Government of India 
introduction
This website, established by the Government of India, serves as an autonomous platform powered by technology to facilitate youth development and youth-led initiatives. It connects young individuals with opportunities in businesses, government departments and non-profit organizations, enabling them to better understand local community issues and contribute to constructive solutions.
Objective of the application
The objective of Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) is to establish an autonomous body powered by technology, facilitating youth development and youth-led development in India. It aims to connect young individuals with diverse programs in businesses, government departments, and nonprofit organizations, enabling experiential learning, fostering community engagement, and building an empowered ecosystem of young catalysts for transformative change by 2047.
Target Audience
The targeted audience for Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) includes-- Youth in India- Specifically, young individuals looking for opportunities to develop their skills, gain practical experience, and contribute to their communities.
- Businesses- Companies interested in engaging with and mentoring youth, offering internships or programs for skill development.
- Government Departments- Various government agencies seeking to involve youth in local self-governance and community development.
- Nonprofit Organizations-Nonprofits interested in collaborating with young people for community-focused projects.
- Potential Mentors-Individuals willing to guide and support the youth in their development and initiatives.
- Local Communities-Beneficiaries of the initiatives carried out by MY Bharat and youth volunteers, as they would receive valuable input and assistance from young participants.
The Challenge
The challenge of MY Bharat.gov.in highlights several key challenges, an unclear hero section on the landing page, inadequate emphasis on vital components, subpar design, text-heavy user personas, a user-unfriendly carousel, limited interaction options, a lack of "Apply" buttons for job listings, insufficient job information, a complex filter system, and performance issues. These issues need addressing to enhance the user experience.
Usability Study Findings
The usability study of the MY Bharat.gov.in website and its associated pages has provided several valuable insights into user behavior, pain points, and preferences.
Here's a summary of the key findings
Landing Page- Ineffective Hero Section- The hero section on the landing page does not effectively introduce the website's purpose to users. It lacks clarity and fails to provide a clear initial view of the site's mission.
- Inadequate Emphasis on Key Components- The section highlighting the three main components of the website (community service, experiential learning, and MY Bharat events) is important but lacks visual emphasis. Users may not easily understand its significance.
- Poor Design and Layout-The overall design and layout of the MY Bharat website are subpar, causing difficulties for users in comprehending the information and understanding Yuva's mission.
- Text-Heavy User Personas- The descriptions of user personas (youth and partners) are text-heavy and lack visual elements or bullet points, making it challenging for users to read and absorb the content.
- Carousel for Opportunities- The "Find opportunities" section presents statistics in a carousel format, which may not be the most user-friendly way to showcase regional opportunities. Users may struggle to find relevant information, and accessibility may be an issue.
- Limited User Interaction- Users can only view information cards by clicking on the "View Only" button, which is not intuitive. Users expect more interaction options, such as clicking on the card itself, its icon, or heading. Limited interaction options can lead to frustration and a less fluid user experience.
- Lack of "Apply" Button- Job listings lack an "Apply" button, which can frustrate users who want to take action on a job opportunity. Providing multiple ways to interact with information cards is crucial for a user-centric experience.
- Insufficient Job Information- Users are provided with very basic job information, lacking a proper job description or detailed information. This lack of information can make it challenging for users to assess the suitability of job opportunities.
- Complex Filter System- The filter section on the dashboard page is overly basic and requires users to select various fields to obtain specific information. This complexity can confuse and overwhelm users seeking specific data quickly, and they may not understand what's happening when interacting with the filter system, leading to a lack of system status visibility.
The website's overall performance at 60% is decent but has room for improvement. While the First Contentful Paint at 0.7s and the Cumulative Layout Shift at 0.064s are excellent, the Total Blocking Time at 2,990ms is very high, impacting user experience. Optimizing load times and reducing blocking times will enhance performance.
The Lighthouse report suggests that the Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) website currently maintains a moderate level of accessibility and performance. It is crucial to resolve these concerns to improve the overall user experience.
In summary, the usability study reveals that the website has issues with clarity, visual design, user interaction, and information availability. Improvements are needed in the hero section, user personas, information cards, and the filter system to create a more user-centric and user-friendly experience for visitors to the website.
