Overview
FLUX laser cutters have a built-in touchscreen for setup, calibration, and monitoring. But the interface hadn't been updated in 3 years. Users dealt with inconsistent layouts, unclear labels, and missing feedback states.

I redesigned the firmware UI and built a scalable design system covering navigation, typography, modals, icons, and error states. The new interface improves clarity, accessibility, and consistency across 6 laser cutter models. The redesign now serves 40k+ users worldwide.

Role
UI/UX Design, Prototyping, Iconography, UX writing, Design handoff

Team
Product Manager: Jack, Mandy
Full Stack Engineer: Esther, Jason

Timeline
1.5 months design (3 months development & testing)
‍Launched in Nov, 2024

My Approach

Audit the existing interface

Reviewed all firmware screens across 6 laser cutter models to document inconsistencies in layout, typography, and interaction patterns.

Define the design system

Created a unified system covering colors, buttons, modals, icons, and states to ensure consistency and speed up future development.

Redesign core screens

Worked with PMs and engineers to prioritize high-impact screens. Designed and prototyped new layouts for navigation, settings, and error handling.

Test and refine

Tested common tasks on physical devices, identified usability gaps, and iterated based on internal feedback before launch.

Highlights

A modern interface for 40k users across 6+ laser cutters.

Unified Design System - Consistent colors, typography, and components across all screens.

30-Language Support - Responsive layouts that handle Arabic, German, and everything in between.

Touch-Optimized Controls - Larger tap targets and clearer feedback for gloved hands and busy workshops.

The old interface hadn't been updated in 3 years. Inconsistent buttons, unclear states, and cramped layouts frustrated users. The redesign brought visual clarity and a scalable system.

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Supporting 30 languages meant designing for text expansion, Right-to-left layouts, and button truncation. Every component had to flex without breaking.

Context

The interface users touch every time they cut.

Firmware is the first thing users see when they power on their laser cutter. If it's confusing, every session starts with friction.

What is BeamOS?

BeamOS is the firmware that runs on FLUX laser cutters. It's the touchscreen interface users interact with to calibrate, monitor, and control their machine. Unlike Beam Studio (the desktop software), BeamOS lives on the machine itself. Users tap it with bare hands in noisy workshops.

6+ machines, one interface.

FLUX sells multiple laser cutter series: beamo, Beambox, HEXA, and more. Each has different capabilities, but they all run BeamOS. Any update I designed had to work across hardware specs, unique features, and user expectations for each product line.

30 languages, including Right-to-left.

FLUX has distributors in 70+ countries. BeamOS supports 30 languages, including Arabic (right-to-left), German (long words), and Chinese (character density). Every button, label, and modal had to handle text expansion without truncation or overflow.

Problem

An interface that looked and felt stuck in 2021.

The firmware worked, but it hadn't kept up with user expectations. Every tap reminded users how dated it felt.

Persona (Based on support tickets & user feedback)

Meet Tom, a workshop owner.

Tom is a 38-year-old custom signage maker who runs a small fabrication shop.

‍He owns two FLUX laser cutters and runs jobs back to back, often with gloves on. He switches between English and German depending on which employee is operating the machine. The touchscreen is his main control surface. When buttons are too small, labels are unclear, or the interface lags, it slows down his entire production line.

Tom represents workshop owners who rely on firmware daily for production.

Problems

Inconsistent and outdated visuals.

The firmware hadn't been updated in 3 years. Buttons had different styles on different screens. Some labels were truncated. Colors didn't match the rest of FLUX's product ecosystem. It looked like software from a different company.

"The software on my computer looks modern. The screen on my machine looks like it's from 2015."

Too small for real-world use.

Tom operates his laser cutter with work gloves on. The old interface had small tap targets, tight spacing, and buttons that were easy to miss. In a busy workshop, every missed tap costs time.

"I end up tapping twice because the buttons are too small. When I'm running five jobs in a row, that adds up."

30 languages, constant breakage.

FLUX supports 30 languages, including German (long words) and Arabic (right-to-left). The old system wasn't built for this. German labels overflowed buttons. Arabic layouts broke entirely. Every translation update risked visual bugs.

"I switched to German for my employee and half the buttons were cut off."

Three problems, one design system.

