Naan Mudhalvan

1· Project Overview

2· Business Context & KPIs

Tamil Nadu launched Naan Mudhalvan to upskill youth and increase employability.

• ✔ Skill 10+ lakh students per year
• ✔ Onboard 700+ colleges & 20,000 faculty
• ✔ Improve course completion rate: 37% → 60%+
• ✔ Increase student engagement: 20% → 50%
• ✔ Enable offline access for rural students
• ✔ Support multiple languages (Tamil, English)

3· Problem Statement

Before Naan Mudhalvan, there was no single platform that helped Tamil Nadu’s youth explore careers, access training, apply for internships, or get mentorship in one place. Students had to rely on scattered sources — word-of-mouth, offline announcements, or third-party portals.

Solution:
A Unified skill development platform with career paths, 200+ courses, mentorship, internships, and placement support.

4· My Role & Responsibilities

I was the only product designer on this large-scale public platform. I handled:

Worked closely with developers, PM, API/backend teams, and government officials. We collaborated like a family to deliver the platform under a tight deadline.

5· Design Process

We followed an adaptive sprint model, aligned with backend and stakeholder cycles.

6· Research Insights

“I enrolled but couldn't tell which course mattered – the portal felt like a maze.”

“Videos buffer forever in my village hotspot … I just quit.”

Key Insights:

• Need for clear course pathways and recommendations
• Importance of offline access and low-bandwidth solutions
• Value of community support and peer learning

7· Proto‑Persona

8· User Flows

9· Wireframes

10· Key Design Decisions

• Progressive onboarding split KYC into micro‑steps
• Adaptive dashboard recommends next‑step courses via skill‑gap algo
• Employer verification badge surfaces trusted companies
• Bandwidth‑aware player auto‑switches to 360p & PDF fallback

11· Challenges & Solutions

• Huge scope, tight deadlines – 120+ screens in under 6 weeks
• Changing requirements from 4+ departments
• Low bandwidth – used lazy loading and fallback assets
• No dark mode – focused entirely on an accessible, light UI
• Govt coordination – weekly reviews with Joint Director & IAS officers
• Burnout risk – balanced quality with fast turnaround using team support

12· Impact & Results

• +42% increase in enrollments in first 90 days
• Completion rate improved from 37% → 65%
• 315+ UPSC prelims cleared via the CSAT module
• 23 lakh+ users onboarded by 2024
• ₹8 Cr grant unlocked post-launch for scaling

13· Interactive Prototype

14· Visual Gallery

15· What I Learned & Next Steps

The project pushed me hard — and taught me even more. Here are my biggest takeaways from this journey.

• Worked late nights and weekends to meet high-stakes deadlines
• Improved time management, communication, and documentation
• First time collaborating with IAS and top-level government officers
• Learned to balance design quality with political, tech, and operational constraints

16· Empathy / Journey Map

17· Usability‑Test Findings

Real feedback helped us improve clarity, reduce task time, and guide users more confidently across the platform.

• Progress bar redesign → task success ↑ 31 %
• Filter moved to top tab → discoverability ↑ 48 %
• Certificate download CTA → time on task ↓ 18 s

18· Design‑System Tokens / Storybook