DC'S full-service creative agency
Established in 1996, we are a Washington, D.C.-based full-service creative agency with a commitment to driving measurable and meaningful impact through website design and development, marketing, communications, brand strategy, and unique experiences like virtual events.
To us, DC is so much more than a government town. It is the cultural epicenter of our country, where people from around the world come to share their views. It is a melting pot of different experiences and identities, and we love that this allows us to truly be a local, national and international agency.
We’ve solved problems and moved needles for important organizations near and far. We are a group of dreamers, makers, and doers who are passionate about more than just our award-winning work—we want our community to thrive. Our agency built upon the pillars of Quality, Innovation, Service, and Teamwork, and has moved the needle for over 800 clients to date—a roster that spans all industries and sectors, including all levels of government.
We’re fun, inclusive, and driven to do great work with our partner, and we’re looking forward to being yours as well.
Focus
Recommended Providers
Portfolio
USAID, World Bank, National Democratic Institute, Fordham Institute, American University, US Figure Skating, Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots, Credit Builders Alliance, Strayer University, National Multi Housing Council, Freedom House, Democracy International, DC Water, Victory Fund, California State Senate, The Aspen Institute, National Democratic Network, Peoples of America Foundation, National Kidney Registry

The World Bank Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (Website Redesign and Development)
Creating a Site to Help End Safe Haven for Corrupt Funds
How do you create an approachable and modern website for such a complex topic as ending safe havens for corrupt funds around the world? The World Bank Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) came to us looking for just that. StAR is a partnership between The World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds. And they partnered with Taoti Creative to create an easy-to-use Drupal website that truly represented their role in the space and appealed to international audiences.
The Problem
The StAR team needed a modern website that spoke to their key audiences, including lawmakers from G20 countries and practitioners, like lawyers, law enforcement and investigators. But even more importantly, the new site had to be intuitive and user-friendly admin experience for editors.
The Solution
We decided to build the site on Drupal CMS, which allows admin to edit and create new pages easily. The CMS also encourages admins to update news, event, and resources regularly to give users a reason to come back and share resources with other colleagues. We also created a completely new look and feel of the visual design and designed a new information architecture and content pages that align with a more intuitive navigation system.
All Resources in One Easy-to-Access Space
One of StAR’s goals is to encourage users to explore their library of resources and get in contact with StAR to request assistance for engagement and training. Our team made it easy for users to access all the information they might need easily by integrating MapBox to display global resources at the bottom of the Resource Listing Page.

Geothermal Rising (Branding, Video Production, Website Design and Development)
Geothermal Rising came to Taoti as the Geothermal Resources Council, an organization with an outdated brand representing a renewable energy source most people had never heard of. They struggled for years to make geothermal energy approachable and appealing to the average American and tasked DC’s best creative agency with rising to this challenge. We did just that.
We made it our business to become experts on geothermal energy, and our team set out to ensure the organization’s brand, marketing, and website were as powerful as the limitless energy source beneath our feet. We achieved this by:
- Performing a thorough research and discovery phase to uncover key insights about the brand and the public’s perception of geothermal energy.
- Renaming the organization through a comprehensive naming and messaging process that resulted in the new Geothermal Rising name and Powering Our Renewable Future tagline.
- Rebranding the organization to better reflect its capabilities and to communicate geothermal energy’s function and value through visual design and messaging.
- Creating a marketing strategy to help guide Geothermal Rising’s outreach activities for members and the broad public.
- Launching the brand with a brand video, swag, press release, and more as part of a large industry virtual event.
- Designing and developing a new website to be the home for Geothermal Rising and its members in the United States and around the world.

American Bakers Association (Website Redesign and Development)
A New Image for a Century-Old Organization
The American Bakers Association (ABA) is the premier association for the wholesale baking industry. Since 1897, ABA has represented the interests of bakers before the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, and international regulatory authorities. Being an organization with over a century of history, they decided to partner with Taoti to revitalize their brand and website.
Problem
The ABA users are usually Association members, members of the workforce and people looking for information about the baking industry in the U.S. After extensive research and several interviews with users, our team understood the ABA website needed a more intuitive user experience. It was also crucial for users to have a clearer message of who they are and how they advocate for association members.
Solution
Our team created an image that showed what ABA provides to its members and community as the voice of the baking industry in the U.S. The UX was also completely revamped so that users can now find the information they need faster.
The Perfect Design for an Intuitive Website
Our team designed a unique iconography for the website and included several animations throughout, making it come to life. It also encourages users to click on certain links and makes information accessible for everyone. The new and modern layout increases usability and makes it easier to read. In fact, since the website launched, its traffic has doubled and sustained.
A Brand to Match the American Bakers Association Mission
After extensive research on the brand and logo front, our creative team developed a consistent brand and painted a clear picture of ABA and its mission. ABA's new brand is modern and shows the association is forward-thinking in an ever-changing industry.

