866-9-EXTRA-U
About Extra-U
We do best practices in Web development, for easier maintenance, better SEO and because it just feels right.
A Brief Introduction
We founded Extra-U some time in 2007 as an outlet for our creative desires. Today, Extra-U is a boutique agency led by George Carless and Alex Sartogo; we work with a number of talented designers, programmers and content architecture experts who are all passionate about building great interactive experiences. We're not a large team and we won't be paying a salesperson to start phoning you up while you're eating lunch at your desk, or billing you for an ambiguously-titled consultant to produce elaborate reports about his own utilization. When you work with us, you're working with our core team of experts.
All of which is to say that at Extra-U we pride ourselves on giving you our undivided attention, without layers of management or arcane processes getting in the way of our meeting your needs. Would we like a huge conference room one day? Sure. But for now we'd love to meet in yours to discuss how we can work with you.
George Carless
George is the English founder of Extra-U. George has several years' experience in online marketing, web development, knowledge management and CRM, as well as in branding and company identity.
Since graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of London in 1999, George expanded his skills with clients such as Calumet Photographic and The Chicago Board of Trade and Channel 4 Television UK, as well as running web and graphic design for Manhattan Associates.
Alessio "Alex" Sartogo
The Italian half of Extra-U's founding members, Alex has been involved in the technical side of web development for many years. He is an expert in content management, systems integration, customer relationship management (CRM) and all things Web. Alex also has an unhealthy fascination with Flash programming.
Alex is a Zend Certified PHP Engineer and has a Bachelor's in Computer Science and a Master's in Information Technology, both from Arkansas Tech University.
Our Process
We're flexible. We know that different projects need different approaches, so we're not locked into doing things 'our way' if it's not going to suit you. Having said that, there're certain things we like to do with any client to ensure the success of a project:
For example, when we're first getting to know a project we'll try to gather as much information as we can; approaches might include:
- Questionnaires to help us understand what your needs and aspirations may be
- Estimating and Project Scoping; we'll typically go through a couple of rounds of estimates and quotes to make sure that what we're going to do for you is what you want done. Otherwise neither of us is happy. We can often offer the proverbial chinese menu of possible options for any project, and then work with you to recommend how you can get the best results within your particular budget, whether it's $5,000 or $500,000. (Okay, we're dreaming a little.)
- Brainstorming Meetings - which we like to keep short, on-focus and interactive
- Exploring your experience and your comfort with technology, so we can help you determine how well strategies like the use of content management or blogging might work for you
Once a job is in process, we like to keep track of it, and in continual communication with you, using great open source tools like basecamp and tickspot. Different projects take different forms, but often we'll employ strategies like:
- Information Architecture, to map out the flow of information through and out of your website so that we can plan effectively for the best ways of storing and delivering that information. We'll use approaches like flow charts and data modeling, which help us understand the best approach for your project and look pretty cool pasted to your whiteboards.
- Wireframing the user experience, so that before we start visual design we can explore approaches for presenting the User Interface and make sure they're going to work for your users.
- User personas to identify and refine our understanding of your project's target audience(s).
How to Reach Us
We're reachable via email, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, AIM ( asartogo, kafka93 ), telephone ( 404-551-5687 ) and even by mail ( Extra-U, LLC — 82 Lakeview Dr NE, Atlanta GA ). It's a wonder we ever get any work done.