At Adobe MAX 2025, MakeMyTrip’s design head Aakash Kumar talks about blending creativity, AI, and empathy to shape the future of digital travel.

MakeMyTrip x Adobe

In an exclusive conversation at Adobe MAX 2025 in Los Angeles, I spoke with Aakash Kumar, Vice President of User Experience and Head of Design at MakeMyTrip. He discussed the company’s design philosophy, the influence of user feedback, the rise of generative AI, and the future of travel technology.

The Core Philosophy

MakeMyTrip’s design philosophy, according to Aakash, has always been built on two foundations: the user and the business.

“Our design philosophy has been pretty consistent for a long time. It has to be user-focused and business-focused, both. You look at the users and business together; it can’t be in isolation, one versus the other,” he explained.

With the emergence of generative AI, the design team is rethinking traditional customer journeys. “The way we used to look at funnels is changing into intents and conversations. The core still remains the same: look after the user, take care of the business.”

Designing with Feedback

Aakash emphasised that real feedback comes only once the product is in the user’s hands.

“You can do thousands of tests and usability studies, but when the actual product goes out to the user, that’s when the real feedback arrives,” he said. “We analyse data, conversions, and interactions, and keep refining our designs. It’s always an iterative process.”

The Power of Personalisation

The MakeMyTrip team has seen significant results from design changes rooted in user data and personalisation.

“One example is our homepage redesign,” Aakash shared. “We moved from a desktop-first approach to mobile, and then realised around 2015–16 that we weren’t personalising the app enough. We were one of the first to launch a personalised homepage.”

He explained that subtle customisations, such as showing recent searches directly on the homepage, came from understanding user pain points. “Users don’t always say they want personalisation, but you can see it in their struggle. You observe and then make the next step easier for them.”

Partnering with Adobe

MakeMyTrip’s collaboration with Adobe runs deep.

“Our Adobe partnership has been there for a long time. Recently, we moved to an enterprise licence and started exploring tools like Firefly and Express,” Aakash said. “They have helped speed up design workflows by 30 to 50 per cent in some cases.”

Adobe’s enterprise offering also addressed a key concern for the company. “What we are getting through Adobe is something market-safe and copyright-safe. That was massive for us because we believe in doing things ethically. It was one of the main reasons we went for the enterprise licence.”

Emerging Trends in Travel Tech

Looking ahead, Aakash sees the next wave of travel technology becoming multimodal.

“I’m very bullish about multimodal interfaces, driven by voice but not limited to it. It won’t just be typing and searching. It’ll be a cohesive blend of video, audio, text, and visual inputs working together.”

The Future of Design in the Age of AI

On whether AI will replace design jobs, Aakash remained optimistic.

“The world is changing, but that doesn’t mean jobs vanish overnight. Menial tasks will go, and that’s fine,” he said. “With AI, you get productivity, but you can’t get taste. Taste comes from a designer’s point of view. Models are trained on existing things; thinking out of the box is still human.”

He added, “It’s fine if AI makes 500 copies of the same design. That should have happened years ago. Productivity is increasing, but quality, taste, and originality will always need designers.”

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Published on: Nov 3, 2025 5:17 AM IST