Ellayadav

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Ellayadav

Contact me

Ellayadav

Contact me

Ellayadav

Contact me

The Brief

Approach

Interaction design

Personalisation Layer

Shareable artefact

Postcard

Solution Architecture

Physical-digital handoff

Reflections

TCS × Tata Tea & Coffee · World Economic Forum · Davos 2025

UX Design · Experience Flow · Interaction Design

ChAI Central - AI Flavorist

DreamBridge brought me in to design for TCS, a conversational AI kiosk for the World Economic Forum 2025 at Davos. The brief was to take someone from curiosity to a personalised beverage recommendation to a shareable postcard, in under two minutes, in one of the most high-pressure rooms in the world.

The Brief

How do you create a genuinely human moment with AI in a room full of world leaders?

TCS needed their World Economic Forum presence to do more than show off technology. It needed to feel like it. The ask was to build a self-service AI kiosk that could attract passing delegates, hold a natural conversation with them, guide them to a personalised beverage, and leave them with something worth sharing. All automated. All warm. All under 90 seconds.


The kiosk also had to carry a specific story: TCS's partnership with Tata Tea and Coffee, celebrating Indian heritage through AI-powered personalisation. That story had to come through in the experience without becoming a pitch.

TCS needed their World Economic Forum presence to do more than show off technology. It needed to feel like it. The ask was to build a self-service AI kiosk that could attract passing delegates, hold a natural conversation with them, guide them to a personalised beverage, and leave them with something worth sharing. All automated. All warm. All under 90 seconds.

The kiosk also had to carry a specific story: TCS's partnership with Tata Tea and Coffee, celebrating Indian heritage through AI-powered personalisation. That story had to come through in the experience without becoming a pitch.

The AI Flavorist — an avatar set against Indian tea gardens — greets delegates with "Discover your perfect cup." Voice-activated: delegates can tap or just say "Tata Tea."

Approach

Nine phases, one continuous conversation

I structured the experience as a linear journey of nine phases, each with a single job. Every transition had to feel like a natural next step rather than a menu choice. The AI Flavorist persona was the thread running through all of it, giving the kiosk a voice and a point of view rather than just a set of options.


The core insight was that at Davos, context matters more than anywhere else. Someone arriving from India at seven in the morning is in a very different headspace from someone arriving from Geneva at four in the afternoon. The AI greets each person with a time-aware, location-aware opening line, so the very first moment feels like the system already knows something about you.

I structured the experience as a linear journey of nine phases, each with a single job. Every transition had to feel like a natural next step rather than a menu choice. The AI Flavorist persona was the thread running through all of it, giving the kiosk a voice and a point of view rather than just a set of options.

The core insight was that at Davos, context matters more than anywhere else. Someone arriving from India at seven in the morning is in a very different headspace from someone arriving from Geneva at four in the afternoon. The AI greets each person with a time-aware, location-aware opening line, so the very first moment feels like the system already knows something about you.

01 · ATTRACT

Ambient Welcome

Idle AI Flavorist on screen. Camera detects approaching face. "Discover your perfect cup" CTA — tap or voice-activate.

Idle AI Flavorist on screen. Camera detects approaching face. "Discover your perfect cup" CTA — tap or voice-activate.

02 · GREET

Time-Aware Hello

AI greets with "Good morning / afternoon / evening" and asks "Which country are you from?" — flag-indexed for fast selection.

AI greets with "Good morning / afternoon / evening" and asks "Which country are you from?" — flag-indexed for fast selection.

03 · CONTEXT

Personalised Line

Using the guest's home timezone vs. current Davos time, the AI delivers one tailored line: "It's early morning for you in India…"

Using the guest's home timezone vs. current Davos time, the AI delivers one tailored line: "It's early morning for you in India…"

04 · CHOOSE

Tea or Coffee?

Two choices rendered as soft-pill buttons. Voice also accepted — no glove removal needed in the Swiss winter cold

Two choices rendered as soft-pill buttons. Voice also accepted — no glove removal needed in the Swiss winter cold

05 · DISCOVER

Blend Recommendation

Branching conversation by mood and strength. Three blends: Spiced Assam Chai, Dawn of Darjeeling, or Goorghully Estate Coffee.

Branching conversation by mood and strength. Three blends: Spiced Assam Chai, Dawn of Darjeeling, or Goorghully Estate Coffee.

06 · PHOTO

Postcard Setup

"Let's create your personal Postcard from Davos!" — narrative hook before the camera activates.

"Let's create your personal Postcard from Davos!" — narrative hook before the camera activates.

07 · CAPTURE

Take & Confirm

AI face-tracking centres the guest. Countdown, capture, Retake or Proceed. Minimal friction.

AI face-tracking centres the guest. Countdown, capture, Retake or Proceed. Minimal friction.

08 · MEMENTO

Postcard + QR

Personalised postcard generated: guest photo + country flag + Tata brand + "From [country] to Davos…" QR code to download.

Personalised postcard generated: guest photo + country flag + Tata brand + "From [country] to Davos…" QR code to download.

