Harmoni Collins

Product Design Engineering

Hi, my name is Harmoni and I’m in my final year of my Bachelor of Engineering (Product Design) (Honours) / Bachelor of Business (Economics). This course has given me opportunities to explore various social and environmental issues that we face around the world. I’m passionate about creating product service systems. To me, the projects we develop in Product Design are just a small part of a bigger movement that we’re trying to create. During my time at Swinburne University, I have had the privilege to develop skills in key areas that allow me to solve relevant, complex problems through engineering. I love all things technical and design, and I love to bring my creative approach across both of my disciplines.

My final year project is called Lenio – Supporting (Men)tal Health.

Anxiety is like the common cold of mental health. Approximately 1 in 5 Australian males suffer from anxiety in their lifetime, and that figure is thought to be even worse in the aftermath of COVID-19. Melbourne-based psychologist, Amber Tsindos, highlights that men in commercial construction are particularly vulnerable and can be significantly burdened by the changing landscape approaching COVID-normal. Lenio, or Lenny, is a tactile, sensory key-ring designed to respond to some of the physical anxiety symptoms of users through touch. Lenny invites you to press, squeeze, or click the topographically contoured surface and imparts reassuring mechanical feedback. Pressure sensors work in conjunction with an appto monitor interactions and help manage your anxiety. The Lenny app can also capture valuable data when integrated into counselling support programmes. Locking straight onto your keyring, Lenny reassuringly accompanies you wherever you go.

Final Year Project: Lenio - Supporting (Men)tal Health

Vitruvian: (Home)work Out - Articulating Exercise Bench

Design for Manufacture: The Hideaway

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.