New York State Thruway Authority Website

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.

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 Website

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.

Times Square Website

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!

Times Square Crossroads App

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.

Re-PLACE-ing Philadelphia Website

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.

Downtown New York Website

The I-SITE team continued its long-term love affair with New York with the redesign of the Downtown Alliance’s website for visitors, residents and businesses.

With an extensive set of features, listings and content for multiple audiences, the I-SITE team collaborated closely with Alliance staff on mapping out a new architecture and features set that would deliver a greatly improved experience to site visitors looking for both information and inspiration.

The fully responsive design is rich in vibrant photography that helps communicate the ongoing revitalization of Lower Manhattan for live, work and play. New customized mapping and search tools were developed to deliver easy access to listings and events on mobile devices as well as desktop computers.

Key features of the new site include:

Custom searchable maps for locating restaurants, hotels, events and much more.
Full event list calendar with category filtering and maps.
New My Visit Planner for saving events and listings to share with friends and family.
Video testimonials from a host of industry leaders talking about the benefit of locating In Lower Manhattan.
Improved social Media integration for Twitter and Instagram.

Post-launch the I-SITE team suppported the website, working closely with the Alliance on adding new features and enhancements.

William Penn Foundation Website

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.

Sprout Kindest Kid Holiday Campaign

Pre-school TV channel Sprout turned to I-SITE to create a fun campaign for the 2013 Holiday season that would feature an email and microsite. The goal of the program was to raise awareness of Sprout’s Kindest Kid contest with business partners and increase contest votes.

For the overall campaign, the I-SITE and Sprout team came up with the concept of an illustrated home that would feature photographs of the kindest kids finalists and a call to action to vote for the winner. The website built in HTML5 uses parallax scrolling and features an array of original illustrations by Monica Marziani.

Visitors to the microsite scroll from the front door of the home to the living room fireplace where there is an an invitation to vote for one of the four Kindest Kid finalists. On the journey through the home photographs of the finalists appear along with a number of fun holiday elements. I-SITE also designed and developed an HTML email that links to the microsite.

The campaign was a great success for Sprout and received accolades including being recognized as Best Family Website at the 2014 Internet Advertising Competition Awards.

Re:Vision Website

On a mission to make a difference by combining their passions for natural, built, and human environments, Philadelphia and Berkeley architects Re:Vision sparked our imaginations when they approached us to design a new website for their firm.

The goal was to develop a fully responsive site for desktop and mobile that demonstrates Re:Vision’s deep understanding of sustainability, design and function. The website serves many audiences including other architects, engineers, community leaders and commercial and residential customers. The focal point of the website is Re:Vision’s impressive portfolio of work. I-SITE developed a custom ‘Build Your Portfolio’ feature for users to assemble and review select projects of interest.

Andee Mazzocco of Sendgrid brought her extensive experience designing informational and marketing programs for architects by collaborating on the concept development and design execution. The team’s goal was to create a functional and elegant responsive design that clearly communicates Re:Vision’s work and expertise.

The site also includes employee profiles and a Blog with articles in a number of different categories including Green Architecture, LEED/Rating Systems and Community Engagement.

Built on WordPress the website launched in May 2014 and has already been recognized with a 2014 Interactive Media Award for Best in Class in the Architecture/Interior Design category.

ApeApp

In 2013 I-SITE teamed up with the Great Apes Survival Partnership [GRASP] headquartered at the United Nations in Nairobi, Kenya to create a mobile application that will draw on the rich and diverse content of the leaders in ape conservation. The App available both for Android and iPhone features bonobos, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans facts along with current projects being run by the partners in the field. Previewed at the Great Apes Summit in Fall 2013, The app launched in mid-February featuring projects from the African Wildlife Foundation, The Orangutan Conservancy, The Goualougo Triangle Ape Project and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

With rich infographics, photography and video Great Ape lovers can now follow projects they are interested in and donate directly to the project partners. Post launch the GRASP team will manage the content through a custom CMS and continue to add partners and projects to the App.

I-SITE follows the success of iGorilla, the first mobile application dedicated the the conservation of Great Apes.