CYBER.ORG (Website Redesign)
CYBER.ORG —previously known as NICERC— works in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to empower K-12 educators to provide “technical cybersecurity knowledge and skills” to their students. Through their free and accessible coursework, they want to prepare and motivate the next generation to be part of the cybersecurity workforce. As they were already in the process of renaming and rebranding themselves, they were also looking to partner with an agency that would develop a website that was easy to navigate for educators and demonstrated what CYBER.ORG has to offer. Taoti worked with CYBER.ORG to create a modern and approachable website.
Problem
The organization’s goal with its new website was to create a great user experience for its users, especially educators. Our findings showed that all users wanted a more comprehensive search. The previous site didn’t provide easy access to the exact information each user was looking for, like a specific teaching curriculum or even the registration page. Another goal was to increase the number of teachers that signed up for courses. We found that educators didn’t know if the site was trustworthy because the curriculum and trainings are offered for free, but CYBER.ORG is certified by the government.
Solution
Through our research, we found what users wanted from the CYBER.org website, and our UX experts and developers determined the best way to increase website engagement and the number of teachers signing up for courses. We created an easy to use search feature that yields the exact information educators are looking for and found a way to motivate them to sign up. Our creative team worked with CYBER.ORG’s internal design team to polish the website’s look and feel by creating original icons and graphics to help tell the CYBER.ORG story throughout the site and build trust with users.
Creating a Robust Search Function
We created a robust, custom search functionality that allows educators to search through CYBER.ORG’s curricula. With the more comprehensive search form, a user can now search by unit, course type, and grade to seamlessly browse the curricula where they are then prompted to sign up.
Encouraging Educators to Sign Up
The new multipage signup form allows users to go through the registration process much more efficiently than the previous, long-form submission. It also lets users access the signup form from every curricula page. Thanks to this new process, in the first week after the new website launched, CYBER.ORG received over 100 organic signups, more than they had ever seen before.

Meet Umo (Animated Video Creation)
A Different Approach for a Different Brand
On the surface, our client’s request was simple: create an animated video to help launch a new brand. Digging deeper, we understood this video needed to be more than an announcement. It had to tell a story.
Cubic’s primary customers are city transit authorities. They are used to highly technical marketing materials that explain the details of complex transit technologies, but Umo is different. The platform is designed to be highly approachable to cities of all shapes and sizes, and the brand reflects that. Umo simplifies the complex transportation ecosystem to provide a seamless journey for transit riders. This is the story we would share.
Show, Don't Tell.
Rather than listing all of Umo's features, we decided to show how it can benefit real riders. We collaborated with the Cubic team to create characters Umo users can relate to. Jay and Anita’s universal stories bring Umo’s value to life as you watch them go through their day with Umo, their travel companion.
In addition to the full-length video, our team provided additional assets to support the brand rollout on social media and beyond.

Christian Music Broadcasters (Virtual Event Production)
Bringing the personal connection to a remote conference
Like many organizations, Christian Music Broadcasters (CMB) was planning a four-day conference 700 attendees, but when COVID-19 hit, we all had to self-isolate and work from home. After months of hard work preparing for the in-person event, the CMB team was looking for a way to restructure Momentum 2020 in the virtual sphere. Our team at Taoti partnered with them by providing our virtual event platform, tailoring it to their needs, and bringing the flare and community of an in-person event.
Problem
When CMB decided to turn Momentum 2020 into a digital conference, the team was concerned it would not accomplish its mission of connecting people and creating a memorable experience. Like most conferences, the in-person event consisted of large auditorium sessions, workshops, breakouts, networking, and a sponsor expo hall. Now the challenge was – how could the conference maintain a similar structure while everyone was remote? CMB had already sold attendee registrations and sponsorship opportunities, but without the usual event activities and an exhibit hall, how could they ensure the return on investment for everyone involved?
Solution
Our team custom-created the overall look and feel for the virtual conference, and all design elements perfectly aligned with Momentum 2020’s brand they had already created for their physical event. Just like an in-person conference, the platform featured a “lobby” homepage where attendees could always find real-time information on what was currently happening and how to access the content. The content consisted of a live stream broadcast, workshops, breakouts, virtual networking, and more. The lobby also included spaces allocated for sponsorship opportunities and a link to the Exhibit Hall, highlighting the sponsors who make the event possible.

