Braydon Ligthart

Hi, my name’s Braydon Ligthart.

I’ve just completed my final year of Product Design Engineering at Swinburne University.

I have a passion for problem solving through a thoughtful, user-centered approach. I thrive on blending technical engineering detail with creative thinking, especially when working within tight constraints. Whether it’s optimizing a mechanical system or crafting meaningful design solutions, I bring a proactive mindset and a love for iterative development. I enjoy collaborating across disciplines, translating complex requirements into elegant, functional outcomes. I believe great engineering starts with empathy. Understanding how people interact with systems helps me design solutions that feel intuitive, purposeful, and genuinely helpful in everyday life.

Outside of engineering, I’m drawn to the outdoors and travel, exploring new environments fuels my curiosity and broadens my perspective. I’m driven by a desire to create impactful, well-considered products that improve how people live, move, and interact with the world around them.

Professionally, I have been working in the rail industry for 3 years and find it very fulfilling. I love feeling that my work impacts the everyday person, helping them get to where they need to go efficiently, safely, and reliably. It’s rewarding to contribute to systems that shape daily life.

RideAble

This final year research project aimed to create an accessible train seat for people with disabilities and older adults.

Donut End Effector

This project sought to design an end effector to a kuka robot to dispense one of two icing choice onto a donut using syringes provided.

Our goal in this project was to achieve this by only using a single motor. To achieve this we created a ratcheting assembly where each syringe is attached to a gear that only spins in one direction.

Car Handle

This project aimed to design a stylish product to assist older adults with entering and exiting a car.

Children's Chair

This project aimed to design a chair for children aged 5-8 that would fit seamlessly into their parents home. This chair is a modular assembly that children can take apart to create unique playsets and then when they're finished, pack it up again.

Tanghulu 2 U

This 4 wheel e-bike was designed and built in South Korea as a part of an industry linked project. We were tasked as a team with designing a unique body for the provided chassis. Our team decided on designing a food cart specifically for Tanghulu.

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.