BCTone · Safety-Critical Product Ecosystem
One device. Many critical jobs. One modular system.
As bct electronics’ first UX/UI and brand designer, I shaped the experience across an entire hardware–software ecosystem from touch interfaces and web configuration to brand identity, product communication and market launch.
The brief
Build the product interface and the brand around it.
bct electronics began as a spin-off of Commend with an ambitious product: a compact touch device that could combine telephony, intercom, video, building control and emergency communication.
There was no established product language or brand system to inherit. Working directly with leadership, hardware and software engineering, and some external partners, I created both, from the interfaces people touched to the web platform integrators configured and the story customers met at trade fairs.
What started as a screen-design role became the connective design layer across product, engineering, brand and market.
What the system enabled
A flexible product identity from prototype to global portfolio.
connecting the embedded UI, web management platform, marketing website, user manuals and B2B communication.
supported across intercom, telephony, smart building, CCTV, security and reception.
deployment before the product joined Commend’s official global portfolio.
The challenge
One interface had to serve very different moments of truth.
The same device might sit on a reception desk, control a smart home or help a security team respond to an emergency. Each context needed different features, priorities and levels of urgency without turning the product into six unrelated interfaces.
The product architecture
Modularity before component libraries had a name.
This was pre-Figma and pre-design-system tooling. I built reusable interface elements with Illustrator smart objects, assembled states in Photoshop and maintained consistency through disciplined structure rather than software automation.
The key decision was architectural: keep the interaction shell stable, swap feature modules by configuration and let deployment context determine what each user saw.
The approach
Design where hardware, software and real-world context meet.
I worked shoulder-to-shoulder with both engineering disciplines, testing ideas on physical prototypes and refining flows around screen size, performance, installation and safety constraints.
Evaluate interactions in the environment and form factor where they would actually be used.
Use conversations with integrators, customers and partners to reveal deployment needs early.
Translate product intent into consistent states and assets engineering could implement reliably.
Beyond the touchscreen
A coherent experience across the whole product ecosystem.
Embedded interfaces
Touch experiences for communication, security, video and smart-building control.
Web platform
Configuration and management tools for integrators, administrators and deployment partners.
Brand identity
A recognisable visual language spanning the product, marketing assets and company presence.
Product communication
Clear materials that helped explain a complex, configurable system to customers and partners.
The interface in context
Consistent foundations. Different jobs.
Design leadership
Own the system and help the organisation carry it forward.
Being the first designer meant building the practice as well as the product. The work extended into creative coordination, market representation and team growth and continuity.
Coordinate the story
Directed external creative and marketing partners so product, brand and communication stayed aligned.
Bring the market closer
Demoed the product and interviewed customers, vendors and integration partners at industry trade fairs.
Create continuity
Supported recruiting, shortlisted suitable candidates and onboarded my successor into the product and brand system.
The result
A system strong enough to travel and evolve.
BCTone combined intercom, SIP telephony, video surveillance, access and building control in one adaptable experience. It was deployed internationally across offices, smart homes and high-security environments, and later became part of Commend’s global product portfolio. The lasting win was bigger than one interface: a modular foundation that connected product strategy, engineering reality and a recognisable market presence.
Build a product system that can grow