UpBeat (Brand, Logo and Website Creation)
In 2019, we created a new website for the Heart Rhythm Society, the leading international nonprofit association representing cardiac rhythm disorder specialists. They loved it so much that they came back for more, asking us to partner with them to create a new, patient-centered website – and brand – entirely from scratch.
Problem
When building HRS’s main site, our target audience was medical, allied health, and science professionals. To make the pivot and speak directly to patients, we knew we’d need to make the new website and the brand significantly more approachable. After all, most users of the new site would be looking for more than just information – in the wake of a recent diagnosis; they’d be looking for hope. So how do you deliver complicated medical information in an easily digestible package, while providing a sense of optimism that turns users into fans of your brand?
Solution
We put humanity and heart into every element of the project. From the name to the visual branding to the website and user experience, we kept patients at the center of our mission.
Step 1: The Name
Our initial brainstorm produced over 125 potential names for the patient resources center. After an extensive research and elimination process, we presented our client with 15 names to choose from. We then submitted their top 3 choices to rigorous testing within their current audiences to determine which resonated best. Ultimately, we emerged from the process with the name UpBeat – short, sweet, and memorable. It playfully references the heartbeat while evoking a sense of optimism and positivity.
Step 2: The Logo
A competitive audit revealed that most of the major players in the heart health landscape were using bright red as their primary brand color, with a simple heart shape in the logo. While we still wanted to include a heart in our logo, we avoided bright red and explored alternative heart shapes to ensure that our logo would stand out from the pack. The overall mark uses lots of soft shapes and gentle gradients to capture the brand’s friendly and welcoming essence.

Rare (Website Design and Development)
Creating the platforms to see nature thrive
For over 40 years, Rare has been working in several countries around the world to change human behavior to see nature thrive. They are the “global leader in catalyzing behavior change to achieve enduring conservation results.” Our team at Taoti worked with Rare to develop their Solution Search contest platform, a “global crowdsourcing effort” to find behavioral and conservation initiatives that are working and help them grow. We also had the opportunity to work with their BE.Center Resource library, which works directly with academic institutions to connect “behavioral scientists with practitioners on the front lines of our greatest environmental challenges."
Problem
First, the Rare team needed to create a platform for its Solution Search contest to make it more globally accessible and streamline the entry and judging process. They also wanted the platform to drive users to the BE.Center Resource library. At the same time, the BE.Center Resource library needed to become the go-to learning hub in the environmental field, encourage users to engage and connect and build capacity for practitioners.
Ultimately, both projects had similar goals for the organization. These included continuing to position themselves as global thought leaders, grow climate-smart agriculture in Colombia and China, build US programs on climate and behavior and make Behavior Centered Design the norm in the environmental field.
Solution
Our goal was to not only help Rare build what they needed on both platforms but also to empower their team of content administrators to easily change content and create an amazing user experience (UX). So, we looked at what was most convenient for each project and built the Solution Search contest site on Drupal 8, and the BE.Center Resource Library on WordPress.

ScentAir Fragrance Solutions (Multilingual Website Redesign and Development)
ScentAir Fragrance Solutions uses scent marketing to make "on-site customers more meaningful." Their goal is to work with businesses to create unique scents for their brands like they've done for Westin Hotel & Resorts and American Airlines. We partnered with them to create a modern website that would reflect their unique selling point to potential customers and would be easy to update for their global team.
Problem
ScentAir has distributors and offices across the world, but before we came in, they were lacking a consistent voice across all markets. There were six different websites. Some created on WordPress and others in proprietary platforms. Each of these sites also had its own content, including different colors and images. Another challenge was that the marketing teams in each country had to update their website and figure out how to use each content platform.
Solution
In just six months, we took everything from the six existing ScentAir sites and put it into one website. Using Drupal, we developed a multilingual site that translates into six different languages, including French, German, Dutch, Spanish, UK English and Mandarin. It also allows eleven different countries to customize their content while at the same time, keeping it the look and feel consistent.
A unique yet consistent experience for every country
Our team started by creating a clean new look with inviting colors and images to showcase what ScentAir can do for businesses and their customers around the world. The modern feel of the website now works perfectly for all markets.
But what about content in different languages? Using Drupal, we created one easily-translatable iteration of their website. Our team developed a translation module that allows their team to create content in English and then choose to translate it. The text can be manually translated or automatically sent it to a professional translating company. Through Drupal, the company then sends back the translation to the ScentAir team to approve or deny and publish it.
Data-driven marketing at their fingertips
To help the ScentAir create a more data-driven marketing plan we also integrated Google Tag Manager with their website. Our team then worked directly with ScentAir’s marketing team to help them translate these data points into actionable items since their website is mainly used for new business lead generation.

US Figure Skating (Website Redesign)
U.S. Figure Skating is one of the strongest and largest governing bodies within the Olympic movement, with more than 192,000 members across countries. The organization connects all its members, including member clubs, collegiate clubs, school-affiliated clubs, individual members, Friends of Figure Skating and Learn to Skate USA participants.
Problem: An outdated and hard to maintain website created almost two decades ago that lacked the mobile responsiveness necessary to engage and connect its members and users.
Solution: We developed a new website that allows both the user and the administrator to have a better experience. Focusing on U.S. Figure Skating’s goals to increase membership and reestablishing their digital footprint, we created a section exclusive for members. The site now caters to all audiences, including users outside of the figure skating community and people new to the sport.

Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots (Website Redesign)
As a global nonprofit, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots looks to empower young people and their educators to make a positive change in their communities. Taoti Creative worked with the organization to re-do the United States website and help them connect its members and audiences across the country.
Problem: We needed to create a website that was visually appealing to all of Roots & Shoots’ users, which included young children, university students and educators at all levels. This part wasn’t a challenge for us. But how do you get people in such different phases in their lives to connect and communicate between them? How do you encourage users with diverse levels of engagement to be part of the organization and find helpful information? That’s where we really had to put our innovation hats on.
Solution: We created different sections tailored specifically for youth and educators. As we went through our research phase, we also understood that even though members want to make a change, not everyone has the same time available or the same interests. Our solution was to create a tailored experience for each user so that everyone could feel identified with the organization.

Farm Credit Council
When Farm Credit Council wanted to lead visitors quickly and simply to state-specific information for their popular, annual Fly-In Campaign, they realized a typical map-based solution wouldn’t work. We agreed. Because as everyone who’s ever tried to click an onscreen map to pick a state in New England will tell you, if you tap Connecticut, chances are you’re going to open up the page for Massachusetts – or vice versa. And don’t even think about selecting a small state if you’re using a phone!
Another route entirely was the best way to go. So that’s what we designed.
The alternate design solution needed to work on any device. It needed to be engaging and simple. Last but not least, it had to fit the unique look and feel of the design system we were already developing for Farm Credit Council. Turns out, these factors meant the solution wasn’t a map at all.
We used big, beautiful pictures of the most popular Fly-In events so users would get excited about attending. Then, with a simple drop-down menu, users could easily get a preview of what content was being offered in their respective states. It’s more engaging. It builds enthusiasm. And best of all, it works. Simply.

Ballast Research (Website Redesign and Development)
Ballast Research is the only organization in Washington, D.C. that conducts research directly with senior policymakers. We worked with Ballast to give them a new website that better serves their mission of improving conversations between legislators and advocates and helps build trust between those groups.
Problem
Ballast’s previous website was built for their advocacy clientele, but growing evidence suggested that most of the users on the site weren’t potential clients – they were potential research subjects. Policymakers and Congressional staffers were coming to the website to determine whether to participate in their research. So how do you convince busy legislators that working with an organization like Ballast is a good use of their very limited time?
Solution
We developed a new website designed specifically with policymakers in mind. On the User Experience side, we elevated published research and testimonials to show legislators how Ballast’s research could be valuable to their goals. On the visual design side, we expanded their existing brand guidelines and determined a new look and feel on the website that conveyed trustworthiness.
Designed with policymakers in mind
Ballast wasn’t looking for a rebrand, but they were open to expanding their existing visual identity to reflect their new priority of building trust with policymakers. We minimized the loud teal color that had previously dominated their aesthetic in favor of a more formal navy and gold palette and selected a new suite of typefaces that felt traditional without being dated. We also provided new photography guidelines so that they could move away from stock imagery of D.C. architecture, which felt impersonal and potentially alienating to state legislators; we encouraged a more personal touch by using candid images of their team.
Flexible = Sustainable
Beyond just delivering a beautiful design, we wanted to equip Ballast with the tools to easily manage and make changes on their site for years to come. We decided to build the entire website using flexible, modular page-builder elements that are simple to implement. It also gave Ballast the freedom to change and adapt their site as needed, whether they’re creating a new case study, adding in new testimonials, or updating their offerings to reflect the political moment.

DC Public Charter School Board (Website Redesign)
The DC Public Charter School Board had what amounted to a long page of alphabetized charter schools, which for parents trying to find charter schools by way of traits like school quality, health or even location, was challenging–to say the least. Moreover, parents couldn’t separate information about the Board from information about the schools they were looking for.
Taoti conducted user testing to better respond to user needs. What’s notable in this case is the inclusion of a D.C. parent in that process. Parents need to use the DCPCSB website to target the District’s best schools. Their experience was critical to the redesign effort.
When we conducted user testing, what we found was that the difference between finding a school and evaluating one wasn’t clear to parents. We relabeled the navigation and made a clear call-to-action indicating where parents needed to go to find a new school.
Education Watchdog, a project of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, took notice and acknowledged that “the new search tools could have aided [a parent] search for a language-based school for her 6-year-old daughter.” We strive for all our projects to have such an obvious impact on critical end-users.

American Foreign Service Association (Website Redesign)
AFSA.org remains a crucial touchpoint to the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) members located throughout the world.
Taoti wanted to create a seamless experience for users between member services provided by Avectra and the content provided by the website.
Taoti partnered with AFSA’s communications team to modernize the website’s visual design and implement a fully responsive site layout to optimize the user experience for users on mobile devices. We also migrated the existing DNN website to the Drupal Content Management System to make the site easier to maintain. Unique site features include FlippingBook integration for the monthly Foreign Service Journal and an events calendar.

Strayer University (Branding and Website Design)
To celebrate its 125th anniversary, Strayer Education sought to showcase the unique history of its growth and journey to becoming the most significant for-profit venture in American history. As Strayer has evolved, it has adapted to meet students’ needs and changing business demands simultaneously. We were tasked with bringing Strayer’s evolution to life.
Solution: We took the term ‘interactive timeline’ to the next level. We designed and developed a captivating digital experience, 125.strayer.edu, that highlights major advances in education and capitalizes on key moments in Strayer’s history. To maximize the impact, value and lifetime of the project, we also built a custom administrative interface so that Strayer staff can maintain and add new content and deliver it to many web properties simultaneously via an API. This same content is now presented on the celebration minisite, as well as the main university website.

