Founded in 1824, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania preserves one of the nation’s largest collections of American history, with over 23 million manuscripts, books, and images spanning over 500 years. They partnered with I-SITE to create a vibrant, modern website that increases their engagement with diverse audiences.
The I-SITE team brought their experience in providing custom technical solutions to complex issues along with storytelling narratives and clear UX. Partnering with I-SITE, Design partner, J2 brought their experience in creating engaging, cohesive design that speaks to multiple audiences. HSP brought an incredible depth of information, services, educational resources and public events with an international reach.
I-SITE was tasked with providing a flexible, easy-to-update site on a platform that could accommodate HSP’s complex commerce needs, access to members’-only databases, and integration of external web assets. Additionally, the extensive amount of information contained on the site required thoughtful and clear UX planning, providing a logical organization of resources while still allowing users to create their own journeys of discovery.
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The HSP team wanted to provide entry points and access to their collections for everyone from the serious researcher to students and teachers to the general public.
Highlights of the website include:
- Migration of existing Drupal 7 content into new design
- Fresh, modern design that references and respects the historic collections
- Streamlined event listings that include integrated ticket sales as well as the ability to provide live-streamed events on the site.
- Commerce solution that allows for product sales as well as transactions that require negotiations, contracts, and individual invoicing with online payments. Additionally, online membership sales allow for instant access to members’-only sections of the website, and subscriptions with recurring payments.
- Highly flexible paragraph structure allowing for diversity in presenting their extensive content.
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To provide the necessary flexibility, efficient management of content across departments, and security, the project was built using Drupal 11 with Mercury Editor and hosted on Upsun.
Post-launch, I-SITE continues to support HSP and work with them to envision additional integrations and system automations, making the website an increasingly useful tool for both editors and users.
The New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) dedicated to operating and maintaining a reliable, user-fee-supported superhighway that delivers high levels of safety and service, turned to I-SITE to update their website to offer improved experiences for both users and staff, to align with new state-wide branding guidelines, and to provide greater security.
The redesigned modernized website provides up-to-the-moment traffic information, a streamlined user experience, new design and back-end efficiencies.
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The I-SITE team brought their extensive experience in mapping large amounts of information into clear pathways, along with the ability to create custom solutions to complex administrative needs. The NYSTA team brought a focus on providing accurate and current information to travelers, a dedication to safety, and vast, thoughtful resources to provide users with complete support during their journeys. I-SITE design partner J2 collaborated on planning and provided design services for the project.
Highlights of the website include:
- Streamlined navigation for improved clarity and user experience (UX)
- Highly responsive design, tailored to travelers on-the-go, using mobile devices
- Customized mapping to provide up-to-the-moment data to drivers
- Extensive integration with NY Thruway data APIs
- Flexible zonal access control for departmental editing delegation
- Custom toll-calculator
To provide the required security, optimized performance, and an improved user experience, the site was built with Drupal 11 and deployed on Acquia Cloud using Pipelines.
Since launch I-SITE has continued to deliver technical support to the both the NYSTA and New York State Web Services team.
Brandywine Realty Trust, one of the largest, publicly traded, full-service, integrated real estate companies in the United States, partnered with I-SITE to create a new dynamic and highly visual corporate website.
The I-SITE team brought its extensive experience in planning and building unique websites that are rich in both storytelling and data. Brandywine’s brought their industry-leading deep-seated commitment to responsible and sustainable environmental and social strategies, and track record of creating physical spaces that catalyze connection, collaboration, and innovation.
Early in planning the teams worked closely to develop a leaner, more relevant site navigation to segment the target audience’s interests. This also included discovery and creation of a technical plan for the building of a robust, flexible section featuring all of the properties in their 24 million square foot portfolio.
The Brandywine team also wished to highlight some of the large-scale, multi-phase, mixed-use developments as well as their focus on corporate responsibility. The I-SITE team organized the content in a clean, flexible navigation and responsive page design that works optimally on all desktop and mobile devices.
Some of the highlights of the website include:
- Clean, attractive responsive design that highlights the properties and developments
- Robust property listings integrated with Brandywine’s back end data systems
- Custom map and filtering for all the properties in the portfolio
- Highly modular templates providing great flexibility for the site editors
Drupal 8 was selected as the CMS based on the expandability, security and administration requirements for the website. The site is hosted on I-SITE’s favored hosting platform Pantheon.
Post-launch the I-SITE team continues to support the website and is working closely with the Brandywine team to optimize the current platform and add new content and features that meet their marketing goals.
Brandywine Realty Trust, one of the largest, publicly traded, full-service, integrated real estate companies in the United States, turned to I-SITE to create a new Schuylkill Yards website to publicize their extensive and exciting developments on the west bank of the Schuylkill river in Philadelphia. This up and coming neighborhood is home to East Coast travel hub 30th Street Station and on the doorstep of the University of Pennsylvania.
