Arushi Shukla
Hello! I’m Arushi, a trans-disciplinary designer at the intersection of systems thinking, regenerative systems & design futures

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© 2025 Arushi Shukla 
London, United Kingdom





Nazar
Using Behavioural design to ensure children are timely vaccinated

Duration
 4 months / 2021


Supervisors
Aakash Patel


Project tags
Interaction Design, Industrial Design, Design Research, Prototyping, User Testing
Nazar is a solution based on Indian beliefs of protecting child against evil eye, thus ensuring that children from the age group of 0-2 are timely vaccinated.

Nearly one million children die before their fifth birthday in India due to not being vaccinated on time, despite clear evidence around the power of vaccines to save lives. If children are not timely vaccinated they are at high risk of contracting life-threatening diseases. 


Primary research took place at Dharavi and Nehru Nagar area of Mumbai, India.

30 parents and 12 healthcare clinic staff such as doctors, nurses and CHVs (community health volunteers) were interviewed. 

This resulted in creation of a stakeholder map to understand the core, direct and indirect influencers for immunisation. 





Further insights were derived and synthesised to formulate the problem statement:
‘Parents of children living in slums need to take onus for their child’s health which would lead to a better future’




Parents apply kala dhaga and kala teeka on infants arm as a sacred custom in Indian culture to ward off evil and protect their health. 

The final solution consists of a kala dhaga (wearable) enabling seamless integration with current traditions. It will be worn by the mother and serve as a symbolism of protection. while also carrying vaccination data of the child.

The second part of the solution consists of a kala teeka (tattoo) having capability of storing immunisation information. It serves as a vaccination record in intangible form for greater convenience of all stakeholders involved. The design of the tattoo is based on Indian forms pertaining to local art. 


Parents will get a kala-dhaga bracelet containing six beads representing six vaccination dates as per prescribed Indian national healthcare. After every visit the nurse will take out a bead which would be a visual reminder for parents of number of vaccines left.




The form of the taweez is based on mother and child’s relationship



Taweez has an RFID tag containing the child’s past vaccination history. Nurse scans the RFID when the child visits the clinic for vaccination thus eliminating the need of a physical vaccination record




After six visits the taweez can be given to the child as a memory of their childhood.



In the future, an on-body reminder using memory based bio-ink will aid in immunisation tracking. A stamp consisting of 5 detachable parts, each representing a vaccination visit made by the parent



The design consists of a semi-circular guide at the top edge of the stamp for the nurse to match the tattoo when a child visits the clinic to get vaccinated. 
After every visit to the clinic for immunisation, a part of the tattoo is removed. This would act as a visual reminder for the number of vaccine cycles left. The mother will select the design for the tattoo they want to translate on the child’s arm.



3-D prototype of the tattoo stamp design