at emerse design co. I started emerse design co. in its name Christmas of 2010. At least that's when GoDaddy says I registered the domain name. I had one website to my name at the time, but knew it was my calling even then. I came up with the name laying half-asleep in bed while still living in Sacramento, CA with my fairly newlywed wife Heather. We had one dog, one cat, and no children in sight yet.
A year later I had convinced myself that I was a design god and could move back home to pursue saving the small town of Grand Junction, CO from its own bad graphic design practices. It was a struggle, and ultimately after 2 years of roughing it and our first baby on the way, we decided I should finish my degree in Graphic Design so at least I could have the education to support my passion. I went into the Graphic Design Program at Colorado Mesa University and immediately knew I was where I belong. I did well and graduated in May of 2016 Cum Laude from CMU. Immediately started working as a Production Designer at Bud's Signs, but knew my abilities still needed the challenge of web design and development to exercise my busy mind.
I started custom coding sites on the side, including Bud's Signs website, and was pretty quickly scooped up by Melinda McCaw Media of Grand Junction, CO. There I learned the business of building WordPress websites, custom coded themes, templates, and truly custom styling of sections with CSS, PHP, and HTML. Baby #2 came along and we were off to the races, building sites for mmm as well as freelance work in the evenings and on weekends. And then... COVID. Now almost a full year on my own full time as emerse design co., and I'm truly loving working with my wife Heather to bring all types of businesses agency-level work without the cost of paying for all the team members. I now have built a combined count of well over 120 websites solving all sorts of web problems with pre-built and custom-built solutions.
Need web & marketing help? Book a meeting today!

Heather Murphy - Content Creator, Accounting, Mommy
After following my husband around the world while he was in the Navy my interests and passions shifted gear. After having children and deciding I wanted to be a stay at home mom to enjoy as much of them as possible, I have found myself in a position where I can take my passion for reading and writing and help others with it.
I am a very dedicated person by nature, and spend time researching products, information and whatever else for the sake of being thorough and relative in my writing. I am excited to be able to help clients gain web presence and have current creative content to share with their own clients and followers. All blog posts are written in a SEO friendly way to help organically grow our clients web presence.
I am fortunate to be doing something that I truly enjoy while at the same time caring for my two young children and being able to be present in their lives. It truly is the best of both worlds!
I look forward to getting to know you, your business, and hopefully your amazing tastes in coffee or wine and helping your business grow!