Art of Living Organization Management Platform

About Organization

About Art of Living Foundation

Founded in 1981 by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Art of Living Foundation is one of the world’s largest volunteer-driven humanitarian and wellness organizations focused on meditation, stress relief, yoga, education, and social impact initiatives. The organization operates globally through a massive network of instructors, centers, volunteers, and administrators managing programs and activities across multiple regions.

• Operating across 180+ countries worldwide
• 10,000+ active global centers
• 40,000+ instructors and operational users
• Millions of participants globally
• Large-scale operational ecosystem managing courses, events, centers, and instructors

Step-1

Organizational Challenges

When I initially joined the project, the organization was operating through an existing internal platform called Harmony a legacy operational system with limited functionality, outdated UX patterns, and poor scalability. Most instructors and administrators struggled to understand workflows, resulting in operational inefficiencies and high dependency on manual coordination.

• Legacy system with outdated visual and interaction patterns
• Poor usability causing confusion among instructors and admins
• Difficulty managing courses, events, and online classes
• High dependency on spreadsheets and manual coordination
• Lack of centralized operational visibility
• Navigation and workflows were difficult for non-technical users
• Limited scalability for growing organizational operations

Step-2

Defining Business Goals

The primary business goal was to modernize the legacy operational ecosystem into a scalable enterprise platform capable of streamlining global organizational workflows while improving usability, operational visibility, and administrative efficiency.

• Modernize the existing Harmony operational platform
• Simplify complex operational workflows
• Improve usability for instructors and administrators
• Reduce dependency on manual operational processes
• Create scalable enterprise operational architecture
• Improve organization-wide operational visibility

Step-3

Research & Discovery

Before redesigning the platform, we conducted multiple discovery sessions with stakeholders, operational teams, instructors, and national administrators to understand operational bottlenecks, usability pain points, and workflow dependencies across the existing system.

• Conducted stakeholder workshops and discovery discussions
• Interviewed instructors and national administrators
• Identified workflow bottlenecks and navigation issues
• Analyzed repetitive operational tasks and manual dependencies
• Conducted usability reviews of the existing Harmony platform
• Performed competitor and workflow analysis

Step-4

UX Strategy & Product Thinking

Instead of focusing only on visual redesign, the project was approached strategically by simplifying operational complexity, improving workflow discoverability, and creating scalable enterprise interaction patterns aligned with long-term organizational growth.

• Reduced cognitive overload through simplified workflows
• Improved discoverability of operational actions
• Designed scalable modular UX architecture
• Created role-based dashboard experiences
• Followed accessibility and usability best practices

Step-5

Information Architecture & User Journeys

Due to the complexity of the platform, multiple operational modules required dedicated information architecture planning and workflow restructuring to improve navigation clarity and task completion efficiency.

Step-6

Design Exploration & Iterations

• Created workflow wireframes and UX explorations
• Conducted iterative design improvements sprint-by-sprint
• Explored multiple dashboard and navigation concepts
• Simplified operational interaction patterns
• Designed responsive and accessible enterprise experiences

Step-7

Enterprise Design System

As part of the modernization initiative, I designed and maintained a scalable enterprise design system to ensure consistency across dashboards, workflows, tables, forms, navigation systems, and operational modules. The design system also streamlined developer handoff and accelerated implementation consistency.

• Built reusable enterprise UI components
• Defined typography, spacing, and color systems
• Standardized forms, tables, and interaction patterns
• Maintained component consistency across modules
• Collaborated closely with developers during implementation
• Improved scalability and faster feature rollout

Step-8

Introducing New Features

After modernizing the core operational platform, we introduced multiple scalable enterprise features focused on improving organizational efficiency, workflow automation, operational visibility, and centralized management across global centers and administrative teams.

• Transfers & Refunds
• Discount Code Management
• Rooms & Booking Management
• Reception Management
• Teachers Management
• Dashboards & Reports
• Email Templates & Marketing Settings
• CRM Customization & Integration
• User Management & Permissions
• Donations & Subscription Management
• Payments & Financial Tracking
• + More enterprise operational features and workflow enhancements

Step-9

Rooms Booking Management System

One of the most complex and impactful modules introduced during the project was the Rooms Booking Management System. This feature required deep operational understanding, multiple workflow iterations, and extensive problem solving to simplify room allocation, scheduling conflicts, and booking coordination across centers and operational teams.

• Simplified room allocation workflows
• Improved booking visibility and availability tracking
• Reduced scheduling conflicts and manual coordination
• Designed scalable multi-location operational workflows
• Improved administrative efficiency and usability

Visual Design

High Fidelity Enterprise Interfaces

Designed modern, scalable, and operationally efficient enterprise interfaces across dashboards, workflows, approvals, operational modules, reporting systems, and management experiences.

My Contribution

Leadership & Collaboration

As the Lead UI/UX & Product Designer, I worked closely with stakeholders, operational teams, and developers throughout the entire product lifecycle — from discovery and UX strategy to implementation support and usability improvements.

• Led end-to-end UX and product design initiatives
• Conducted stakeholder workshops and operational discussions
• Simplified complex enterprise operational journeys
• Built and maintained enterprise design systems
• Collaborated with developers during implementation
• Conducted usability testing and iterative improvements

AI Integration

AI in work flow

• Faster design explorations and iterations
• Improved sprint productivity and workflow efficiency
• Reduced repetitive design efforts
• Accelerated concept generation and validation
• Utilized tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Figma AI, Lovable, and Google Stitch

Business Impact