New York State DMV: Rebranding the face of state government

rayogram worked with Governor Cuomo’s Communications Department and the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles to overhaul the DMV  brand as part of a statewide Customer Service Initiative.  

Living in a major metropolis, we are lucky to be faced with dozen of choices of where to  pick up our morning coffee. And we know that customer service builds brand loyalty - that the barista with the warm greeting will win us over every time. There’s no choice when it comes to renewing our driver’s licenses - so customer service matters even more.

Our creative strategy promotes the DMV as a friendly, capable, efficient agency ready to meet the needs of millions of New Yorkers each day. The site’s information architecture satisfies the needs of individuals and organizations and is fully integrated with social media.  Its conversational tone supports the agency’s key message (developed by rayogram): "Welcome to the DMV, how can we help you today?" This is carried over into the physical design of the DMV offices and the website.

 Like all websites we design today, the site is responsive to whether a visitor is using their smart phone, tablet or desktop computer to view the site. We're so proud that the site has won a Pinnacle Award (decided by a panel of experts from inside and outside government), a National Association of Government Web Designer Members’ Choice Award (decided by popular vote), as well as a Best Website Award from DMV.com whose praise included:

"The New York DMV website is very user friendly with a forms search application that is quite handy and a conveniently located 'Save time, do it online' button." 

rayogram provided content development in the form of a strong Information Architecture, an analysis of existing content, the recommendation of new content, stock photo research, original illustration, and the training of close to 100 staff members to rewrite hundreds of pages of Web site content using Plain Language guidelines. We also created key pages in six languages including: Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Italian, Haitian Creole, and Korean.

 We also performed extensive user tests to establish benchmarks for measuring success of the site - and to identify and resolve any issues with the new site’s user-experience. The site is built using the open source CMS Drupal with special attention to Section 508 compliance, Search Engine Optimization, and integration with Social Media platforms. Its features include interactive maps, a browsable database of forms, and the use of taxonomy to present relevant forms alongside editorial content.