The I-SITE team brought their extensive experience in community building and digital design for districts that have undergone major transformation in recent years such as Lower Manhattan and Times Square
As a first step in the project, the team familiarized itself with Brandywine’s portfolio of current and planned buildings that offer over 6.9 million square feet of office, lab, residential, retail, hotel, and green space. The goal for the redesign was to present Brandywine’s impressive property portfolio and neighborhood highlights such as the Cira Green rooftop greenspace.
During the planning phase Brandywine and I-SITE determined that the navigation should be simplified and supported by a dynamic design focused on presenting the benefits of living and working in Schuylkill Yards. The I-SITE team was able to leverage a wealth of video and photography provided by Brandywine to help tell the Schuyllkill Yards story and create a clean and useable design.
Some of the highlights of the website include:
- Clean, attractive responsive design with strong Schuylkill Yards branding
- Property listings with filter by type
- Integration with enterprise calendaring system
- Vimeo video integration
Drupal 8 was selected as the CMS based on the expandability, security and administration requirements. The site is hosted on I-SITE’s favored hosting platform Pantheon.
Post-launch the I-SITE team will continue to support the website and work closely with the Brandywine team to add new content and features.
The Times Square Alliance turned to I-SITE to partner on the redesign of the official Times Square website that serves both the 230,000 ‘locals’ who have made the area their home or place of work, and the 40 million visitors from around the globe who visit each year for the truly unique Times Square experience.
The Alliance challenged the I-SITE team to visually and elegantly convey the energy of area while presenting a wealth of content that includes events, dining, Broadway Theater and the global tradition of New Year’s Eve in Times Square!
As the designers and developers of the Times Square Crossroads mobile app, the I-SITE team was already familiar with the brand and the Alliance’s goals. These include supporting the community, attracting businesses, residents and visitors, and helping the area thrive. I-SITE brought to the project its extensive experience in creating award-winning Downtown websites.
After completing the project discovery phase it was agreed that the architecture and navigation needed to be simplified not just for desktop, but for the thousands of visitors ‘on the go’ in Times Square with mobile devices. The team wanted the website to clearly and concisely deliver the wealth of content without compromising the compelling photography provided by the Alliance.
Some of the highlights of the website include:
- Extensive searchable listings for dining, Broadway, entertainment and more
- Clean, attractive responsive design with strong Times Square branding and photography
- Custom NYE ‘Wishing Wall’ feature
- Integration with the Alliance’s Salesforce
During the planning phase the I-SITE team developed user flows, wireframes, a plan for integrating the Alliance’s Salesforce data and an approach for managing and storing a large library of high resolution photos. Drupal 7 was selected as the CMS based on the depth of site content, security and administration requirements, and data management.
Post-launch the I-SITE team will continue to support the website and work closely with the Alliance on adding new features and enhancements. Since launch the website has received accolades both from the digital world and peers of the Alliance’s from around the globe.
Plan your Times Square visit but not before you have checked out the new Times Square website!
As one of the globe’s most iconic and visited destinations Times Square attracts millions of visitors a year. However it also has a vibrant community of over 230,000 ‘locals’ who have made the area their home or place of work. To serve this vibrant community The Times Square Alliance partnered with I-SITE to create a mobile App for their Crossroads program. The goal of Crossroads is to offer exclusive deals and discounts for local businesses, provide special insight on the area and promote events tailored to residents and workers.
For quick access to content and features the I-SITE team proposed an easy to navigate architecture with three primary content area – Deals, Events and Insider. As an added feature the user can select which area is most of interest to them and customize the App to load that content first. For the Alliance to publish important timely content the I-SITE team proposed an Alerts feature visible each time the user opens the App. It was determined during that up to the minute social and feature content would be published through the upcoming redesign of the Times Square website rather than the App.
Some of the key features of the Crossroads App include:
- Program sign up validated by a Times Square zip code
- Clean, attractive interface with strong visuals and Crossroads program branding
- Deal redemption through a screen shown during purchase at selected restaurant, store, theatre etc
- Deal Favoriting and Save for Later features
- Social sharing
- Tracking and content management through Salesforce
- Deployment on iOS, Android and Windows Mobile
During the planning phase the I-SITE team developed user flows, wireframes and a data management plan for the written and visual content housed in Salesforce. The I-SITE team designed the screen interfaces for the highest degree of standardization across the three platforms. All development was native on the each of the selected platforms.
The Alliance team will be responsible daily for the updating of the content for the App. I-SITE will provide ongoing support and design and development for future releases.
Theatre Philadelphia turned to I-SITE to design a new website to celebrate and promote professional theatre in the Greater Philadelphia region. Led by a group of local artistic and managing theatre leaders, the organization is best known for its annual Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre.