I was tasked with redesigning the firmware interface and building a system that could:

Unify the visual language, so every screen felt like it belonged to the same product
Improve touch usability, so users like Tom could operate the machine quickly and accurately
Scale across 30 languages, so translations didn't break layouts or truncate labels

The goal was to modernize the interface without disrupting workflows users already knew.

Define

Starting with what mattered most.

I had 1.5 months to redesign 6+ screens, create a design system, and support 30 languages. Before opening Figma, I needed to know where to focus.

Translating specs into priorities.

The PM handed me a 33-slide spec document covering everything from dashboard layouts to breadcrumb navigation. Instead of designing everything at once, I asked: which screens do users see most? Which cause the most friction? We aligned on six priority screens: Home, Dashboard, Machine, Files, Modals, Startup.

Capturing BeamOS 1.0 and AdorOS before the redesign.

I took pixel-perfect screenshots of every screen in BeamOS 1.0 and AdorOS. This gave me a reference for what users already knew, what patterns to preserve, and what needed to change. I documented inconsistencies: buttons that didn't match, colors that clashed, labels that truncated.

Seven directions, one winner.

I started with the Home screen since it's the first thing users see. I drafted seven high-fidelity visual directions exploring different color schemes, icon styles, and layouts. The PM and design manager reviewed all seven and selected one direction. That choice became the foundation for everything else.

Building the System

A design system that scales across 6 machines and 30 languages.

I used atomic design to build components first, then applied them to the six priority screens. Every decision had to survive German text expansion and Arabic RTL layouts.

Components built to flex.

Based on the finalized menu style, I started with the foundation: colors, typography, icons, then components: buttons, inputs, status badges, and lastly: modals, nav bars, custom panels. I designed flexible widths, consistent padding, and truncation rules. Every component included states: default, hover/pressed, disabled. Dark mode wasn't just inverted colors. I adjusted contrast ratios and softened whites to reduce eye strain while keeping status colors (red, green) distinguishable.

Four screens that shape every session.

Home sets the visual tone and surfaces key actions. Dashboard shows real-time job progress and alerts, letting users pause or abort mid-job. I replaced text labels with icons for power and speed to save space and reduce translation issues. Control had the most used buttons arranged from top to bottom. Settings had nested menus with arrow indicators and risky actions like "Reset to Factory" were moved to the bottom in red.

Handoff & Validation

From Figma to firmware.

I checked in with PMs and engineers weekly to ensure consistency and alignment. Before final handoff, I validated designs on actual hardware to catch issues mockups couldn't reveal.

Weekly syncs kept everyone aligned.

Every week, I shared progress with PMs and walked through design decisions. We caught scope creep early, debated tradeoffs, and confirmed information architecture made sense. When specs changed mid-project, I adjusted without losing momentum. The PM signed off on each screen before I moved to the next.

Testing on real touchscreens.

Mockups lie. A button that looks fine on a monitor feels different on a 5-inch touchscreen. I tested designs on actual FLUX hardware to validate tap targets, readability, and responsiveness. I caught issues like insufficient line height at arm's length and buttons too close together for gloved fingers. Final specs were adjusted based on physical testing, not just pixel-perfect mockups.

Reflection

A modern interface ready to scale

The redesign shipped in November 2024. BeamOS now feels like it belongs to the same product family as Beam Studio and the FLUX website.

Impact

Unified experience across 6 machines

Every FLUX laser cutter now runs the same visual language. Users switching between machines don't have to relearn the interface.

Design system built for the future

New screens and features can be added without starting from scratch. Components are documented, tested, and ready for engineers to use.

30 languages without layout breakage

German, Arabic, and 28 other languages now display correctly. No more truncated buttons or broken RTL layouts.

Improved touch usability

Larger tap targets and clearer states make the interface faster to use, especially for workshop owners like Tom operating with gloves.

Next Steps

Monitor usability issues

Track whether the redesign reduces confusion and errors reported by users.

Expand the design system

Document additional components as new features are added. Keep the system evolving with the product

Linked machine features

The spec mentioned future updates for machine health monitoring and usage tracking. Design groundwork is in place for these additions.

Modernizing a 3-year-old touchscreen interface

The firmware UI for FLUX laser cutters was outdated and inconsistent. I redesigned the interface and design system to improve usability and accessibility across 6 product lines.