09 · HANDOFF

Barista & Reset

Guest shows mobile to barista. iPad queue dashboard updates. Session data cleared — privacy-first reset to welcome screen.

Guest shows mobile to barista. iPad queue dashboard updates. Session data cleared — privacy-first reset to welcome screen.

Interaction Design

Country selection: removing friction without removing personality

The country question is the first real interaction the delegate has with the kiosk. In a noisy pavilion setting, it had to be instant. I used an alphabetically indexed list with flag icons so someone could find their country in one scroll rather than hunting through a full list.


Voice was the primary input path. The system captures the spoken country name, maps it to the timezone database, and reads back a personalised confirmation. The tap option stays visible alongside it, for delegates who prefer to keep their gloves on in a Swiss January.

The country question is the first real interaction the delegate has with the kiosk. In a noisy pavilion setting, it had to be instant. I used an alphabetically indexed list with flag icons so someone could find their country in one scroll rather than hunting through a full list.

Voice was the primary input path. The system captures the spoken country name, maps it to the timezone database, and reads back a personalised confirmation. The tap option stays visible alongside it, for delegates who prefer to keep their gloves on in a Swiss January.

Country selection — flag icons + alphabetic index makes finding your country instant. The "Proceed" CTA appears once a selection is made.

Personalisation Layer

The contextual moment: making AI feel like local knowledge

After the country selection, the kiosk takes a beat before asking about tea or coffee. Instead, it delivers one personalised line using the delegate's home timezone relative to Davos time. A delegate from India at ten in the morning hears: "So it's early morning for you in India. How about something to keep you going?"


That single line acknowledges where someone is coming from, shows the system is paying attention, and opens the conversation before asking for anything. By the time the Tea or Coffee choice appears, it feels like the next line in a natural exchange rather than a product selector.

After the country selection, the kiosk takes a beat before asking about tea or coffee. Instead, it delivers one personalised line using the delegate's home timezone relative to Davos time. A delegate from India at ten in the morning hears: "So it's early morning for you in India. How about something to keep you going?"

That single line acknowledges where someone is coming from, shows the system is paying attention, and opens the conversation before asking for anything. By the time the Tea or Coffee choice appears, it feels like the next line in a natural exchange rather than a product selector.

The contextual moment: after country selection, the AI delivers one personalised line before the Tea or Coffee choice appears. Voice works here too.

Shareable artefact

Designing for memory, not just moment

After the beverage recommendation, the experience moves into a photobooth moment. I wanted this to feel earned rather than tacked on. A beverage lasts minutes. A postcard from Davos can live on LinkedIn indefinitely. The two are very different kinds of things to take away from an event.


The camera uses AI face-tracking to centre the delegate automatically. I kept a small "AI Tracking: Enabled" indicator visible in the corner. At an event like Davos, the audience understands exactly what that means, and being transparent about it matters. A toggle lets anyone switch to manual framing if they prefer.

After the beverage recommendation, the experience moves into a photobooth moment. I wanted this to feel earned rather than tacked on. A beverage lasts minutes. A postcard from Davos can live on LinkedIn indefinitely. The two are very different kinds of things to take away from an event.


The camera uses AI face-tracking to centre the delegate automatically. I kept a small "AI Tracking: Enabled" indicator visible in the corner. At an event like Davos, the audience understands exactly what that means, and being transparent about it matters. A toggle lets anyone switch to manual framing if they prefer.

"Davos happens in January. A lot of delegates arrive in heavy winter gear and would rather not remove gloves to tap a screen."

Every interaction in the flow accepts voice as an alternative to touch. The hardware spec included a unidirectional microphone to isolate speech from the ambient noise of the pavilion floor.

Photo capture — AI face-tracking centres the delegate automatically. The tracking toggle gives guests control; "Take Photo" is always one tap away.

Photo review — "Retake Photo" or "Proceed." The retake safety net was important: at a high-profile venue, no delegate should be stuck with a photo they don't like.

Postcard Generation

The 20-second wait: turning processing time into anticipation

AI image generation takes 20 to 25 seconds. I designed the loading screen to name each stage as it happens: Photo Captured, Theme Applied, AI Processing, Finalising. A progress bar runs underneath a headline that reads "AI Magic in Progress."


The step indicators do two things. First, they give the wait a sense of forward motion so it feels like something is building rather than stalling. Second, they tell the delegate exactly what the AI is doing with their photo. That level of transparency matters at WEF, where most people in the room have a clear idea of how these systems work.

AI image generation takes 20 to 25 seconds. I designed the loading screen to name each stage as it happens: Photo Captured, Theme Applied, AI Processing, Finalising. A progress bar runs underneath a headline that reads "AI Magic in Progress."

The step indicators do two things. First, they give the wait a sense of forward motion so it feels like something is building rather than stalling. Second, they tell the delegate exactly what the AI is doing with their photo. That level of transparency matters at WEF, where most people in the room have a clear idea of how these systems work.

"AI Magic in Progress" — four stage indicators (Photo Captured → Theme Applied → AI Processing → Finalising) turn a 20-second wait into anticipation rather than impatience.

