Systems Design:
App for Equality
Design a system to reduce gender inequalities by enabling women in India to empower themselves through goal-setting, community, and a network of trusted local partners.
Role
UX & Systems Designer
Context
Academic · Team + Solo
Team
Stakeholder Interviews, Causal Maps, Journey Maps
Output
App Concept, System Design, Prototype
CASE STUDY
ACADEMIC PROJECT
01: OVERVIEW
India
·
Gender inequality
·
Systems design
·
Social impact
A systemic problem
needs a systemic solution.
Gender inequality in India is not a single problem, it is a web of reinforcing cycles. Women are conditioned from birth by patriarchal stereotypes, constrained by social expectations, isolated from opportunity, and rarely given tools to break the pattern.
This project started with team-based research using stakeholder interviews, mind-maps, and causal maps.
I then took those insights individually to design an app-based system: the Empower App that gives women a way to set goals, track progress, connect with their community, and access verified local resources.
The key design principle: the solution had to meet women where they already are, work within existing social structures, and be safe to use even in households where a partner might object.
02: RESEARCH
Stakeholder interviews
·
Causal mapping
·
Systems analysis
·
Vicious cycle mapping
First: map the
cycles, not just
the symptoms.
After stakeholder interviews and secondary research, I synthesised the data as causal maps: a method that forces you to see not just individual problems but the feedback loops that keep them in place.
Two vicious cycles emerged. The first shows how male-dominated media reinforces gender hierarchy in children and perpetuates itself.
The second traces how a girl born into patriarchal conditioning keeps conforming to society's expectations unless something interrupts the cycle, and that intervention point became the design brief.
Causal maps synthesising stakeholder research : tracing the propagation of gender inequality and the effect of media on gender roles
03: Persona
Urban homemaker
·
Aspirational
·
Constrained by circumstance
·
Ready to act
Designing for
Anita.
The persona grounded every design decision. Anita is an urban homemaker who has spent years caring for her family, putting her own aspirations, including a cake business she always wanted , on hold.
Now with time to herself, she has the motivation but lacks tools, confidence, and connections.
She has no driving licence, no independent income, limited access to classes and mentors.
But she has a phone, and she visits the same salon every month.
The system was designed around exactly that reality.
Anita
Urban Homemaker · Mumbai
Never given the opportunity, always busy looking after her family
Can't drive; depends on her husband to reach her baking supplies store
Now has time and motivation as children have gown up and left home.
But lacks tools, network, and confidence
Goes to the same salon every month. Trusts the people there as she has known them for years
Great at baking; always wanted to start her own cake-making studio
04: Journey Map
Goal-setting
·
Progress tracking
·
Reward loop
·
Community
·
Independence
From first goal
to independence:
one self-reinforcing loop.
The user journey follows Anita from identifying the app as a tool, through setting a driving goal, finding a partner school nearby, tracking her progress, earning reward points, and sharing her achievement with her community, which leads to her next, bigger goal: starting her own business.
Each step was designed to be self-reinforcing. Completion triggers social rewards, social rewards motivate further engagement, and further engagement expands what Anita believes is possible for herself.
User journey map — Anita sets a driving goal, finds a partner school, tracks progress, earns reward points, builds confidence, and starts her cake business
05: The System
Partner businesses
·
Aadhaar verification
·
Reward economy
·
Safe spaces
·
Woven into daily life
The app alone
isn't enough.
The system is.
The Empower App works because it is embedded in a real-world system. Businesses, organisations, and individuals committed to gender equality become verified partners.
Partner locations: salons, grocery stores, driving schools, are identified by a discreet logo, marking them as safe spaces.
Aadhaar-based verification ensures trust and safety for both partners and users.
Reward points earned through the app can be spent at partner locations , creating an economic loop that gives women real purchasing power independent of their household.
Storyboard: Anita's regular grocery store accepts Empower Points. Her salon hosts app workshops. The system is woven into her existing daily routine.
