Be a solo-trip, family vacation or a business one, the travel industry is seeing a surge in the number of travellers and the frequency of travelling too. While this is a good factor for economic growth, the emissions from travel, stay, food that’s served on the plate, production of waste, etc., add to the rise in carbon emissions or the so called greenhouse gases.

To put, “How Might I 🤔 shape user behaviour to adopt and practice sustainable travel options?"

A 2018 study revealed that tourism contributes 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As travellers often switch between multiple apps for booking travel, accommodation, and activities, the need to guide user behaviour toward ➡️ sustainable choices is more crucial than ever. Despite the growing focus on eco-friendly practices, most platforms fail to offer integrated, sustainable options that promote responsible tourism.

Social good: Supporting local communities and promoting cultural exchange through the discovery of hidden and lesser-known destinations.

Local economy boost: Tie-ups with the local businesses and communities encourages the locality to adopt sustainable practises and boosts their economy.

Based on the competitor analysis, I have pulled down the key focus areas I want to address to solve the problem:

With the problem that I want to solve, the business goals that I want to meet and the key areas that I consolidated to focus from the competitor analysis, I have considered the below user persona for the MVP version of the app to proceed with ideation phase:

I came up with the below information structure for my app with the key focus areas in-line with business needs. I also had list down the details of how I want to approach the net carbon information for every trip the user books in the app.

With a clear high-level concept, I created quick sketches to outline the essential information users need as they navigate between pages to complete their trip bookings. These sketches served as a foundation, guiding the design process as I refined them into high-fidelity mockups, with careful attention to the overall look and feel of the UI.

Designed the application for desktop screen sizes to get better at designing desktop interfaces.

Converted the side navigation drawer to top navigation bar to make use of the screen space for interactive map view considering that the app is not going to scale for more than 3- 4 navigation pages in the future.

Integrated AI with the itinerary planner feature to suggest the most efficient routes that prioritise a lower carbon footprint.

I designed high-fidelity mockups for 14 screens covering the 3 key features 🌟 as part of the MVP version for the user persona that I have chosen. I started with pen and paper sketches, iterated through low-fidelity before designing high-fidelity mockups.

I have also conducted heuristic evaluation test for one of the feature with a small group of people to understand about how they have interpreted the carbon emission information put in terms of "Kilograms of CO2 burnt" and the insights were surprising.

The criteria "Match between system &amp; real world" failed. The key reasons: 

Based on the findings from the evaluation study &amp; some exploration I have framed the information to represent the carbon emission impact in terms of the number of trees saved/lost for the sustainability scoring feature. 

And the results were quite amazing, as users understood what is being impacted, how much of trees they were able to save/lose in their eco-friendly trip compared to a conventional ones.

4. Measure, Track and Offset Carbon Emission

Curious to know what psychological facts I used behind my designs that impacts the UX? <a href="https://aadhyachukkala.designfolio.me/project/671d16d0d2a86f04f58fa07a">Click here</a>

A one of a kind travel app to help travellers discover destinations with Unique Selling Proposition(USP) of providing eco-friendly 🌱 travel options to reduce carbon foot print 

“How Might I 🤔 shape user behaviour to adopt and practice sustainable travel options?"

tourism contributes 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions

. As travellers often switch between multiple apps for booking travel, accommodation, and activities, the 

need to guide user behaviour toward ➡️ sustainable choices is more crucial

 than ever. Despite the growing focus on eco-friendly practices, most platforms fail to offer integrated, sustainable options that promote responsible tourism.

Leveraged AI to project quantitative impact

Equivalent impact on tree

Key focus areas considered

14 screens covering the 3 key features 🌟 as part of the MVP version

 for the user persona that I have chosen. I started with pen and paper sketches, iterated through low-fidelity before designing high-fidelity mockups.

Based on the findings from the evaluation study & some exploration I have framed the information to represent the carbon emission impact in terms of the number of trees saved/lost for the sustainability scoring feature. 

Curious to know what psychological facts I used behind my designs that impacts the UX? 

Revolutionising Travel: Shaping User Behaviour for Sustainable Tourism

- Designed and shipped over 20+ B2B and enterprise solutions for clients such as TI, NI, Intel, and Cutsforth by identifying key problems, goals, and business needs. 

- Over the past one year, driven projects end-to-end as an individual contributor specifically for the TI client business account that I work for, from concept proposal till developer hand off - reporting directly to design & technical leads and collaborating with cross functional teams and stakeholders.

- Led design workshop for non-design team members within the business account to advocate the importance of UI/UX design and shared practical improvement tips which helped developers to adhere to the design system during development enhancing the interface in recent projects. 

- Immersed in the world of design and creativity, rapidly learned from talented in-house team and quickly took on projects to meet high demand for skilled designers.

- Transitioned to UI/UX design field, worked on 4 B2B projects for clients such as NI, Intel, etc., under the guidance of lead designer, by identifying key problems, brainstorming on ideas through collaboration and iterating on design solutions.

- Tried my hands on graphic works as well designing social media posts, newsletters, PPTs, e-invites and logo design.

- Right out of college, worked as an engineer in LabVIEW technology developing software solution for Intel, NI customers.

From the customer alignment, I defined the problem that I want to solve as "How to help lab engineers to test the car door system evaluation board right from their place?"

I have designed a pen and paper sketch that I later translated into the below high-fidelity mockup:

Before I handed off the design to developers, I aligned with my lead designer for her opinion.

Considering the feedback, I have assessed the scalability of the feature through internal and customer alignments, which led me to design a UI that combines aesthetics of Virtual Reality (VR) with elements of neumorphism, creating a sleek and futuristic look and feel.

And here's the final design, which I presented to the customers &amp; had them saying "wow" as a sign of their approval before the developer hand-off.

If you are curious to check out the entire UI, please feel free to drop an email with subject line "Accio Disclose Car Control System" 🪄 to the email ID aadhyachukkala@gmail.com.

You can find only the high level information regarding the process I have implemented to approach this client project. Only minor details are provided here along with sample designs due to NDA.

"How to help lab engineers to test the car door system evaluation board right from their place?"

And here's the final design, which I presented to the customers & had them saying "wow" as a sign of their approval before the developer hand-off.

Design That Made My Clients Say ‘Wow’

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

Aisha Verma

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