LUNA
Winner of the E2i Student Design Challenge 2025
Judged by European design experts and Interpol innovation leaders.
In short A hand tool and smartwatch app that support protection and confidence in public spaces.
Tailored for women's real needs - It addresses gendered expectations to avoid assertiveness, and offers a unique carrying experience:
a lifestyle & wellness product that feels friendly and empowers independence.
Concept Creating a friendly, intuitive, and confidence-inspiring system that addresses the user's mental fear model, making self-defense tools accessible to women who lack experience in assault incidents.
A Caring App
Luna reads the body's stress signals through the smartwatch. It alerts when it detects irregular stress levels, and activates protective automations in a gradual escalation path, until the user chooses to stop. This includes light, alarm, and a SOS reactions.
-It helps recruit assertiveness and interrupt harmful escalation.
-It communicates daily with the user in a friendly manner - creating a sense of availability and protection in everyday life.
Ergonomic hand tool
- Symmetrical and coherent
- Multiple grip styles easily grasped without looking
- Activates with an intuitive fist-press that requires no training
- The press deactivates the smart safety lock, while activating
light and sound for unclear situations
- In case of an emergency, an additional press releases pepper spray
From weapon to accessory
A customizable silicone cover creates a soft, stylish, everyday look - building social and personal legitimacy to carry.
The design helps normalize self-defense and return power and a sense of control to women in public spaces.
Design process
Pepper Spray Market Survey Confrontation with User Ratings of Their Effectiveness
A Market analysis revealed that though legal and effective, most self-defense tools are rarely used perceived as intimidating, impractical, and misaligned with women’s daily and emotional needs.
The project was grounded in extensive research, including 80 in-depth interviews and consultations with over 10 experts in gender, defense, and design.
Key insights revealed recurring friction points:
Principle of shape development
Harnessing the intuitive contraction action of the stressed victim To operate a simple and readable device, Clear and easy to grasp Without the need for sensitive motor skills.
development
More than 70 prototypes were developed and tested.
Identifying the Use Scenario
Users described moments of tension — like sensing someone behind them — where help must be reached quickly, quietly, and by instinct. This shaped a form that's easy to locate and activate discreetly, without looking.
Button Testing
Creating a Texture Indicative of Pressing with the Base of the Finger
"We are careful to remember that the object I am working on is an object that people will use in some way or another. If the point of contact between the product and people becomes a point of friction, the industrial designer has failed. If, on the other hand, contact with the product improves people's confidence, comfort, willingness to buy, or efficiency, the industrial designer has succeeded."
Henri Dreyfus, Designing for People
