India’s largest inter-campus & inter-corporate quiz competition
Breaking Boundaries : Reimagining The Tata Crucible’s Online Experience
Led a 3 months sprint to reimagine Tata Crucible’s online quiz platform, an iconic property needing a digital facelift to match the excitement and prestige of its physical events. Tata Crucible, known as India’s premier business quiz for campuses and corporates, transitioned to an online format due to the pandemic. But the shift surfaced gaps - static flows, disengaged participants, and an outdated digital presence, diluting the brand’s legacy of excellence.
Partnering directly with Tata’s core team, product heads, and brand custodians, I spearheaded the effort to inject interactivity, engagement, and emotional resonance back into the platform while staying true to Tata’s stature.
Clients
Tata Crucible – The Business Quiz
My Role
UX Strategy
User Research and Interviews
Interaction Design
Visual Storytelling
Stakeholder Collaboration
Agile Prototyping
Visual Designer
Timeline
Jun. 20 - Sep. 20
3 months
Skills Applied
User Research & Affinity Mapping
SWCDUXO Analysis
Information Architecture (IA)
Gamification Design
Wireframing & High Fidelity UI
Prototyping in Figma
Design System Integration
Agile Collaboration
Problem Statement
How might we redesign Tata Crucible’s digital experience to rekindle excitement, deepen engagement, and translate the emotional highs of an in person quiz into a scalable online platform?
About Tata Crucible
📌 India's biggest inter-campus and corporate quiz.
📌 Held in two editions every year Campus (students) and Corporate (working professionals).
📌 Hosted by Giri Balasubramaniam ("Pickbrain"), a legend in the quizzing world.
📌 Sponsored by Tata Sons and multiple Tata group companies.
📌 Engages millions annually through physical and digital touchpoints.
Goals
📌 Understand user experience and pain points of the online platform.
📌 Improve user engagement and retention rates.
📌 Deliver a modern, gamified, scalable quiz experience.
📌 Strengthen Tata Crucible’s digital identity aligned with youth and corporate expectations.
Challenges & Solution
Challenges
Sudden need to fully digitise a historically physical event.
Participants missed the real time excitement and buzz.
Outdated HTML/CSS based platform with no UX structure.
Disjointed, information-heavy, and non-intuitive navigation.
Solution
Create a gamified, mobile first experience.
Revamp Information Architecture and navigation flow.
Build engaging micro-interactions (buzzers, timers, live leaderboards).
Personalise pathways for different user types: quick players, serious competitors, first-time visitors.
Research Approach
User Interviews
Objective: Understand attitude towards online quiz platforms.
Recruited 8 targeted participants (students + corporate employees).
Captured qualitative insights using open, closed, and leading questions.
Focused on needs, frustrations, motivations, and competitive platform usage.
Few Key Questions Asked
What motivated you to join online quizzes?
What frustrates you about digital quiz platforms?
How would you define a “fun” vs “serious” quiz experience?
How does Tata Crucible’s online quiz compare to others?
Affinity Mapping & Empathy Mapping
Collected 80+ insights using sticky notes.
Grouped findings into "Does", "Says", "Thinks", and "Feels" quadrants.
Revealed strong desire for real time competitiveness, clear feedback, and recognition.
Competitive Analysis
📌 First movers in the space, no real digital competitors.
📌 Legacy goodwill among youth and corporates.
📌 Need to maintain leadership by offering a world class online experience.
Defining the User Experience
Use Cases & Personas
📌 Regular participant wanting fast access to quiz registrations.
📌 Casual visitor wanting quick quizzes and updates.
📌 Agencies and media tracking winners and schedules.
📌 Two personas created : A Student Quizzer and A Corporate Quiz Enthusiast.
POV Statements
"A user needs to register because he wants to participate and stay competitive."
"A user needs a walkthrough because he finds the platform inspiring and exploratory."
Design & Strategy
Card Sorting > Information Architecture > Sitemap
📍 Ran Open and Hybrid Card Sorting exercises with internal and external participants.
📍 Finalised clean IA after two rounds of validation.
Site Structure Highlights
Hero Banner (latest updates)
Social Media Icons
Schedules, Rules, and Prizes Section
"Play for Fun" Quick Quizzes
Steps for Participation (Tabular format)
Recent Winners
Campus Quiz, Corporate Quiz, Hackathon Info
App Download CTA
Design Execution
Testing & Feedback
📌 Conducted heat maps and session recordings.
📌 A/B tested different homepage layouts.
📌 Measured click through rates, scroll depths, and engagement zones.
Impact Assessment
📍 Increased homepage engagement by 36%.
📍 22% faster registration flow completion.
📍 Improved CSAT scores to 4.7/5.
Reflection
Leading Tata Crucible’s digital reimagination taught me that legacy doesn’t automatically translate online, it must be re earned through experience.
I leaned on fast research loops, stakeholder workshops, and constant iteration to meet the massive expectations attached to a Tata brand IP.
Navigating last minute executive decisions (like the pivot from illustration to photo style) was a crash course in balancing user first thinking with brand realities.
For us the big win was we made Tata Crucible’s online avatar worthy of the reputation it built over two decades.
For seeing the process in details
Open Behance profile
