Patent Public Search

We had a tight turnaround for this one — just 6 short weeks from the time the request came to our team until the site needed to go live. Although the Patent Public Search has been available for a couple years, the client ask was to update the landing page and include an option for a simplified as the feedback from the general public was that the original search functionality was too complex.

The Problem

The biggest issue with this project was time. Although sticking to an attractive and user-centered design is important, for this project we needed to prioritize simplicity in order for the developers to have a large enough window for testing and bug fixes.

The reason behind are client’s ask was that the Search function in Patent Public Search was too advanced for the general user. We needed a basic search option for the user unfamiliar with complex databases.

The Process

As the sole designer on the project, I leveraged the USPTO’s public design system to pull code and components into a cohesive and simple design.

I then put together a few early mockups and discussed them with the client UX lead and the project’s four product owners. We decided that even these designs were too complex for the rushed timeline so I hurried back to the drawing board and simplified even further.

The Solution

After many more meetings, mockups, and little tweaks we finally came up with a solution that every — especially the over-worked developers — were happy with.

We decided to add a ‘Basic Search’ access point to the main Patent Public Search page and rename the original Search function as ‘Advanced Search.’ We also added text below the Welcome banner explaining the change.

We then divided the Basic Search page into two sections — a quick lookup for patent and publication numbers and a true basic search with the function to filter patents by fields like inventor name or publication date.

We also gave users the option to preview or download a pdf of the full patent they were searching for.

Conclusion

Although the design isn’t as clean as it could be, the site is live and the public is able to use it with minimal confusion. What it lacks in beauty it hopefully makes up for in clarity. There are plans to make future improvements and simplifications to the site in the future. You can see the full Patent Public Search website here.