The Memento

Your Postcard from Davos — designed to share

The generated postcard brings together the AI-processed guest photo, their country stamp and flag, the Tata brand mark, the WEF Davos dates, and a personalised line: "From [country] to Davos. I proudly contribute to the spirit of dialogue."


I designed the postcard format and typography to render well as a LinkedIn post image. The QR code takes the delegate straight to a download link on their phone, and the share flow is pre-populated for LinkedIn. The experience reaches well beyond the pavilion floor.

The generated postcard brings together the AI-processed guest photo, their country stamp and flag, the Tata brand mark, the WEF Davos dates, and a personalised line: "From [country] to Davos. I proudly contribute to the spirit of dialogue."

I designed the postcard format and typography to render well as a LinkedIn post image. The QR code takes the delegate straight to a download link on their phone, and the share flow is pre-populated for LinkedIn. The experience reaches well beyond the pavilion floor.

"Your Postcard from Davos is ready!" — the generated postcard with guest photo, country flag, Tata branding, and a QR code to download and share on LinkedIn.

Physical-Digital Handoff

Closing the loop: the barista dashboard

The kiosk journey ends on screen, but the experience continues at the barista counter. I built a parallel iPad dashboard that keeps the barista updated in real time: the current queue, the blend requested, the order ID, and its brewing status.


The mobile share screen doubles as the order confirmation. It shows the postcard alongside "Collect your: Dawn of Darjeeling" and "Show this at the counter." One screen does two jobs: it is the delegate's shareable memento and their pickup prompt at the same time.

The kiosk journey ends on screen, but the experience continues at the barista counter. I built a parallel iPad dashboard that keeps the barista updated in real time: the current queue, the blend requested, the order ID, and its brewing status.

The mobile share screen doubles as the order confirmation. It shows the postcard alongside "Collect your: Dawn of Darjeeling" and "Show this at the counter." One screen does two jobs: it is the delegate's shareable memento and their pickup prompt at the same time.

Mobile postcard screen — the delegate's share artefact and their order confirmation in one.

Barista iPad dashboard — blend, order ID, and brewing status in real time.

What this delivered

World Economic forum

World Economic Forum, Davos — one of the world's highest-profile venues

Nine

Distinct experience phases, each with defined interaction states and fallbacks

Three

Personalised beverage blends with origin storytelling woven into the recommendation

2x

Input modalities — voice and touch — so no interaction is gated behind one

~

Shareable reach — LinkedIn-optimised postcard extended the experience globally

What I Learned

Designing for the world's most distracted audience

WEF delegates are among the most time-pressed people in the world. Every decision in this experience had to justify itself. The project pushed my thinking on progressive disclosure further than anything I had worked on before: one thing at a time, and the next step has to feel obvious without being telegraphed.


The hardest call was how much brand storytelling to thread through the recommendation flow without slowing it down. The answer was to put it inside the AI Flavorist's character rather than in explanatory text. Her knowledge of tea origins felt like personality. That distinction between information and voice is something I carry into every conversational design project now.


I also learned how deeply the physical environment shapes digital interaction decisions. The Swiss winter, the noise levels, the 90-second attention window, the gloves: none of that comes from a design system. It has to be designed for from scratch, starting with the real conditions on the ground.

WEF delegates are among the most time-pressed people in the world. Every decision in this experience had to justify itself. The project pushed my thinking on progressive disclosure further than anything I had worked on before: one thing at a time, and the next step has to feel obvious without being telegraphed.

The hardest call was how much brand storytelling to thread through the recommendation flow without slowing it down. The answer was to put it inside the AI Flavorist's character rather than in explanatory text. Her knowledge of tea origins felt like personality. That distinction between information and voice is something I carry into every conversational design project now.

I also learned how deeply the physical environment shapes digital interaction decisions. The Swiss winter, the noise levels, the 90-second attention window, the gloves: none of that comes from a design system. It has to be designed for from scratch, starting with the real conditions on the ground.

LET'S WORK

TOGETHER

CONTACT NOW

BASED in New Delhi INDIA

UX + Communication Designer

Based in India, I design experiences and communication systems rooted in behavioral research. A keen eye for minimal aesthetics and elegant typography runs through my interactive design work.
linkedin
Behance

LET'S WORK

TOGETHER

CONTACT NOW

BASED in INDIA . UX Designer

Based in India, I design experiences and communication systems rooted in behavioral research. A keen eye for minimal aesthetics and elegant typography runs through my interactive design work.
linkedin
Behance

LET'S WORK

TOGETHER

CONTACT NOW

BASED in New Delhi INDIA

UX + Communication Designer

Based in India, I design experiences and communication systems rooted in behavioral research. A keen eye for minimal aesthetics and elegant typography runs through my interactive design work.
linkedin
Behance

LET'S WORK

TOGETHER

CONTACT NOW

BASED in New Delhi INDIA

UX + Communication Designer

Based in India, I design experiences and communication systems rooted in behavioral research. A keen eye for minimal aesthetics and elegant typography runs through my interactive design work.
linkedin
Behance