Octimine – Smart IP patent analysis platform

Context

Octimine was born in 2015 with the vision that everyone could retrieve, analyse and collaborate on patent information without specialized training.

Octimine was initially developed with a strong technological focus, but the need for a clear user interface became evident after a few years. Feedback has shown us that the cluttered interface was even hiding the differentiating factors that could make Octimine stand out compared to direct competitors like IP Rally or Eureka by Patsnap.

This is an ongoing project where we will outline the core pillars of our design and business strategy. Due to confidentiality reasons, I cannot share improvements made to Octimine thus far; however, I would be happy to discuss some of the most significant changes in a call.

Project goals:

We want our users to see and feel our platform as a unique tool that makes patent information comprehensive. By utilizing AI technologies, empowering collaboration, we aim to support them in searching for patents that are relevant to their research or legal cases.

• Define USP: Establish the platform as a smart, intuitive, and collaborative tool.
• Core Strategic Pillars:
  • Simplicity: Craft a clean, focused interface.
  • Smarthness: Integrate AI that matters for our users and make their job easier.
  • Collaboration: Foster efficient, cross-team interactions.

Problem & insights

Key Challenges:

• Complex Navigation: Users were overwhelmed by an overabundance of features.
• Limited Intelligent Assistance: The search engine lacked support after searches were performed, or even suggested a better input when performing patent searches.
• Siloed Workflows: Teams had difficulties sharing insights and aligning strategies due to fragmented collaboration tools.

Research Approach:

• User Interviews & Surveys: Since I joined the team, I have encouraged my team to maintain clear documentation while conducting user research. One of our major clients acquired this year, Continental, has been vital in validating some of our hypotheses during their trial period. They were willing to participate in initial interviews, which allowed us to move forward with prototypes, which were then tested with Continental and other key clients of Octimine.
• Usability Testing: Observing real user interactions revealed navigational bottlenecks and cognitive overload.
• Competitive Benchmarking: We always kept our main competitors in mind, not to copy their strategies but to identify where we could be stronger based on our defined USP.

Design and product strategy

We have implemented several core improvements so far, guided by our USP as the north star, while maintaining the flexibility to adapt along the way.

1. Simplicity

• Interface Streamlining: Adopted a minimalistic design with ample whitespace and a clear visual hierarchy to minimize distractions. We aimed to ensure that our users feel as though they are reading an official document. To achieve this, we evaluate the Octimine brand and we did some adjustments to it, with a more paper-like aesthetic, helping users relate to the traditional format in which patents are typically written.
• Unified Search Experience (work in progress): Consolidated multiple search and filter options into a single, central search bar, with context-sensitive menus appearing only when needed.

2. Smarthness

• Octi AI was born: Octi is our smart octopus pet designed to help users better understand patent information. Released at the beginning of 2025, Octi not only simplifies complex patent details but also has become a distinctive core element inside our platform that users are already talking about. (The marketing team has benefited from Octi as well)
• Contextual Recommendations: Embedded machine learning algorithms to offer related search suggestions and relevant IP categories based on user behavior.
• Advanced Filtering & Visual Analytics(work in progress): Deployed smart filters and interactive dashboards to help users navigate complex data sets and quickly identify trends.
• Real-Time Alerts (work in progress): Enabled smart notifications to update users on new filings and other significant changes in real time.

3. Collaboration

• Communication happening on the go: We have been working hard to enable our users to rate patents based on their research topics. Users can now comment directly on patents, which notifies others who are involved in the project about any changes that have occurred. This allows our users to make decisions more quickly (I’m personally so proud of this one, because I believe digitalisation cannot lose the human touch).
• Shared Workspaces (Work in progress): Developed a feature that enables users to save, rate patents, and comment on search results in a common workspace accessible to all team members.
• Customizable Dashboards & Role-Based Access (work in progress): Offered team-specific views where legal experts, analysts, and strategists can interact with tailored metrics and insights.

Process & Outcomes

Design & Testing:

• We started with user research, including interviews, comparisons with other platforms that our users have used. We also created journey maps to identify pain points.
• Developed low-fidelity wireframes, iterated with usability tests, then refined to high-fidelity prototypes when needed.
• Conducted A/B testing to validate the impact of Octi AI and its intelligent features and collaborative tools.

Results:

• Improved Efficiency: Streamlined design and focused patent documents significantly reduced task completion times.
• Enhanced Intelligence: Contextual suggestions and advanced filtering boost search accuracy, leading to more relevant results. Plus, Octi AI is helping our users make quicker sense of patent information.
• Better Collaboration: Shared workspaces and integrated communication tools facilitated quicker and more aligned decision-making among teams.

Conclusion

Focusing on Simplicity, Smarthness, and Collaboration is transforming Octimine as a search platform. We are developing a refined interface and integrating AI in key areas to provide users with a more intuitive and powerful search experience. Additionally, our enhanced collaboration tools allow teams to work together more efficiently using a single platform, rather than relying on multiple tools, which supports informed decision-making. Octimine demonstrates how addressing fundamental usability challenges with a strategic focus can transform a complex platform into a streamlined and competitive tool. Octimine has made me grow as a person and designer, demonstrating that good design needs to work hand in hand with the user’s needs (desirable products), technical feasibility and business viability.