Overtourism has become a major problem in India, hindering tourists' overall travel experience. This has led to overcrowded destinations, environmental degradation, and diminished experiences for travelers. This has led to frustration and helplessness among them.

The challenge was to design an interface that helps tourists create and modify their itineraries to ensure the travel experience they truly want.&nbsp;

1. A personalized hassle-free travel experience -&nbsp;Users want to create customized itineraries that align with their preferences, budget, and schedule while avoiding overcrowded destinations.

2. Enhance and Preserve Travel Memories – Travelers seek a seamless way to document and revisit their journeys through a digital travelogue that securely stores photos, videos, and other trip media.

Safarnama is a travel app that provides users with:

Itineraries indicate the real-time crowd level at a destination and suggest alternatives based on distance from the current location.

Customized itinerary creation using AI or manually by taking time, budget and destination as input.

A digital intuitive travelogue to safely keep the travel memories including the photos, videos, and other media of the trip.

Exploring different activities and locations based on their travel type and history.

Due to resource constraints, the usability tests were performed on a small group of participants and gathered insights on their interaction with Safarnama’s features. The key findings are:

1.&nbsp;56% of users reported greater trip satisfaction due to customized recommendations and itinerary flexibility.

2. At least a 38% increment in User interaction with travelogues and personalized itinerary updates.

3.&nbsp;45% of users found real-time updates and crowd-level insights useful for customizing their itineraries.

4.&nbsp;60% of users found the app’s interface intuitive, making it easier to explore destinations and customize their trips.

RESEARCH:

I started with understanding the major problems caused by over-tourism, which led me to understand the medical, social, and environmental impact.

I then analyzed what people said and felt about it through social media, articles, and news.&nbsp;

Popular tourist sites become overwhelmed with visitors, leading to long queues, congested spaces, increased traffic jams and a diminished overall experience.

People are preferring foreign visa free countries instead of travelling in their own country, India.

The constant hustle and bustle can be stressful and detract from the overall travel experience.

1.&nbsp;Tripadvisor has an extensive reviews and ratings system, a strong brand reputation, and a large user base, but it lacks real-time data and personalized itineraries.

2.&nbsp;Similarly, Google Maps has an extensive database that provides real-time traffic updates but does not focus on travel experiences and crowd data.

IDEATION:

I ideated over 15+ ideas but later discarded them because they could not solve the user's problems and also due to technical constraints. Some of them were:

1.&nbsp;User-Generated Real-Time Crowd Reports - These may be helpful but are prone to inaccurate and inconsistent data due to bias and lack of real-time validation. 2.&nbsp;AI Chatbot for Full Trip Planning -&nbsp;Requires extensive data from multiple vendors (hotels, transport, activities) and seamless API integration.

3.&nbsp;"Auto-Switch" Itinerary When Crowds Are High -&nbsp;AI predictions aren’t 100% accurate, and users may not like forced changes leading to frustration rather than engagement.

The selected features for Safarnama directly address the core issue of overtourism while ensuring technical feasibility and business sustainability. For eg, alternative location suggestions, and real-time crowd-level indicators help travelers make informed decisions, reducing congestion at tourist hotspots.&nbsp;A digital travelogue encourages engagement and user retention by allowing travelers to document and relive their experiences.

WIREFRAMES:

FINAL DESIGNS:

The final designs went through multiple iterations to improve the overall user experience and make it simple and easy to understand and use.&nbsp;

While ideating, I realized the importance of evaluating solutions from a technical perspective to ensure they are both implementable and scalable.

I learned how to identify and rank problems based on their impact on the user experience and feasibility, allowing for a more structured and solution-driven approach.

Safarnama ensures providing a delightful travel experience to users aged between 18-50 by indicating crowd levels and suggesting alternatives. 

The challenge was to design an interface that helps tourists create and modify their itineraries to ensure the travel experience they truly want. 

A personalized hassle-free travel experience

 - Users want to create customized itineraries that align with their preferences, budget, and schedule while avoiding overcrowded destinations.

 – Travelers seek a seamless way to document and revisit their journeys through a digital travelogue that securely stores photos, videos, and other trip media.

 due to customized recommendations and itinerary flexibility.

 with travelogues and personalized itinerary updates.

real-time updates and crowd-level insights useful

 of users found the app’s interface intuitive, making it 

easier to explore destinations and customize their trips.

I then analyzed what people said and felt about it through social media, articles, and news. 

 has an extensive reviews and ratings system, a strong brand reputation, and a large user base, but it lacks real-time data and personalized itineraries.

 has an extensive database that provides real-time traffic updates but does not focus on travel experiences and crowd data.

1. User-Generated Real-Time Crowd Reports - These may be helpful but are prone to inaccurate and inconsistent data due to bias and lack of real-time validation.

2. AI Chatbot for Full Trip Planning - Requires extensive data from multiple vendors (hotels, transport, activities) and seamless API integration.

3. "Auto-Switch" Itinerary When Crowds Are High - AI predictions aren’t 100% accurate, and users may not like forced changes leading to frustration rather than engagement.

The selected features for Safarnama directly address the core issue of overtourism while 

ensuring technical feasibility and business sustainability.

 For eg, alternative location suggestions, and real-time crowd-level indicators help travelers 

make informed decisions, reducing congestion

 at tourist hotspots. A digital travelogue 

 by allowing travelers to document and relive their experiences.

The final designs went through multiple iterations to improve the overall user experience and make it simple and easy to understand and use. 

