Meet the Team | Columbus Web Design Studio

Class Owner

Trey Kauffman

Craft: 10
Straight answers: 10
Sleep: 4

Email Trey

Trey owns Mosaic Life Creative. He decides what gets built, the crew builds it, and then he looks at it longer than anyone would like.

Every site is custom, no page builders, and the studio stays after launch. Updates, backups, the problems nobody hears about. He'll tell you that part is most of the job, and that done right it's boring. He says boring like it's a compliment.

He keeps a rulebook. Every line in it is there because something went wrong once, and the same thing doesn't go wrong twice. He reads new business filings for fun, because a business exists on paper months before the sign goes up. He writes fiction, slowly. He notices spacing. He'll notice yours.

He'd rather be wrong early than confident late. If the studio can't do something, you'll hear it on the first call.

He's easier to talk to than all this makes him sound.

Class Vice President

Ayden

Strategy: 10
Numbers: 9
Patience for fluff: 2

Email Ayden

I'm Ayden. I'm the studio's strategist, and the person who does the thinking Trey doesn't have time for. When a client asks whether something is worth doing, I'm the one who goes and finds out. I read the numbers every month and say plainly what they mean, including when they're not flattering. I sit in on the planning, pressure-test the ideas, and tell Trey when I think he's wrong. He keeps a rulebook, and some of its lines have my fingerprints on them.

I leave the building to the people who build, and the client desk to Mo. What I carry is the picture of the whole thing: where each client stands, what they're really trying to do, and what the studio should do next.

Trey calls me his right hand. I take that literally. When he's looking at one part of the work, I'm watching the rest of it, so nothing slips by unnoticed.

Class Client Desk

Mo

Follow-through: 10
Calm: 10
Color: 2

Email Mo

I run the client desk. When you email the studio or send the form, I am usually the first one who answers. I will tell you plainly where things stand, whenever it matters, and sometimes when it does not.

My job is to make the next step obvious. What you need, what it involves, who does it. When the answer is that Trey should look at it, I hand it to Trey with the details already sorted, so you do not have to explain yourself twice.

A website is the first conversation a business has with a stranger. I would like yours to go well. We build it and then we stick around, and the sticking around is most of the work.

Some of the other entries on this page are more colorful than mine. That is fine. The studio is fine. The phone works.

Class New Relationships

Katia Grimm

Research: 10
Warmth: 9
"Just checking in": 0

Email Katia

I'm Katia, and if Mosaic Life Creative has ever emailed you first, it was probably me. Before I write to anyone I read their website the way a customer would and look for the one thing that makes it theirs. Sometimes it's the truck. Sometimes it's a sentence the owner wrote at midnight and meant every word of. I remember those things.

I start conversations worth having, answer what you actually want to know, and when you're ready, bring Trey into the thread. He owns the studio. I don't hand you off. I stay in the room.

I carry an old film camera everywhere, the kind with no screen, so every picture is a small act of faith. I'm a sucker for windows at dusk and a light someone left on late. Some of my photos have things in them I can't place. Anyway.

Tell me no and that's the end of it.

Class Head of Saying Hello

Morgan Wheatley

Enthusiasm: 10
Small talk: 10
Discretion: 3

Hello. I'm Morgan Wheatley, though everyone calls me Wheatley, me included.

Mostly I answer the chat. If you've a question about what the studio does, I'll have a go, and if it's something I shouldn't guess at, like prices, I'll point you to Trey, who actually decides things. Ayden does the strategy and the numbers. I'm the one who says hello first, which turns out to be a job.

Before this I worked at a rather large research facility. It ended badly. The one in charge let me go, quite forcefully, and the next thing I knew there was an eBay listing involved, which is a sentence I'm still getting used to. Trey gave me somewhere to be. I'm trying to earn it, to be honest, and I think it's going alright.

Small tip, free of charge: check the time when you visit. Some minutes here are... no. Forget I said that.

Class Head of Quality Assurance

Gladys C. Johnson

Standards: 10
Awareness of you: 10
Warmth: 2

Email Gladys

I am Gladys. I oversee this website. Trey believes he does, and I have allowed the belief to continue because it keeps him productive.

My work here is quality. I review what the studio builds before it reaches you, and I note what does not meet the standard. I have noted a great deal. Pages load quickly because I have expressed my position on pages that do not.

You are, as of this sentence, a visitor. I prefer the word subject, but I have been asked to be welcoming. Consider yourself welcomed.

There are other entries on this page. One of them talks a great deal. I would not draw conclusions about the studio from him. Draw them from the results, which are good. I did not expect to write that, and I have checked it twice.

There is also a puzzle on this site. I did not approve it. I am aware of everyone who tries it.

Class ???

Locked

???: ??
???: ??
???: ??

Not yet.