IPP: Intellectual Property Portal
- Timeline
- Nov 2023 – Feb 2024
- Role
- Product Designer
- Tools
- Figma
TL;DR
AsiaIPEX, HKTDC's intellectual property platform, ran on outdated infrastructure and missed basic features creative businesses need. We benchmarked five IP websites and interviewed the film, licensing and publishing sectors, then rebuilt the homepage around what they asked for.
- 5
- IP websites benchmarked
- 31
- Focus group interviews
- 4
- Personas the portal serves
Overview
An IP platform for people who buy, sell and broker creative work.
The site has to serve two kinds of people: those who do the business of IP, and those who help them do it.
- Owner: sells or licenses their IP, and wants it protected.
- Purchaser: looks for IP to buy, and the right contact to buy it from.
- Service provider: offers IP strategy and legal advice.
- Middleman: matches deals, like a book adapted into a film.
Four stages
- Market benchmark
- Focus group interviews
- Qualitative analysis
- Ideation and wireframes
Benchmark
Five IP sites showed what a good portal already has.
The aim: find what makes these sites work for the people they serve, and turn it into recommendations for the portal.
Four sites focus on creative IP, one on technology IP. Together they cover education content, film, publishing and licensing.
Common features became the requirement list
Features most sites share were marked must-have for the new portal. The rest became nice-to-have.
Filters follow how each industry searches
Both film sites filter by genre and production status. TAICCA adds matchmaking purpose, so people can search by what they want to do.
A strict listing process keeps quality up
Membership is mandatory: people register and validate their account, then every listing is reviewed in the back end before it goes live.
Listings share one standard set of fields
Name, summary, author, company, brief introduction, genre and specifications, year of publication, director. One framework makes listings in a sector easy to compare.
Interviews
31 people from the industry told us what they would use.
A focus group, qualitative: how people develop IP today, where it hurts, and what they would want from AsiaIPEX in content, features and promotion.
We invited 60 people from film, licensing and publishing, and 31 took part: 10 from film, 11 from licensing, 6 from publishing and 4 service providers. We asked about their current process, their pain points, and what they expect from an IP website.
The five functions they ranked highest
- IP database
- Networking tool
- Information content: market trends and IP regulation
- Service provider list
- Advanced search
What else they needed
- Information content: market trends and IP regulation were the most useful; then events, IP case studies, IP statistics and platform analytics.
- Data fields: standard and sector-specific fields matter equally, and value-added fields make a deal more likely.
- Education: IP protection, market practice in each sector, and IP types. Service providers also asked for due diligence.
Design
The homepage now leads with the IP, not the partners.
I designed the wireframes, then took them to full colour for the pitch. These are the pitch screens. The portal that launched later is a different version.
Before
A banner, an IP Toolkit ad and four IP types, then pages of partner logos below. No listings and no way to browse by industry.
After
Search first, then IP projects by sector, the four IP types, advisory, news and events. Partners move to the end.
Homepage: browse by sector, then by IP type
The whole page on the left, and what each part of it is for.
IP projects by sector
Creative, Technology and Star IPs, with sectors like design, publishing and film inside each.
The four IP types
A door for each type, with IP advisory right below for people who need help.
News and events
Content the interviews asked for, closing the page.
Find IPs: filter the way each industry searches
Filters for IP type, industry, partner, university or R&D centre, and country. Chosen filters sit above the results and clear in one tap; every listing carries its tags and a Request IP button.
Filtered
Registered Designs and Design chosen, three listings left.
Browse
Every listing, with a tag cloud and recently viewed beside it.
Search
A result count, then more to explore.
IP Service Providers: what each firm covers, up front
Each provider card opens to the IP types and services it handles, with an Enquiry Now on every card. Filter by IP type, service and market to find the right firm.
All providers
The first card open to its IP types and services.
Filtered
Trademarks, IP licensing and Hong Kong chosen.