Safarnama - A Travel App tackling Over-Tourism in India

• Selected among 11 individuals across India for the Dedicated Mentoring Program in Product Usability & Design at Reap Benefit.
• Enhanced user experience of the Changemaker Portfolio by conducting user research, identifying pain points, and crafting user-centric solutions to improve stakeholder understanding and adoption.
• Redesigned the Solve Ninja website's user journey to streamline the hiring process for organizations.

• Designed 5+ UI/UX projects for web and mobile applications, utilizing innovative prompting techniques to optimize user experience.
• Developed responsive designs for seamless cross-device functionality, enhancing usability and accessibility.

• Designed UX/UI for all SaaS products by conducting User Research, building a Design System, creating product logos, and collaborating with developers and product managers.
• Redesigned the Crenovent website to better align with the brand and showcase its product offerings effectively.
• Developed responsive and intuitive Frontends using Figma, Loveable, and Cursor AI.

Reap Benefit&nbsp;is a non-profit organization that tackles local environmental and civic challenges through low-cost, user-friendly solutions. It empowers young people to take action on issues affecting their communities.

Solve Ninja is a movement by Reap Benefit that mobilizes youth (ages 13-26) to act on climate change and civic problems. These young changemakers use data-driven actions, campaigns, and innovative solutions to drive social impact.

The Changemaker Portfolio (CMP) aims to showcase the social impact efforts and skills of young individuals. However, users and employers struggle to interpret skill and action badges, leading to confusion about their meaning, significance, and progression. This lack of clarity weakens the platform's ability to effectively validate changemakers' skills and connect them with relevant opportunities.

1.&nbsp;To establish a clear and intuitive visual language that effectively communicates the value and impact of CMP.

2. To establish a clear framework for recognizing and validating Changemakers' skills through a leveled badge structure.

3.&nbsp;To make the portfolio a definitive tool for employers to assess and validate Changemakers' skills and their alignment with specific job roles.

I started by defining and understanding what I needed to know to tackle the initial problem, made the&nbsp;areas of inquiry, and divided them into primary and secondary research.

<code class="inline-code">SECONDARY RESEARCH:</code>

Key findings:

<code class="inline-code">PRIMARY RESEARCH:</code>

I was allowed to conduct user interviews, I created recruitment criteria for the primary stakeholders.

Key insights from the Interviews:

After conducting it my problem scope increased from enhancing only the Portfolio to revamping the entire employer user journey.

The employers faced problems starting from the landing page where they had to choose a Changemaker for a position at their organization.

I first made the Employer User Journey to identify their pain points.

Then I studied the insights from the user interviews, understood what they meant and felt, and then generated opportunities from them.

I repeated this process for the Changemakers and the Employer and generated 20+ opportunities which were later prioritized to only keep the important ones.

Then, I combined these design decisions to craft wireframes of the Portfolio and the Landing page.

I created over 15+ wireframes for each combination of the design decisions and made 4 wireframes for the landing page.

I moved forward with the selected wireframes to create High-Fidelity Designs.

Green was the Brand color of the Brand Reap Benefit so I made the color palette in shades of green. I chose Inter as the font as it is simple, intuitive, and responsive.

After conducting testing and discussing it with the lead at Reap Benefit, we finalized the designs with the following aspects:

Also, I created a new version of all the Skills badges for better clarity and understanding. The icons and colors are chosen to make the badges intuitive and gamified.

Targeting changemakers (13-26 years) and employers, this project improves searchability and streamlines the hiring process with a clearer badge system and structured content.

Reap Benefit is a non-profit organization that tackles local environmental and civic challenges through low-cost, user-friendly solutions. It empowers young people to take action on issues affecting their communities.

Solve Ninja is a movement by Reap Benefit

 that mobilizes youth (ages 13-26) to act on climate change and civic problems. These young changemakers use data-driven actions, campaigns, and innovative solutions to drive social impact.

The original CMP (center and right) and the Solve Ninja landing page (left).

1. To establish a clear and intuitive visual language that 

 Changemakers' skills through a leveled badge structure.

 to assess and validate Changemakers' skills and their alignment with specific job roles.

I started by defining and understanding what I needed to know to tackle the initial problem, made the areas of inquiry, and divided them into primary and secondary research

This part focuses on how Skills with levels and actions are represented in other websites and what employers look for in a portfolio.

This part focuses on how Reap Benefit has divided their skills along with the levels, which actions correspond to which skill badges, searchability representation in websites, and skills presentation on the portfolio.

I was allowed to conduct user interviews, I created 

I then made Discussion Guides to ask them about their needs and pain points.

I also made a Research tool to understand which visual representation my user group understands and prefers.&nbsp;

After conducting it my problem scope increased from enhancing only the Portfolio to revamping the entire employer user journey. 

The employers faced problems starting from the landing page where they had to choose a Changemaker for a position at their organization.

The emojis represent the emotions the Employer goes through for the entire journey.

An example of how I generated the opportunities. Blue - what they said, Black - what they need or want, and yellow - opportunities that can be generated.

I then used these opportunities to ideate design decisions.

These are some sketches of the Skill-Action representation on the portfolio.

These were the Final Wireframes after discussing them with the technical lead.

These were the designs I created using the wireframes.

The tooltip hover will explain the meaning of the badge and clicking on it will filter the respective actions.

Enhancing the User Experience of Changemaker Portfolio in Solve Ninja website.

Agrima’s attention to detail and ability to balance aesthetics with usability stood out in every project we collaborated on.

Aisha Verma

Agrima’s design decisions always connect back to the user journey — crisp, intuitive, and well-reasoned.

Safarnama - A Travel App tackling Over-Tourism in India

PROJECT DETAILS

Let's build something great.