BNHS
A digital backbone for serious birding
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) is one of India’s oldest and most respected wildlife research organizations. Since 1883, it has been dedicated to biodiversity conservation through science, education, and public engagement.
Industry
Environment
Stage
Established org,
Product Built from Scratch
Deliverables
Product Discovery, Product Architecture & Strategy, Data Curation, UX Design, UI Design, Visual Identity Design
The vision
BNHS has spent decades gathering data on bird migration—ringing, resighting, and recapture records dating back to the 1960s. But most of this data lived in spreadsheets, personal archives, and disconnected systems. The vision: a unified platform that brings all of this together to support research, enable conservation decisions, and one day, involve the public.
The challenge
BNHS had the data, the expertise, and the mission. What it lacked was infrastructure. Fragmented datasets, inconsistent logging methods, and a lack of standardization made it difficult for researchers to collaborate or extract insights. Field challenges like extreme conditions and limited tech access further compounded the problem. A new platform needed to be intuitive, secure, and researcher-first—while laying the groundwork for public use in the future.
The solution
We partnered with BNHS to design a unified bird monitoring platform that consolidated all historic and future data in one place. From discovery to prototyping, we created a robust system that could handle diverse data types, enable secure collaboration, and reduce friction for field researchers.
Protecting Researcher Autonomy and Trust
We built role-based access and permission settings to give researchers full control over their data. Projects could be kept private or made public with just a toggle. Visual trust markers reinforced clarity on ownership, access, and use.
Simplifying and Standardizing Data Entry
The platform balanced simplicity with scientific depth, enabling secure, offline-friendly data capture and structured export for analysis. We introduced intuitive forms and bulk upload tools for ringing, resighting, and recapture data. Templates, validation nudges, and an intermediary review layer helped eliminate errors and bring consistency across contributors.
Streamlined Resighting Logs and Acknowledgements
To encourage future contributions, we made it easier for researchers to validate and acknowledge public resightings. Copy tools and global search enabled quick responses while maintaining data integrity and continuity.
Impact
The tool that we designed from scratch consolidation of 97 years of research into a unified digital platform. It streamlined access to data for the study and analysis of nearly 9,00,000 birds, covering 500 species across 100 locations.