Congress for the New Urbanism (Website Redesign)
Through its members’ work in communities and regions worldwide, Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) imagines, refines and implements the means for making great places.
Taoti partnered with the CNU Communications team to re-architect and re-design CNU.org to reflect the organization’s extraordinary design tradition.
The website not only serves as a platform that invites a conversation with audiences who recognize the potential of New Urbanism, but also showcases high-quality photos of CNU members’ work. It also provides users access to important resources from members and partner organizations. The CNU.org homepage is a flexible, curated homepage that seamlessly integrates multiple content types in a series of ‘blocks’. The easily updated structure includes a mix of ‘evergreen’ and dynamic content that enables CNU to feature events, articles and graphics. The result is a responsive website that enables visitors to quickly and efficiently learn what CNU is about and what it is currently working on.

America Abroad Media (Website Redesign and Branding)
America Abroad Media (AAM), especially their radio series, needed an online presence engaging both sight and sound through embedded photo galleries, videos, and audio players.
Our goal was to convey AAM's energy and refinement through a new visual identity. Clean lines, sharp shapes, and bold imagery were used to highlight each aspect of the organization's programming.
We created a fully responsive website around this multimedia experience. We also developed a new brand, color scheme, and logo, both visible on the redesigned website. Our design included a unique landing page for AAM's annual award dinner and added a sitewide presence to maximize registration.

American Chemical Society - ChemIDP (Web-Based Career Tool)
So you’ve finished your degree in chemistry and now it’s time to figure out the first step in your career. What to do? ChemIDP.org was created to provide graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with direction for understanding and achieving their career goals. This individual development plan (IDP) was designed to be used by students and postdocs to facilitate discussion with faculty, advisors, and mentors.
Taoti worked with the American Chemical Society to develop a Drupal-based, Single Sign On (SSO) integrated, flexible tool that enables users to undertake the following tasks: Self-Assessment, where users identify their existing skills and the values that are important to them; Skill Strengthening, where users get recommendations for increasing their marketability; Goal Setting, where users actively chart a path forward; Career Exploration, where users can drill down through faceted filters to scope out their career options recognizing that users might want to start this exercise from different points, the tool is built so users can start anywhere, save their assessments and accomplishments as they go, and ultimately use it as a flexible, powerful navigation device for their future.

The National Apartment Association (Branding, UX and Website Development)
The National Apartment Association, as part of its comprehensive We Are Apartments campaign, was looking for a fresh, interactive way to share its data.
Rather than developing a traditional infographic, Taoti developed a digital storytelling experience.
Users navigate through an animated graphic built entirely with HTML and CSS3 in the Drupal platform. The site also features an interactive Apartment Community Estimator (A.C.E.) to calculate the economic contribution of an apartment community in a specific state. Taoti also created an interactive map that allows users to quickly read data through a pop-up and click on a link to see a full state-level fact sheet.
In addition to building this in a way that allowed the National Apartment Association to define what it felt was important, it was also done in a manner that recognizes the power of a modern digital campaign by allowing users find information by congressional district or by state that’s of most interest to them.
Taoti Creative also created an oversized accordion fold infographic brochure for NAA and the National Multi Housing Council. Taoti helped NAA and NMHC develop a communication strategy that included both digital and print material.

Phillips & Cohen (Website and Logo Redesign )
Phillips & Cohen’s attorneys are well aware the journey a whistleblower takes is perilous enough. Its website needed to open itself up and clearly, quickly and discreetly convert visitors, and it needed to do so in a way visitors feel secure in every aspect of their decision-making process.
Phillips & Cohen relies on its website as a key means of generating new leads. Whistleblowers are a unique base of clients for a law firm because they are often only one-time clients and the firm needs a constant flow of new leads to stay on top. Our approach was to streamline the experience and reduce the number of forks on the road to secure contact.
The firm’s long record of success is best shown, not told. By calling out key statistics from big wins, highlighting attorneys, and telling individual stories of successful cases, the new design cements the brand’s notion that Phillips & Cohen, LLP is the most successful and most experienced law firm representing the US and international whistleblowers. Speaking of brand, part of our agreement with Phillips & Cohen included modernizing their logo and tagline.

The Society for Science & the Public (Website Redesign)
The Society for Science & the Public is dedicated to providing concise, accurate, and inspirational science news and opportunities to its nearly 100,000 subscribing members, the 50,000 alumni of its competitions worldwide, and millions of unique online visitors and social media followers.
ScienceNews.org includes thousands of pages of content that cover the full spectrum of science news. However, it faced significant challenges with its navigation, internal search, and its ability to be effectively shared and subscribed to by an audience eager to better connect with its content.
The society looked to Taoti to fundamentally change its digital presence to convert more visitors into members as a key part of its financial strategy. We undertook a variety of analyses and updates to multiple sites in its current Drupal-powered website environment.
Together, we developed a list of high-impact improvements. The result of this ongoing relationship is the dramatic new experience on both websites.

