A Vision, a Lab,and a New Service
A national service designed with Australia Post to address loneliness, foster belonging, and reconnect communities across the country.
Australia Post has more than 4,300 outlets and a presence in communities across Australia. As part of its mission to help build connected and inclusive communities, it wanted to explore how this network could help address growing loneliness and social isolation.
CraigWalker worked with Australia Post’s Social Design team to develop and trial the Neighbourhood Welcome Service. Based out of a dedicated AP Co-Lab in Footscray, the team worked with residents, post office staff and local organisations to explore how Australia Post’s trusted local presence could help people connect with their neighbourhood and feel more at home in their community.
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The project in numbers
5.6Million Australians experience loneliness
16Community co-design sessions
1National welcome made tangible
Prototyping Belonging in the Real World
CraigWalker and Australia Post established AP Co-Lab, a temporary design lab embedded in Footscray. By working from within the neighbourhood, the team took a deeply human-centred and locally grounded approach, becoming part of the area’s social fabric. Working alongside residents, post office staff and local organisations, the team ran 16 community co-design sessions to develop, prototype and test the service in real settings. Ideas were rapidly iterated across physical and social touchpoints, shaping a service grounded in the experiences of the people who would use and deliver it.
Making Welcome Tangible
The Neighbourhood Welcome Service turned the idea of a community welcome into a working service. Welcome Packs provided local guides, essential information, gifts and offers, while participating post offices, Welcome Spaces and Community Connectors gave people different ways to find information and connect locally. CraigWalker designed the service across its physical and human touchpoints, supported by a distinct visual identity and inclusive tone of voice. In total, the project produced 69 pieces of artwork and 45 components for the live pilot.
Proving the Imapact of Connection
The pilot showed that the service could make a difference to how people experienced their neighbourhood. 89% of participants felt more welcome, with the experience rated 9 out of 10. AP Co-Lab also gave Australia Post teams practical experience in co-design, prototyping and developing new services with communities. The project was later featured in Design for Social Innovation: Case Studies from Around the World (Routledge, 2021), recognising the Neighbourhood Welcome Program as an example of design for social innovation.
