G-star
UX lead, UX design and research
Client
European Patent Office
Services
Service design, End to end product, research & design
Year
2017 – 2019
Objective: The European Patent Office tasked me with delivering a SaaS software solution from scratch for their worldwide patent search platform, taking it from initial concept to live launch. Using design thinking methodology, I placed users at the heart of the platform’s revamp. After the launch, I continued to improve the platform based on user feedback, ensuring it met the evolving needs of users across 38 European member states while aligning with business objectives.
Espacenet provides free access to over 100 million patent documents. Updated in 2004, the UX has not been reviewed since then. The main goals were:
• Update the interface: Make it more intuitive and visually appealing.
• Ensure responsiveness: Optimize for desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.
• Maintain speed and functionality: Keep the platform fast while preserving its advanced capabilities.
• User-centered design: Understand how users interact with the product to create a more tailored experience.
How did I apply the Design Thinking methodology
After gathering all the requirements from the various stakeholders, I began mapping out the main sections of the software using wireframes.
One of the major issues with the old software was navigating between the results list and patent details. Another challenge was providing users with options to filter their results and refine their searches using a query builder. Based on these solutions, I demoed and presented them to stakeholders, UX colleagues, and search experts. Together, we selected 2 or 3 proposals for prototyping, which I later presented to users via WebEx, as shown below.
The polls results guided us toward solutions that we continually refined based on user feedback.
The solution
Click here to use the software
After months of research and prototyping various solutions, we found that the simplest approach was the most suited to users’ needs. We divided the product into four main sections:
Depending on the device, we display or hide each section to optimize the user experience.
On mobile, each section is easily accessible from the results page.
On desktop, panels are shown or hidden based on available space, with some pages prioritized for better hierarchy. For instance, the results page acts as the primary navigation component, ensuring users never lose track of their search. If users wish to refine their search or use the query builder, the patent details section will be hidden temporarily.
The design phase
During the design phase, I collaborated with the Corporate Identity department in Munich. At the time, the EPO did not have a finalized Style Guide in place, so I had to create one from scratch. Below are examples of the specified components.
Specify, implement, iterate.
Client feedback 1 year after delivery
Client Feedback
Written by Johannes Schaaf
Product Owner of Espacenet,
the new Worlwide Patent Search
March 29, 2020
I am representing the Business for several l products including new Espacenet. In this function I have worked very closely (several hours per day) together with Agathe Gelin, who was responsible for the user design and UX development of the new Espacenet interface.
Working with Ms Gelin has be a great experience, she is absolutely reliable, self-motivated and does not hesitate to take over additional tasks and responsibilities when needed. Over a long period she went from early to late the extra mile, working overtime helping the team to meet its targets and helping to keep the team together.
She drafted the user stories, designed user satisfaction surveys and usability sessions that we conducted with all kinds of target groups (from beginners to patenting experts).
Astounding was her ability to grasp complex models and get in a short period of time an in depth understanding of patent information. At the same time she is very close to modern user groups and understands very well, what different target groups might need. Her ability to transform complex data-structures into a design that is understandable has made new Espacenet a great success.
She happily developed different approaches to select the best fitting ones according to the user consultation. She designed, led own usability sessions and documented others. She was very useful in interpreting the results in such way the clear recommendations could be drawn and concrete steps could be taken to implement the findings from the user consultation.
She represented the EPO on stands and on trade fairs and conferences in a very professional, eloquent and friendly way.
Ms Gelin was a great support in bridging the gap between patent information in Vienna and the software developers, since she understood very well the requirements of both stakeholders. With her outstanding communication skills she smoothened potential frictions and found common approaches helping to reach the targets. It as always great to discuss new approaches with her, since she would easily spot weaknesses, make improvements and agree to common solutions.
She managed also other stakeholders very well e.g. finding a common ground with the Communication Services e.g. to aligning the Espacenet style guide with the EPO style guide, but also pushing for own solutions (e.g. colour fields), where the webpage style guide was simply not good enough for the application. She analysed weaknesses in the accessibility of the application and managed to implement the accessibility criteria according to the accessibility guidelines W3C. She never got tired to propose new design variations or easier ways to show effectively the data outcomes.
In conclusion I have to say that Agathe Gelin has contributed immensely to the success of new Espacenet and her handwriting in terms of great design, slick usability and style is everywhere in this product and she can be very proud of that.
Press
Press article
European Patent Office News
Mentioning feedback from EPO
president, Antonio Campinos
19/11/2019
“Patent information is an incredible resource for everyone involved in IP and with the launch of new Espacenet today, we’re delivering on our commitment to making that resource more accessible,” says EPO President António Campinos. “New Espacenet means inventors can better assess the state of the art, businesses can make more informed strategic IP decisions, and policy makers can gain a better understanding of the patent landscape. Because ultimately, access to patent information supports effective IP, and effective IP supports the economy”.
Since the release of the original Espacenet in 1998, the tool’s primary purpose has been to connect EPO users with the most up-to-date patent records from all regions. The addition of the Patent Translate feature, which provides high-quality, instant translations from English, French and German into 32 European and Asian languages, already enhanced the access Espacenet provides to information in recent years.
The latest version of Espacenet offers several new features, including:
The new filtering tool shows the most frequently occurring classifications, applicants, inventors, authorities, and allows users to refine a query for improved search results. The “Advanced search” feature is flexible and dynamic, and empowers users to build customised, complex Boolean queries combining a wide range of bibliographic fields while graphically visualising the logical relations. Users can now switch between the “Advanced search” and “Smart search” modes at any time without losing a search.
UX lead, UX design and research
AI, UX research, conceptualization