KIRTI
KIRTI, short for Khelo India Rising Talent Identification, is a Government of India initiative focused on identifying, assessing, and nurturing young sports talent across the country.
Overview
KIRTI (Khelo India Rising Talent Identification)
Context: Part of the Government of India's Khelo India initiative aimed at identifying and nurturing emerging sports talent nationwide.
The Problem: India lacked a systematic, data-driven system to assess young athletes and match them to appropriate sports early in their development, making it difficult to measure, manage, and scale the talent pipeline for international competitions.
The Mission: Build a digital talent engine that supports scientific assessments, role-based workflows, athlete discovery, and national mission-led communication.
Key Challenges
Function-First Workflows Meet User-First Clarity
Challenges
- National Scale Assessment: Managing young athletes across varied locations, age groups, and roles.
- Multi-Persona Access: Handling diverse permissions and guidance requirements for 6+ distinct user types.
- Administrative Burden: Risk of heavy, intimidating forms and workflows in the field.
- Brand Identity Balance: Balancing institutional government credibility with youth sports energy.
Solutions
- Created modular interface patterns, simplified user flows, and clear role-based access.
- Early journey mapping for key tasks (assessor onboarding, test creation, athlete group access).
- Minimal, logically grouped forms with clear validation states, labels, and contextual help.
- Created a vibrant visual language combining bold primary colors (blue, orange, green) with clean neutrals and crisp typography.
RPS Approach
Built Around Access, Assessment, And Action
Our approach translated a nationwide talent identification program into a clear, scalable digital ecosystem: structuring role-based operations before designing the interface.
1
Defining personas and role-based workflows
We mapped key personas—including schools, athletes, assessors, and admins—to ensure the platform supports varied responsibilities without overwhelming everyday field users with unnecessary complexity.
2
Creating a clear assessment journey
3
Building a scalable design system
User Insight & Persona
The Assessor In The Field
The primary field user was the Assessor, a role that depends on speed, clarity, and ease of use. Assessors need to understand what to do quickly, complete onboarding, access test workflows, and capture athlete performance parameters without being slowed down by complex interface behaviour.
Key User Problems
Field assessments can easily become heavy administrative burdens if data capture is not streamlined. The experience shifted that effort into the product itself: minimal, logically grouped forms, clear validation states, upfront information, and contextual help so assessors can record results quickly and move forward with confidence.
Administrators, schools, athletes, and students were also vital parts of the larger national ecosystem. The platform therefore supported role creation, coordination, and grouped athlete access for admins, while keeping the journey clear and transparent for young athletes seeking early identification and long-term support.
Components
Design System
A modular design approach focused on flexibility and performance. Enables faster interactions and a cohesive user interface.
Key Improvements
From Dense Dashboard To Structured Workspace
Assessors added by schools/admins receive WhatsApp and email invitations to download the mobile app, register simply, and start assessing immediately.
Impact
Target Scope: 20 Lakh (2,000,000) assessments targeted for FY 2024–25
Built to shortlist the top 70,000 young athletes (specifically targeting U-12 and U-14 age categories) using standardized parameters
Wrap-up
Engineered for KIRTI
The KIRTI platform was more than a campaign website or app interface. It was a product foundation for making national sports talent identification more structured, measurable, and accessible
By combining role-based workflows, mobile-first assessor journeys, a scalable design system, and clear mission-led communication, RPS helped shape a platform that supports athletes, schools, assessors, and administrators in one connected ecosystem