Alliance for Biking & Walking’s Annual Benchmarking Report
Since 2007, the Alliance for Biking and Walking’s biennial Benchmarking Report has represented a comprehensive, actionable collection and analysis of data on bicycling and walking in all 50 states, the 52 largest U.S. cities, and a select number of midsized cities. Over the years, the report has become a vital tool for public officials, advocates, decision-makers, city planners, transportation professionals, public health professionals, and researchers interested in improving mobility options for healthy, vibrant communities.
Taoti worked to simplify the story through compelling, engaging interfaces, paired with a range of back-end and front-end tools to help point people to most relevant datasets. We enabled audiences with a specific topic interest (environment, health, a specific location etc.) to quickly find and share content of interest to them, as well as providing pathways to make all data available for super-users.
It was also clear that the information in the Benchmarking report is working for core audiences. Taoti saw an opportunity for additional audiences to advocate for healthy, vibrant communities through social media with a portal that was built with sharing in mind. But we did not discount how this information is often shared with decision-makers. More often than not, reports are delivered to panels of community leaders in open forums. So, we made each and every report generated able to print to an attractive PDF. Score one for enabling civic action.

DC Water (Website Redesign)
“We want to have a website that makes it easier for us to connect with our customers and matches the innovative work we’re doing at DC Water,” said DC Water CEO and General Manager George S. Hawkins. George asked, and we delivered.
Perceptions of DC Water have grown, evolved, and improved ever since its days as WASA. Everyone knew it was time for the website to take a dramatic leap that furthers the DC Water brand; creates a smarter, customer-focused experience; and makes the case for DC Water’s rates and ongoing capital improvement projects.
We built the new dcwater.com in Drupal, an open-source content management system (CMS) that makes it easy for non-technical users to update and add content to the site. The bright, modern and airy new design is fully responsive, meaning it works great on any size of device (though we may have skimped on testing the Apple Watch).
The whole website is an intuitive user experience. All customer actions are accessible from a fly-out customer center, which also looks and works great on mobile devices. For those more interested in finding out what DC Water is up to, the project and publication databases are filterable by type, ward and zip code. Other advanced functionality includes a fully Drupal-integrated ‘Report a Problem’ workflow, permit status check, and MailChimp integration that alerts newsletter recipients as content is published to the site.

American Institute of Physics Careers Toolbox
How would you guide an undergraduate physics student on how to start their career after school? The American Institute of Physics needed a fun and interesting way to present information about physics careers that had previously never been accessible online. However, AIP needed to launch the interactive Careers Toolbox quickly and with a limited budget, so we got creative. Taoti designed and built a responsive parallax scrolling site that presents the highlights of its Careers Toolbox program in a highly engaging and visually appealing manner. Through intuitive and easy to use navigation, the Careers Toolbox website encourages physics students to work through tools and exercises to get their career search organized. The site includes interactive HTML 5 graphics and unique navigation.

Arent Fox (Website Development)
Taoti adopted the Arent Fox website in the middle of a redesign, developing custom Drupal modules to improve caching and performance and creating a specialized mobile theme. We also launched a multisite configured blog that runs on the same Drupal codebase as the main site.

Loudoun Water (Website Redesign)
The vision for this website project began, "Loudoun Water is one of the most progressive and innovative water utilities in the country and as such, wants to convey this premier image through its website." Taoti partnered with Loudoun Water to achieve that premier image, producing what we believe to be the world's best water utilities site to date. First and foremost, the site serves the needs of the residential customer. The new design simplifies the user experience and focuses on key tasks like bill pay, account management, starting and stopping service, and the needs of the business and development communities. The main site integrates seamlessly with third-party vendors, so as to maintain a fluid user experience, but also includes a self-service customer portal called LW Connect, where registrants can view and pay their bills online, enroll in eBilling, see their payment history, and more!