⭐
Reward Points
Earned by completing goals. Spendable at any partner location — creating real economic value
👥
Community Meetups
Events hosted at partner spaces — salons, stores — within walking distance.
🎯
Goal Tracking
Set personal goals. Track milestones. Partner-verified completion triggers rewards.
🧭
Vetted Mentors
Aadhaar-verified mentors for guidance on skills, business, and personal growth.
06: Safe Spaces
Discreet branding
·
Inspired by ANAR Foundation
·
Inspired by UNICEF
·
Partner location map
Visible to those
who need it.
Invisible to
those who don't.
The partner identification system was designed around a key safety constraint: some users may need to keep their app use private.
Inspired by the ANAR Foundation's lenticular signage, which shows different messages at adult vs. child height , and the UNICEF Safety Ring, the partner logo is deliberately discreet. Recognizable to app users, inconspicuous to anyone else.
The in-app map shows verified partner locations nearby: a salon 0.3km away, a kirana store 0.5km away. The system makes safety genuinely local.
Left: ANAR-inspired lenticular signage concept — different messages at different heights. Centre: UNICEF Safety Ring as precedent. Right: in-app verified partner map.
07: The App
Disguisable icon
·
OTP-only login
·
Personalised home
·
Goals tracker
·
Daily feed
·
Events nearby
Designed to
disappear
when it needs to.
One of the most considered design decisions: the app offers an inconspicuous icon option. Users can choose an icon that disguises the app as something innocuous : a calculator, a utilities app, for situations where privacy is essential.
Login is via phone OTP only, requiring no email, which reduces the digital footprint and works for users without personal email accounts.
An onboarding flow sets preferences so the home dashboard feels immediately relevant from day one.
User flow: download → choose inconspicuous icon → create account or log in via OTP → personalised home with Goals, Messages, Calendar, Rewards, Daily Feed, Events Nearby
App screens: personalised home dashboard, goals tracker with progress bars and 'See More' states, and daily feed with motivational content, local events, and savings offers
DESIGN DETAIL WORTH NOTING
The disguised icon isn't a gimmick. It's a safety feature.
In designing for women who may face scrutiny of their phones, a disguisable app icon shifts control back to the user.
It required thinking about safety not just as a content concern but as a core UX concern, changing how I thought about onboarding, login, and the entire information architecture.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
"Safety is a UX problem,
not just a policy problem."
SCREENS
From the
Figma prototype
Final prototype
screens.
The high-fidelity screens from the Figma prototype, showing the full visual design of the Empower App across key states and screens.
08: Outcome
Full system concept
·
App prototype
·
Partner framework
·
Safety-first UX
A full system.
Research to
prototype.
The project delivered an end-to-end system concept: causal map analysis identifying intervention points, persona development, journey mapping, system partner design, and a detailed app prototype with defined screens, user flows, and reward mechanics.
App features designed
across home, goals, feed, events, messages, calendar, and rewards
7
Causal maps tracing root cycles of gender inequality in India: media and conditioning
2
Self-reinforcing reward loop : every goal completed creates motivation for the next
∞
09: Reflections
What designing
for safety taught me
about UX.
The project delivered an end-to-end system concept: causal map analysis identifying intervention points, persona development, journey mapping, system partner design, and a detailed app prototype with defined screens, user flows, and reward mechanics.
✓ What worked
Starting with causal maps instead of jumping to screens forced a systems-level understanding.
Every app feature can be traced back to a specific cycle we wanted to interrupt, it's design with a clear theory of change, not just a list of features.
⚠ Hardest constraint
Designing for a context where the app itself might need to be hidden from a user's own household.
This pushed safety from a policy concern into a core UX concern,reshaping how I thought about login, onboarding, and icon design.
→ Next steps
Test the partner verification and reward exchange system with real local businesses.
The system's value depends entirely on partner adoption, understanding what motivates businesses to join is the critical next research phase.
