Indra
My Role
End to end Product Designer
Client:
Self Project
Industry:
Solidarity Economies
Start:
End:
Location:
Berlin, Germany
Project Context
Indra is a application that enables people with Limited Local Support Networks to help each other and exchange knowledge, products, and services. It makes collaboration simple and fair, rewards people for contributing, and helps communities grow stronger by working together. I designed it end-to-end as my Master's thesis, from research and concept to prototype. The core mechanic: the more you contribute to your community, the more support you can access. Contributions are tracked through blockchain and visualized through data analysis graphics, making reciprocity transparent, measurable, and rewarding. The project was awarded Best Master's Project 2025 and the EXIST Woman Award for Innovation Berlin 2026.
Problem Definition
In cities like Berlin, where tens of thousands of new international residents arrive each year and the city is home to roughly 180,000 independent creative professionals, both migrants and locals face challenges that are difficult to solve alone. Newcomers, by definition, arrive without the support networks they had in their places of origin, while many locals, especially those in precarious work, also lack support when they don’t have financial resources.
As a result, people often turn to social media groups to seek help, but these exchanges are inconsistent and not always effective. In practice, support depends mainly on individual financial resources or close personal connections, rather than on systems capable of coordinating and sustaining mutual help over time.
Process Strategy
I started by validating demand with 25 participants from KunstCol, a Berlin network of 150+ migrants and creatives, where the concept was met with strong pilot interest. Research combining qualitative interviews, observation of mutual-aid groups, and competitive analysis of platforms like Nebenan.de and Time Republic identified three critical gaps: language barriers that excluded newcomers, interaction models too narrow to support real reciprocity, and no incentive structure to sustain participation. These findings directly shaped the product scope and feature priorities.
Implimentation
I mapped the full participation journey to find exactly where motivation breaks down. The critical moment was after the first interaction, when users helped once but saw no visible result and stopped. From that insight, I restructured the flow around a single principle: every action must show its value immediately. The user flow connects three moments, finding a need, fulfilling it, and seeing the impact, so contribution always feels meaningful and worth repeating.
Solution Design
The design challenge was to make cooperation feel more rewarding than not cooperating. Rather than building another directory or social feed, I designed a behavioral system where contribution has visible value. Every interaction is structured around a simple mechanic: helping others earns credits that can be used to receive help later. This required designing for trust, transparency, and motivation at the same time. Blockchain handles accountability, AI handles personalization, and the interface handles clarity, so users always know what they gave, what they received, and what they can do next.
Key Features
The design is built around three features that make reciprocity visible and actionable. The Opportunity Finder shows real-time community needs filtered by type, location, and time, letting users see exactly where their skills are needed and earn Impact Credits for helping. The Reciprocity Wallet tracks every contribution on blockchain, so users see their actual impact, not just a balance. The Contribution Radar uses AI to map participation across skill categories and surface personalized opportunities to grow. Multilingual access and automatic translation ensure newcomers can join from day one.
Validation & Results
The prototype scored 92/100 and received the Best Master's Project and Thesis Award 2025 at UE Berlin, recognized for usability, visual clarity, and social impact for migrant and underserved communities. It also received the EXIST Woman Award for Innovation Berlin 2026, with around €9,000 in EU-funded MVP support. Early validation with 150+ potential users confirmed strong interest in piloting the live platform. Indra is execution-ready as a product concept with a clear path to deployment.