National Associations of Counties (NACo)
Taoti partnered with the National Association of Counties (NACo) communications team to both redesign and develop a fully responsive, Drupal-based website. The result is a world-class website with a fresh new look and enhanced user experience. The new website takes a topic-centered approach to the information architecture, which makes the website much easier to navigate. Related links are also used throughout the interior pages so that users can easily find information they may be interested in. A simple 'filter bar' appears throughout the site to let users quickly identify the type and topic of information they’re looking for. Results can be toggled between list and grid views, depending on viewing preference. A persistent navigation bar always stays on the screen so users will never have to scroll back up to the top to get to other parts of the site. Every page of the website also includes a unique morphing search function, which displays a full-screen "Explore" feature that includes links to key areas of the site (as well as a sophisticated search engine that works as you'd expect it to). Under the hood, the new website is built on the Drupal content management system. While this doesn't have a lot of impact on end users, it does make it much easier for NACo staff to manage the site. This means content will be posted faster, more frequently, and with less hassle.
Reviews
the project
Web Design for Trade Association
"Taoti Creative are natural storytellers."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Please describe your organization.
We are a trade association. We represent our members before Congress, the regulatory arena and the public.
What business challenge were you trying to address with Taoti Creative?
Our organization has grown in complexity and sophistication, and it is still growing. We needed an external facing platform for our members, for content aggregation and for burnishing our brand. We needed to live up to our promise of developing something better than our existing platform. The old site was really a bulletin board, nothing more—lots of scrolling, no prioritization. There was no way to tell the user what was important. Everything was important because everything was there without any sense of order or value. That’s why we talked to Taoti Creative.
Please describe the scope of their involvement in some detail.
Our portfolio was pretty limited at the time, so we initially kept a very tight focus on the new website. We have lately been working with them through a maintenance agreement to help us make sense of some things that we want to be able to do on our own, but no one here knows Drupal, so there’s been a bit of a learning curve internally. However, we’re slowly becoming better and more proficient.
One of the things that we always wanted was to create a site that we could grow into quickly and then outgrow. That was one of the strategic decisions that Taoti clearly understood. We don’t want to rebuild the site in six months. We just want to add custom features over time.
How did you come to work with Taoti Creative?
Although we had issued a Request for Proposal [RFP], we found them by word of mouth through a colleague here on the team. They applied the same day the RFP was due, which was a testament to their sophistication and subject matter expertise. We admired what they had done for other clients in ways we thought could really tell our story. We’re such a small part of the Washington scene, and such a small part of a very large super-structure called the financial services industry, that we wanted to put some narrative around our part in that larger picture.
With Taoti we created a clickable map, and with another third party vendor we populated the map, which helps us tell the press, the Hill and the public the impact of our members in states around the country. We help our members help their consumers. So helping to bring all of that to life has just been incredibly impactful for us.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?
We’ve spent between $100,000 and $125,000 working with Taoti for development and launch. We had to pull back on some things to keep within our budget, which is a reflection of our internal budget cycle.
What is the status of this engagement?
We launched three weeks after our annual meeting. The same people that were involved in producing the annual meeting were involved in producing the website. So at one point Taoti was actually ahead of us in development. They thoughtfully worked with us to create the space we needed to do our work so we could have a beautiful launch after coming off this huge annual meeting.
We began working with Taoti in the spring and finished everything in about six months. In the beginning we wanted to launch the new website at our annual meeting, but, when we saw that that was not going to be possible, we just slowed everything down. What further complicated the process internally was that our internal project officer who was running this for us got a great new job and left us. He was really the brains behind a lot of this work and deserves the lion’s share of the credit. But when he left in February, he handed it off to me and we finally launched by May.
Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from your work with Taoti?
We are very proud of the responsive design component of the new website. We are a trade association and we represent our members in many different ways and they look to us for insight and analysis. They’re busy people trying to help consumers with their financial needs, while we’re up here taking a careful look at how all of these rules, regulations and laws impact their ability to do that. We’ve been able to tell the story of how our private student loans are performing, how responsibly consumers are meeting their obligations and how our banks are working with them to help them do that.
The bottom line is that it’s just a great site. It is leagues away from our old, perfectly serviceable site but one that had no energy, no passion, and no narrative. Taoti Creative gave all that to us, and we were able to leverage that, use it and we’re going to continue to use it.
We’re working with them now to redesign our weekly newsletter so that it is smarter and more responsive to the end user and takes people back to the website for a deeper look. It has energized everyone here. My colleagues here are thinking differently. They’re thinking web first now and trying to apply things on the site. Although we’re small, we have people who are content owners who need to publish certain pieces on the website. Our Public Relations [PR] shop is prolific. We have a point person whose job is to publish our letters to the Hill and publish our comment letters to the regulatory bodies. After we figure out the new newsletter, I want to continue to integrate all these elements into the website.
What distinguishes Taoti Creative from other providers?
Taoti Creative are natural storytellers. They’re very good at helping us frame a narrative and think through the story line. That’s really what our website has enabled us to do—to become better storytellers.
Is there anything Taoti Creative could have improved or done differently?
One thing that I give them a great deal of credit for is that they have really big brains and really big hearts. But sometimes their Drupal brains go faster than us who don’t speak Drupal. We sometimes have to slow them down, but they’re great about that. The one thing they need to remember is that although they love their customers and think they’re really great people, their customers don’t speak Drupal as fluently as they do—I hope that feedback is well received.
