Welcome to rayogram.

rayogram worked with the Governor’s Office and New York State Department of Motor Vehicles to overhaul the DMV website as part of a statewide Customer Service Initiative. We know that customer service builds brand loyalty—that the barista with the warm greeting will win us over every time. Yet there’s no choice when it comes to renewing one’s driver’s license—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 new site’s information architecture satisfies the complex needs of individuals and organizations throughout the state 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?”

We were given clear goals for the project: make interactions with the DMV as painless as possible and increase services completed online by 50%.

To achieve these goals, we rebranded the DMV, designed, built, and tested new user experiences, and developed a Plain Language content style guide aligned with the Plain Writing Act of 2010. Our UX and UI design includes micro-interfaces for data-heavy features such as a dynamic map of all DMV offices, and user-driven information architecture including special sections for seniors and student drivers.

Our content work included a detailed information architecture strategy, analysis of existing content, recommendations for new content, stock photo research, original photography, and illustration. We trained close to 100 staff members to rewrite hundreds of website pages using Plain Language guidelines, creating clear, user-focused content. Additionally, we developed key pages in six languages—Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Italian, Haitian Creole, and Korean—to enhance accessibility.

The site adapts to a visitor’s device:

• Phone
• Tablet
• Desktop

We performed extensive user tests to establish benchmarks for measuring success and to identify and resolve user-experience issues. The site is built on the open-source CMS Drupal with attention to Section 508 compliance, search engine optimization, and social media integration. Features include interactive maps, a browsable database of forms, and taxonomy to present relevant forms alongside editorial content.

We have continued to work with the NYS DMV over several years to improve the site and test changes against traffic analytics and rigorous user tests. Our award-winning collaboration has helped bring millions of important services to New Yorkers and dramatically reduced in-office wait times.

• Branding system, including new DMV logo
• User experience and user interface design
• Intranet with secure login to existing “MyDMV” functionality
• Site architecture
• Plain Language training for writers
• Initial writing and creation of at least 100 top-level pages
• Drupal CMS deployment, configuration, and training
• Custom Drupal modules
• Implementation of Panopoly Drupal Profile
• Mobile-first responsive theming
• COIN API integration (DMV office locations, hours, services)
• PDF serving and tracking for all DMV forms and instructions
• Translatable interface with management for each language version
• SOLR search engine
• MySQL databases
• Acquia hosting