Key goals for the redesign project included:
- Create a beautiful and bold responsive design
- Deliver improved presentation and search feature for the shows
- Social media integration for Twitter and Facebook
- Development of a more manageable and flexible backend to better suit the organization’s needs
The I-SITE team worked closely with Theatre Philadelphia board member Anne Shuff and Administrative Director Joel Sumner to first review the current site and map out a new architecture, feature set and design direction for the website. It was agreed that the previous site did not take advantage of the wealth of fine photography provided by area theatres that include The Wilma Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arden Theatre, 1812 Productions among others.
Major consideration in wireframing and design was given to the growing number of theatre lovers looking for information on shows and latest news from the theatre community on their smart phones. The navigation was simplified and new search tools introduced for shows and the Barrymore Awards.
I-SITE proposed building the new website on the Drupal 7 CMS. Theatre Philadelphia already had experience with managing the website on the previous Drupal 6 platform. I-SITE was able to bring its deep experience in building Drupal websites and customized modules for William Penn Foundation, The Painted Bride and Downtown New York among others.
At all stages of design and development key members of the theater community were involved in discussions and evaluations to ensure that the site would be optimized for their needs as well as for the ticket buying public.
I-SITE provided CMS training for key staff and continues to offer ongoing consulting, hosting and support.
The Painted Bride Arts Center turned to the I-SITE team to partner on an innovative community arts and culture project that makes visible the “unspoken” and seemingly invisible archives of cultural memory in Philadelphia’s rich and diverse past. Funded by Pew Charitable Trusts Re-PLACE-ing Philadelphia called upon artists/thinkers Reggie Wilson, Faustin Linyekula, and Marty Pottenger to weave a critical dialogue and conversation within and around their work.
For the online program Painted Bride challenged I-SITE to find innovative ways to report on the artists’ work and also encourage communities and the public to use their smartphones and tablets to share their stories and insights while on the move.
All the site content, whether a bio, video or photograph, is in the form of a field note that is displayed on the home page and can be submitted by the public as well as the artists/thinkers, Free Radicals aka advisors King Britt, Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Brenda Dixon Gottschild, and the Painted Bride team. The field notes can be filtered by tags, author keyword and time period therefore creating a rich and interactive archive that will remain online as a resource after the completion of the 18-month project.
The website built on Drupal 7, is fully responsive and uses Isotope and Masonry libraries to sort and filter interactively with the varying media formats and content published on the site. Post launch the I-SITE team continues to support the website with additional content and features.
Lower Manhattan is rapidly becoming the place for creative and tech start-ups as well as big industry names to locate or relocate. Already 800+ tech firms and startups, major brands, agencies and media companies have set up in LM including such names as Condé Nast, Paperless Post and Fast Company.
In response to the rapid growth of the community The Downtown Alliance and design firm Gensler have created Lower Manhattan HQ aka LMHQ, an exciting new collaboration space at 150 Broadway featuring event space with state of the art A/V, meeting & brainstorming rooms, coffee bar and programming by NY Tech Meetup and NY Tech Council.
I-SITE was challenged with designing and developing the website to launch LMHQ and create excitement in the community about everything the space has to offer. Goals included:
- Clean, functional design
- Clearly communicate the vision and spirit of the space and staff
- Strong call-to-actions to drive membership
- Social media integration to create energy in the community
The look and feel for the site was created around the LMHQ brand and colors with enough flexibility to integrate dynamic photography and imagery. All the pages are fully responsive to accommodate the large number of community members using their smartphones and tablets.
I-SITE continues to support the LMHQ team with the maintenance of the website and integration of new features.
William Penn Foundation, a family foundation with its roots firmly planted in Philadelphia, turned to I-SITE to create a fresh new website to clearly and elegantly communicate its philanthropic mission to the region’s community of innovators and grant seekers.
Established over 70 years ago by Otto and Phoebe Haas the foundation is focused on three program areas; helping improve education for low-income children; ensuring a sustainable environment; and fostering creative communities that enhance civic life and advance philanthropy in the Greater Philadelphia region.
The I-SITE team first reached out to the community to gain insight on what the previous grantees seek most in the Foundation’s website. Coupled with insight from the highly experienced Foundation staff, the team was able to develop a more streamlined site structure with clear call-to-actions. The subsequent wireframe prototypes allowed the team to test the effectiveness of the new approach.
For the design there was strong directive to create an elegant design that is both contemporary but also rooted in the strength and heritage of the Foundation’s brand. I-SITE partnered with award-winning designer Andee Mazzocco of Saygrid on the creative direction of the website. Having previously completed a number of projects for the Foundation, Andee brought extensive knowledge of their programs and design guidelines.
Built on the Drupal CMS platform the website is fully responsive and integrates both video and the full database of grants awarded since 2013. The What We’re Learning section also allows filtering by year and program area.
Since launch in summer 2015 the website has been well received both by the community at large and by the staff as a tool to disseminate information and educate and prequalify potential grantees.
The I-SITE team continues to offer support to the Foundation both for additional features and strategic direction.