the project
Drupal Implementation Nonprofit Business Support Services
“They understood what our business line was, and they were able to stay in sync with that.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Could you briefly describe your company?
Credit Builders Alliance is a national nonprofit that has almost 400 members across the United States. It’s a nonprofit that supports other nonprofits with back office services that help build credit for vulnerable and low-income communities across the United States. CBA has a unique relationship with the credit bureaus, and they actually report the data of those nonprofit lenders to the credit bureaus.
What is your position?
I left the company at the end of December, so I’m not with them anymore, but when I was there, I was director of operations.
Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Taoti Creative?
We had a website that had been developed when the organization started that was very simple, clunky, and difficult to use, and we needed to overhaul it. We wanted a more dynamic and interactive forward facing presence. We had a couple of false starts with Web designers before we distributed our RFP [request for proposal] to potential vendors.
Could you describe the scope of this project?
It was a total overhaul. A complete redesign from beginning to end, so we had to go through the process of completely redoing our information architecture, all the content pretty much had to be redone. We began with requirements gathering and project scoping. Once we'd devised a deployment strategy, they began to create custom designs for us. Then came the actual implementation, which involved significant backend development, data preparation and migration, systems integration, UI/UX [user interface/user experience] testing, performance and scalability testing, training, and support.
On what platform did they construct your new website?
It's a Drupal-based site.
What content management system powered your previous website?
Joomla.
Could you describe the rationale behind transitioning from Joomla to Drupal?
We were having a lot of difficulty making changes to our website and updating things, or putting in images without the formatting going completely haywire, so the old website was just not user friendly, and didn’t give us the control and customization options we wanted. It also wouldn't interface properly with our Salesforce solution.
How did you select Taoti Creative as your solution partner?
We distributed an RFP to several potential vendors with prior Drupal experience. Taoti Creative responded with the most compelling offer. We then invited them to demonstrate their relevant capabilities and, after being successfully vetted, we decided to bring them on.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?
It was between $50,000 and $100,000.
When was the new site launched?
We launched it December 31 of last year [2013].
In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work Taoti Creative has delivered?
The big thing is that they understood our business. Sometimes, we have a technical line of work, and it’s a very specialized area that nobody else does. The thing that I liked the most about them is that they understood what our business line was, and they were able to stay in sync with that. We didn’t have to keep explaining to them how our business works. That was a crucial factor. But, the other thing is that they understood that it’s an organic, evolutionary process. Especially when you’re a startup, and you’re constantly redefining your business parameters as you’re going along. They were very patient and very helpful throughout that process. They helped keep us to try not to do too much, but to lay a foundation where the website could evolve and grow if the organization evolved and grew. Those were the two big things that we wanted out of it, and they very much delivered that.
In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve upon, or are there things you'd do differently as the client before approaching this type of project?
No. When you utilize small firms you have to remember that they have limited resources. It's a real constraint that needs to be managed with keen awareness. Taoti Creative made themselves extremely available to us and they were always responsive to our requests and inquiries. I admire that level of consistency from vendors, especially in the software development space.
the project
Organ Donation Web Development
"They’re experts in everything."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Can you give an overview of the work Taoti did for you?
We have a custom develop application. It’s not one of your standard, off-the-shelf Drupal or WordPress apps. It’s custom code, it’s written in PHP, and it runs on top of on MySQL database. It’s a very standard but everything that we have our custom layouts. All the work that goes on behind the scenes, the Intranet portion of it versus the public website, it’s all custom built. It runs from standard technical specs that we designed with their assistance. They pretty much program what we want and, if they think that we’re not making the best decision, or they think they have a better way of doing something, they talk to us about it first so that we’re not wasting development hours.
What was your main goal going into creating this application?
Just to get a website originally. Five years ago when we started, the National Kidney Registry didn’t even exist. The concept didn’t even exist. We wanted to be one of the first people out there with the idea and, once it was out there, then from there we just wanted to grow. Our business model kept changing, and they were able to adapt with us.
What scope of the project was Taoti involved in?
They helped with the design, and they helped with the development. The only thing that they essentially didn’t do is create the business model.
What would you say was a general cost range for their project?
The initial development was definitely less than $10,000, but we spent about that and maybe a little bit more per month now on maintenance. Like I said, we’re in constant revision. We outsource the Taoti along with internal staff as well. There’s me and then there’s another developer that works with me. We use our knowledge to enhance what Taoti provides as well, so we all work in collaboration otherwise, we’re probably spending $20,000 to $25,000 a month.
How satisfied are you with the finished product that they developed?
The finished product was on four or five years ago. We constantly do revisions. We have a monthly budget for maintenance. It’s a significantly sized budget. We basically keep one of their programmers almost full-time employed for the entire month.
When working with Taoti, is there anything that stands out as being unique or special compared to other developers you’ve worked with?
They’re experts in everything. There’s not a thing we can’t bring up to them that they don’t bring somebody to the table and say yes, we can do this, and show us what they can do.
Do you think there’s anything they could improve or do a bit better?
No. The only problem I’ve ever had is on occasion something takes an extra day or two to get done, compared to what it was scheduled. But, I’d prefer to have it done right and done within budget than done on time anyway. If I have to suffer by waiting a day or so once every three or six months then, believe me, if that’s the biggest complaint I have, then I’m very blessed.
The new site's responsive, functional design provided an accurate and engaging portrayal of the company. Taoti Creative's story-based approach, technical skills, and passion for fantastic design built an effective long-term partnership.