Synthesizing Phase
With the insights gathered during the research phase, we have gained valuable understanding of the users' interactions and challenges while using the website of the Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat), a statutory Government of India. Building on this knowledge, we have now entered the Defining phase, where our aim is to deepen our comprehension and transform the research findings into practical design solutions. To maintain a user-centric approach, we have created personas that embody essential user archetypes-
User Personas Persona 1: Aryan, the Aspiring YouthAryan is a 20-year-old college student in India. He's ambitious and eager to kickstart his career by gaining practical experience and making a positive impact on his community. Aryan is tech-savvy and believes in the power of technology to connect him with opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Goals-Aryan's primary goal is to find internship opportunities that align with his interests and field of study. He's eager to gain practical experience, contribute to his local community through youth-led initiatives, and improve his skills through meaningful experiences and mentorship.
Pain Points-Aryan faces multiple challenges when using the website. Firstly, the unclear hero section on the landing page makes it difficult for him to locate the information he needs to begin his journey. Additionally, the website lacks interactivity, limiting his ability to engage with potential mentors and fellow youth meaningfully. The insufficient job information frustrates Aryan as he struggles to make informed decisions, and the complex filter system leads to a time-consuming and frustrating search for suitable opportunities. Performance issues, such as slow loading times and website glitches, further hinder his seamless navigation on the platform, causing frustration and hindering his overall experience.
Persona 2: Priya, the Community-Minded EntrepreneurPriya is a 32-year-old businesswoman in India who is passionate about giving back to her community. She runs a successful small business and is interested in engaging with youth for mentorship and community development initiatives. Priya believes that youth can play a significant role in bringing positive change.
Goals-Priya's main objectives include offering mentorship to young individuals, helping them build their entrepreneurial skills, and collaborating with youth-led projects and initiatives to address community issues through her business. She is determined to make a positive impact on the local community by actively involving young people in her business and social responsibility efforts.
Pain Points-Priya encounters various challenges on the website. Firstly, she finds that the platform lacks emphasis on the importance of youth involvement in businesses like hers, making it challenging to identify potential collaborators. The complex filter system for connecting with youth or finding relevant initiatives proves to be overly complex, making it difficult for Priya to locate suitable youth-led projects. The limited interactive features on the platform also hinder her ability to engage with potential mentees and partners effectively. The subpar design of the website is unappealing and outdated, affecting Priya's overall experience on the platform. Lastly, the user-unfriendly carousel feature causes frustration as Priya tries to browse through the available opportunities and projects, hampering her ability to achieve her goals effectively.
Mapping User Journeys and Extracting InsightsWe have chosen to focus on Priya, a community-minded entrepreneur, to gain deeper insights into the specific needs, pain points, and behaviors of users seeking opportunities to engage with youth and collaborate on community projects through the Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) website.
Our user persona, Priya, has provided valuable insights into the motivations and challenges of users like her who are interested in engaging with youth-led initiatives and mentoring young individuals. By outlining Priya's journey and experiences on the MY Bharat website, we aim to visualize her interactions, emotions, pain points, and overall user experience while seeking opportunities to collaborate with youth and contribute to her local community.
Mapping the journey to a “user story”After analyzing Priya's user journey map, we have gained valuable insights into the actions, emotions, and pain points that user like Priya encounter when interacting with the MY Bharat website. This journey map has been tailored to Priya's objectives and requirements as a community-minded entrepreneur. It illuminated critical touchpoints where Priya experienced difficulties and identified potential areas for enhancement. Based on these observations, we have distilled one of Priya's key needs into the following user story:
Priya's User Story"As a community-minded entrepreneur, I want to easily discover youth-led initiatives and mentoring opportunities on the MY Bharat website so that I can effectively engage with young individuals and collaborate on community projects to make a positive impact on my local community."
Framing challenges and hypothesisHaving analyzed Priya's user journey as a community-minded entrepreneur, we now turn our attention to formulating a problem statement that encapsulates the challenges she faces when using the MY Bharat website.
Problem StatementPriya, a community-minded entrepreneur seeking opportunities to engage with youth and contribute to her local community, requires a more user-friendly platform with improved search and discovery features. The current lack of emphasis on the importance of involving youth and the complexity of the filter system hinder Priya's efficiency in finding suitable youth-led initiatives and mentoring opportunities, limiting her ability to make a positive impact.
This problem statement will guide our design efforts, ensuring that our solutions directly address Priya's needs and enhance her overall experience on the MY Bharat website. Building upon this problem statement, we aim to address the challenges faced by Priya and enhance her journey. Through an in-depth analysis of user insights and pain points, we have formulated a hypothesis.
Hypothesis StatementIf we redesign the platform to highlight the importance of involving youth, simplify the filter system for discovering opportunities, and enhance interactive features for engagement, then Priya's experience on the MY Bharat website will become more efficient, engaging, and valuable for her community-minded initiatives, ultimately allowing her to make a more significant positive impact on her local community.
