Philips DECT
On-screen OS flows for a Philips DECT cordless phone, the S9/S10 MobileLink line.
- Role
- UI Designer
- Client
- Philips
- Timeline
- 3+ months
The short version
Philips DECT phones use DECT, Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications, the standard cordless phone technology, alongside a link to a paired mobile phone. I worked on the on-screen OS for one of these phones, the S9/S10 MobileLink line: a touchscreen cordless handset that connects to up to two mobile phones, plays back voicemail, and pairs with Bluetooth headsets. I designed the flows behind its many screens, over more than three months.
Designing the OS for a phone, not an app
A cordless phone's screen is small and works alongside physical buttons, not touch alone. Every flow had to hold up inside that constraint.
01
Design each screen's flow
Each function on the phone, like the mobile phone link, the answering machine, and Bluetooth pairing, needed its own flow mapped out on a small display.
02
Design for touch and hardware together
The phone combines a touchscreen with physical buttons, so flows had to work through both.
Flows for the phone's OS
I designed many flows across the phone's screens, covering things like the dual mobile phone link, the answering machine, and Bluetooth pairing, over more than three months.
Seeing it out in the world
I never had formal visibility into how the phone sold. But years later, I came across it on YouTube, out in the real world, in someone's hands. That was a genuinely happy moment.
