RETURN TO TAXI DESIGN NETWORK   

100 THINGS MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT TAXI
     
1
 ...TAXI’s first tagline was “The Hottest 4-Letter Word”...
2
 ...and now, the official tagline is "TAXI delivers you to where you want to be, on time."
3
 ...the grid of our network was designed based on the logics of urban planning...
4
 ...so it's incredibly flexible for expansion of the network whenever we need to add a new resource for our readers. Simply insert a plot of space!
5
 ...the brand of TAXI came about first with the color scheme (Black/Yellow), then the name?
6
 ...the main page banner updates weekly on Tuesday...
7
 ...but our network is updated throughout the day, and every section is updated at different hours.
8
 ...which mean you can come back at any one time and be surprised with new content!
9
 ...more than 82% of our visitors bookmark the website or return twice a week.
10
 ...USAToday featured TAXI as “Design Industry on the Go” and since...
11
 ...more than 61% of our readership comes from North America...
12
 ...but the second largest readership base of TAXI comes from Australia.



13
 ...the Competitions and Awards Calendar is the most researched and comprehensive list of recognized competitions and awards throughout the industry, across every single design discipline.
14
 As the most updated design newssource on the World Wide Web, TAXI reports more than 1,200 design news stories in a month.
15
 ...the no. 1 most read news story to-date is "World Trade Center Freedom Tower Architecture to be unveiled on Friday" -- bringing in more than 200,000 readers to the news in a single day (the day architect Daniel Libeskind unveiled the highly-anticipated design).
16
 ...TAXI started because it makes us happy everytime we meet great design (and designers).
17
 ...More than 20,000 portfolio applications was received when TAXI first launched...
18
 ...but we only accepted and published 320 portfolios (all portfolios are reviewed before publish).
19
 ...and that our first official member on our design network is fine artist Linda Crockett .
20

...The Front Seat interview always finishes with a signature question: "Where would you like a TAXI to bring you to right now?"
21

...the geekspeak of our editorial columns?

  • TFS (The Front Seat interview feature)
  • TDS (The Driver Speaks editorial column)
  • TWT (The Write Turn book review)
  • TBCS (The Brand Central Station case study)
  • DA (Direct Access event coverage)
  • DL (Design Leaders interview feature)
22

...You can re-visit all previous articles of our edition sections by browsing the archives on the bottom right corner of our Fresh Hot Features section?



23
 ...Travel Album started because there were too many beautiful event coverage photos in our archive that we hate to put to waste.


Find Design City on the main page
24
 ... how much Travel Album has grown since the beginning...
25
 ...that you too can be part of Travel Album by sharing your photos with the design community. Get in touch with our editorial team now.
26
 ...that you can share and announce your exhibition and event with our Events Forum.
27
 ...the section Design Leaders started after an inspiring conversation with Sara Little Turnbull...
28
 ...And all featured design leaders were invited to answer one key question -- “What is the WORD, which you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?”
29
 ...All banners for the Design Leaders section are composed using thought balloons.

30
 ...The Brand Central Station was named after the Grand Central Station in New York...



31
 ...which also explains why it takes up the central position on our main page cover banner.
32
 ...The Front Seat is the first editorial section to be launched on our network...
33
 ...The Front Seat featured no interviews when it was first conceived, and only showcased the portfolios of the featured members.
34
 ...The first official The Front Seat feature was Joyn:Design....
35
 ...but the first actual (unofficial)The Front Seat feature was Michael Watkins ...
36

...and the 100th featured member is Richard Wilkinson.
37
 ...TAXI reaches out to 1,000,000 offline creative professionals via our print media partners...
38
 ...and out to 250,000 offline creative professionals via our event partners worldwide in 2008 alone.
39
 ...You can subscribe to our Creative Alliance mailing list to receive exclusive industry updates and promotions from our partners...
40
 ...TAXI is the first official media to the inaugural Singapore Design Festival.
41
 ...TAXI's creative production wing is H&CA (a.k.a Hills Creative Arts & Creative Associates).
42
 ...Besides the major design disciplines, TAXI also covers popular creative subjects of interest such as Photography, Illustration and Advertising.
43
 ...TAXI's newest office is opening in New York in 2008.
44
 ...TAXI carefully selects our advertisers, and only the best and highly-relevant (within the creative industry) partners get to appear on TAXI Design Network. See selected advertisers here!
45
 ...we launched the Horizon Ad Space simply because great messages should be obvious.
46
 ...we are going to launch the Design Education Center (dedicated section for Design educators and students)...
47
 ...as well as the Fashion Avenue (featuring Haute Couture)...
48
 ...as well as a brand new Product Design Gallery in 2008.
49
 ...the first editorial contributor to The Driver Speaks was Stefan Sagmeister.
50
 ...the first foreign coverage took place in Shanghai, China.
 
