IP Australia
Specialists in Complexity
IP Australia
Government
HCD/Service Design
IP Australia: Mapping the digital IP journey Making it easier to protect ideas in Australia and abroad Executive summary Protecting an idea is one of the most important steps a business can take, but applying for a trademark or patent can be confusing, slow and full of unfamiliar terms. Applicants often don’t know which type of protection they need, what the process involves or how long it will take, and international applications add another layer of rules, fees and timelines. I was engaged as a service designer to map the end-to-end digital journeys for intellectual property applications, covering trademarks and patents for both Australian and international applicants. The goal was to understand how people really experience the process, from first searching for information to submitting an application and managing it afterwards, and to find where the journey breaks down. Through research with applicants, attorneys and internal teams, I mapped current-state customer journeys across every stage and channel, capturing what people were doing, thinking and feeling at each step. These maps showed pain points, drop-off moments, duplicated effort and gaps between digital and offline touchpoints, as well as where the experience differed between Australian and international applicants. My role Service design, user research, current-state journey mapping, pain-point and opportunity analysis, stakeholder workshops. What was delivered End-to-end journey maps for trademark and patent applications Separate journeys for Australian and international applicants Key pain points and moments of truth across the application process Prioritised opportunities to simplify and improve the digital experience
Challenge
Applying to protect intellectual property is rarely a single, simple journey. Trademarks and patents follow different processes, timelines and rules, and each can take months or even years from first search to final registration. Along the way, applicants move between websites, online forms, emails, letters, phone calls and, often, IP attorneys. Much of this experience happens outside any one digital channel, so mapping it meant piecing together a journey that no single team or system could see in full. The audience made it more complex. First-time applicants, such as small business owners and inventors, often don’t know whether they need a trademark or a patent, what the terms mean or what happens next. IP attorneys, on the other hand, file applications regularly and care about speed and efficiency. Each group experiences the same process very differently, and the maps had to capture both without blurring them together. International applications added another layer. Australians seeking protection overseas, and overseas applicants seeking protection in Australia, go through international systems such as the Madrid Protocol for trademarks and the Patent Cooperation Treaty for patents. These bring extra steps, fees, deadlines and hand-offs between countries, and the points where Australian and international processes meet were often where confusion and delays happened. The work also had to bring internal teams together. Different parts of the organisation owned different stages of each journey, with their own priorities and views of where the problems were. The challenge was to build a shared, evidence-based picture of the end-to-end experience, one that every team could recognise and act on, across four distinct journeys: local and international, trademark and patent.
Solution
used Miro as the shared workspace for the whole project, turning research into customer journey maps that every team could see, question and build on together. Because Miro is visual and collaborative, it helped bring teams from across the organisation into one place, whether they were in the room or working remotely. I started by gathering everything we knew about the application processes, including research findings, process documents, website content and insights from internal teams, onto shared Miro boards. From there, I mapped four end-to-end journeys: Australian trademarks, Australian patents, international trademarks and international patents. Each map followed the applicant from first realising they needed protection, through searching, applying and examination, to registration and ongoing management. For each stage, the maps captured what applicants were doing, thinking and feeling, along with every touchpoint they used, from web pages and online forms to emails, letters, calls and IP attorneys. Behind the customer view, I added the internal teams, systems and hand-offs supporting each step, creating a service blueprint that showed how the front and back stages connected. With the journeys laid out side by side, patterns became clear. Pain points were tagged and colour-coded across the maps, showing where applicants got confused, waited without updates, repeated information or dropped out, and where Australian and international processes created extra friction. In collaborative Miro workshops, teams voted on and prioritised these pain points, then grouped them into clear opportunity areas.
Result
The project gave IP Australia something it hadn’t had before: a clear, shared view of how people really experience applying for trademarks and patents, from start to finish, in Australia and internationally. The four journey maps and service blueprints became a common reference point across the organisation. Teams that had each seen only their own part of the process could now see the whole experience, how their work connected to others and where hand-offs were letting applicants down. That shared picture made conversations about change faster and more focused, because they were grounded in evidence rather than opinion. The work also gave the organisation a clear direction. Pain points were prioritised with input from the teams responsible for each stage and grouped into opportunity areas, such as clearer guidance for first-time applicants, better status updates during long waits, less repeated information and smoother hand-offs between Australian and international processes. Together, these formed a practical foundation for improving the digital IP experience. Four end-to-end journey maps covering local and international trademarks and patents Service blueprints connecting the customer experience to internal teams and systems Prioritised pain points and opportunity areas agreed across teams A shared, evidence-based foundation for improving the digital experience
From our Client:
“William’s customer journey work gave us a clear, shared picture of how people really experience applying for trademarks and patents, both in Australia and internationally. His research and mapping uncovered the pain points that mattered most and gave our team a strong foundation for improving the digital experience. Thank you, William, for such thoughtful and thorough work.”
Jing Shen
Product Design Lead I Assistant Director