     
51
 ...TAXI believes that we can change the way that Design communicates to the world.
52
 ...AIGA contributes an exclusive article to TAXI on the topic of "Redefinition of the Designer" every quarter? Bookmark and return for more!
53
 ...TAXI went blue and green for the Christmas of 2006...



What were we thinking?
54
 ...The Hot Jobs Center is updated everyday with the best creative career opportunities powered by our Global Career Partner Aquent...
55
 ...Not only can you seek career opportunities, you can also find editorial articles, news stories, salary surveys, video clips relevant to recruitment via our Hot Jobs Center.
56
 ...You can feature real-time local top jobs on your website by downloading our Job Center Widget. Write in to us to get yours!


The Hot Job Widget showcases
real-time job postings from your city
57
 ...TAXI celebrates its anniversary on August 25 every year.
58
 ...New books arrive at our Design Bookstore every week...
59
 ...and you can even purchase interesting non-design books (click 'anything-else-but-design' picks from members of our team) from our design bookstore...
60
 ...the no.1 bestseller book in our bookstore is Dolce&Gabbana: The Fashion Album.


The Best Selling Book


The Most Expensive Book
61
 ...the most expensive book sold on TAXI is Jeff Koons.
62
 ...To date, some sections of TAXI are still updated manually using custom HTML to allow experimentation with the layout and content presentation.
63
 ...Besides the keyword "Design", the next most popular search word from search engines is "taxi".
64
 ...has more than 135 creative and editorial contributors worldwide.
65
 ...there are more illustrators than any other disciplines from the pool of our members.
66
 ...members of TAXI are invited to enjoy free entry to the activities of our world-class design partners within your local area...
67
 ...the cost for our single discipline portfolio has risen up from USD25 to USD250 (still less than USD0.69 per day) since we first started.
68
 ...and the basic membership is still FREE! Become a member today!
69
 ...TAXI’s first website of the day was Absolut Vodka.


Absolut WOTD - Sep 01, 2003
70
 ...because the legendary Absolut campaign made the founder fell in love with the creative industry.
71
 ...TAXI paints all our offices black simply because we cannot find the exact paint (read Pantone 109C/RGB #FED607) match for the yellow.
72
 ...TAXI started out with the name ASTERIK (and the color scheme of Red and White).

Our first self-promotional campaign
73
 ...we love Google.
74
 ...TAXI’s first newspaper frontpage feature was in Lianhe ZaoBao, the country’s national Chinese daily.


The first time TAXI made front page headlines
75
 ...the first magazine feature of TAXI is on Computer Arts, where they referred us "as the Essential Resource to Bookmark."
76
 ...TAXI started as a personal pet project in August 2002...
77
 ...and was officially incorporated in May 2003.
78
 ...our official hotline number is 656.100.ARTS to avoid being mistaken for a taxi operator (if we insisted on 656.100.TAXI)
79
 ...the first generation of TAXI was built singlehandedly by computer whiz kid Justin Lee...
80
 ...believes in the investment of ideas.
81
 ...you can get TAXI's latest news stories on Google News?
82
 ...The first T.A.X.I. series is designed exclusively for us by Louise Fili (T), Paula Scher (A), Art Chantry (X), Ed Fella (I) over a period of 3 months.


TAXI will like to thank Louise Fili, Paula Scher, Art Chantry, and Ed Fella for participating in the project.

83
 ...and the second series is already in the pipeline. Guess which of your favorite design leaders are in the lineup!
84
 ...You can find TAXI on Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, and Twitter...
85
 ...the first exhibition by TAXI is the VisualArts Gallery featuring outstanding artists such as Basso&Brooke, Marc Atlan, and Fernanda Cohen...
86
 ...and the first outdoor event by TAXI is StreetTease, in the middle of Singapore's busiest shopping district.
87
 ...This is our favorite feature banner (to-date).


Editors' Favorite: Created by Greg Paprocki
88
 ...And this is yours. (the readers' choice)


Readers' Choice: Created by Adhemas Batista
89
 ...TAXI is not going to change our layout for the next 5 years...
90
 ...not only because we are plain stubborn, but also because the network is designed to be a metropolis, and a metropolis is supposed to be very, very busy!
91
 ...there is a shortcut URL to your portfolio (which is www.designtaxi.com/artists/your-user-id)
92
 ...you can find almost anything design-related with TAXI's extensive design database search? (Bookmark it. It may come in real handy in the future.)
93
 ...3 out of 5 visitors to TAXI are male...
94
 ...but 9 out of 10 of our team are female?
95
 ......TAXI's Creativity on Credit (last took place in 2005) picked out the best websites of the year. Is it coming back? You've got to check back to find out!
96
 ...if you love us like we love you, you can download our logo and spread the love on your website...
97
 ...in the beginning, everybody thinks we design cabs for a living.
98
 ...and to-date, still many people call us to find out the rates to advertise on taxitops.
99
 ...TAXI is wholly owned by Hills Creative Arts.
100
 ...we love to hear from you so we can make our next 100 issues even better! Write to us and tell us what you think!