FLIP THE VAPE – A Community-Led Anti-Vaping Campaign

FLIP THE VAPE was co-designed through a culturally respectful, community-first design process that prioritised Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing. The project began with deep listening: workshops, consultations and feedback sessions were held with 11 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) across Victoria, alongside engagement with young Aboriginal people, Elders, and health workers. These insights shaped every element of the campaign.

The visual identity was bold, cheeky, and proud, flipping traditional “quit” messaging into a symbol of strength and cultural resistance. The core icon – based on “flipping the bird” – was reclaimed as a gesture of youth defiance against vaping, now layered with cultural pride. This became the unifying visual across TikTok filters, tram wraps and OOH advertising.

Digital-first channels (Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram) ensured relevance and reach, while offline components (shopping centre screens and branded tram wraps) extended community presence. Youth ambassadors were photographed to reflect their cultural identity, each becoming a campaign face in their community. Professional execution was maintained across all assets, with agile project management, internal design QA, and regular ACCHO feedback cycles.

FLIP THE VAPE exceeded the design brief by creating a visual movement that continues to live on through schools, health centres, and community events. Its design process embedded trust, co-ownership and beauty into every touchpoint.

FLIP THE VAPE is a standout example of how professional design can centre culture, elevate community voices, and set a new benchmark for health communication. The campaign embodies design excellence through its bold aesthetics, high accessibility, strategic function, and deep cultural sensitivity.

Visually, the identity is striking – bright palettes, contemporary fonts, and a cheeky tone meet culturally rich symbols of pride and defiance. Each creative asset, be it a TikTok filter or a tram wrap, was tailored to be both visually engaging and functionally precise, ensuring consistency across formats while maintaining cultural nuance.

User experience was prioritised throughout: from co-design sessions to ambassador input, real people shaped the language and visuals. Every element was tested for relatability, inclusiveness and safety. Campaign accessibility extended to QR-enabled posters, interactive web tools, and a partnership with Quitline.

Beyond function, FLIP THE VAPE’s design choices reframed quitting not as loss, but as a bold act of cultural leadership. That’s a complete redefinition of purpose through design. Its holistic design process, scalable visual identity, and measurable cultural impact make it a benchmark for how meaningful outcomes emerge when design listens.

It has already been noted by public health bodies in other states and will soon be extended nationally. This campaign proves that culturally responsive design isn’t a niche; it’s the gold standard for inclusive innovation, and Victoria is now leading that conversation.

FLIP THE VAPE broke new ground as the first Aboriginal-led anti-vaping campaign in Victoria, transforming not just what was said, but how it looked, sounded, and felt. Its innovation lies in its redefinition of public health communication: using design to inspire empowerment, not fear.

Rather than relying on data-heavy ads or clinical warnings, the campaign’s innovation was rooted in storytelling, cultural pride, and youth-centred platforms. The creative team co-developed a visual language that was cheeky, bold and disruptive. The central gesture of “flipping the bird” was reimagined as “Flip the Vape,” a visual metaphor of youth rebellion for wellbeing, not against it.

The project introduced interactive, user-driven digital assets, like the Snap Lens filter where users could “flip” a vape on screen – gamifying behaviour change through design. The social and digital rollout, combined with eye-level placements in community hubs, meant the design travelled with its audience across physical and digital worlds.

Ground-breaking in its application, the campaign changed the tone of a national conversation. It addressed trauma-informed design needs, incorporated behavioural science, and created a new standard for co-designed public messaging.

Young Aboriginal people were the beating heart of this campaign. Their voices, faces and language drove the look and feel of everything produced. No other campaign in Australia has blended such high-quality design execution with First Nations-led storytelling at this scale, and it’s why it’s now a reference model for other public health bodies.

This wasn’t just good design; it was necessary design, done in a way that had never been seen before.

The impact of FLIP THE VAPE has been significant and essential. It reached over 1 million people, generated more than 1 million digital engagements, and drove thousands of visits to support resources. However, beyond the numbers, the campaign has altered the tone of public health communication in Victoria.

Young Aboriginal people reported feeling seen and empowered. ACCHOs have since continued using the visuals in school programs and local events. Community leaders praised its pride-led messaging for avoiding shame and creating new role models. From a commercial perspective, it showed how a modest investment ($270,000) could deliver lasting behavioural and brand impact when design is community-led.

The assets are evergreen, highly adaptable, and reusable, and are already being shared across states, sporting events and education channels. From a design ecosystem view, it reinforced the value of investing in professional design teams to create complex, culturally safe solutions. It helped health organisations see how bold design can sit comfortably alongside evidence and policy, without compromise.

The campaign is now being adapted by other Aboriginal health services nationally, proving that its framework is both scalable and sustainable. Its long tail is being seen in continued ambassador engagement, school activations, and community feedback requesting more design-led initiatives like it.

FLIP THE VAPE has shifted the conversation: from viewing design as aesthetic, to recognising it as a tool of social empowerment and cultural healing. Its legacy will endure in the ongoing collaborations it sparked, and in the lives it helped steer towards healthier futures.

While FLIP THE VAPE is a public health campaign, it also exemplifies key principles of circular and sustainable design, particularly through its strategy to serve as a long-term, adaptable platform rather than a one-off communication effort.

From the outset, the campaign rejected linear, disposable awareness tactics in favour of a circular approach: creating reusable, adaptable, and scalable content systems. The design team developed a flexible, mobile-first visual identity and messaging framework that could be repurposed across digital, outdoor, educational, and community contexts.

Creative templates were designed to integrate seamlessly with future campaigns, significantly reducing the need for new materials or costly redesigns. This approach allows ACCHOs and other partners to activate the campaign multiple times, in multiple regions, strengthening community identity and wellbeing across generations.

Core assets, including brand iconography, campaign colours, and ambassador portraits, were designed with longevity in mind. These assets continue to be used by communities without needing additional production or reprints.

The campaign also prioritised digital-first engagement (via platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram), reducing reliance on printed materials and encouraging low-waste, high-impact behavioural messaging.

Out-of-home (OOH) placements were carefully selected for maximum reach and minimal environmental impact, focusing on high-traffic, multi-use locations such as tram stops and shopping centres. Where physical collateral was used, it was strategically placed for long-term visibility rather than mass-produced, further minimising waste.

In addition, the campaign’s collaboration with Quitline supports a preventative model of care, reducing long-term strain on health systems by encouraging earlier cessation and behaviour change.

FLIP THE VAPE may not be a commercial product, but it demonstrates that sustainable design is about systems thinking: creating outcomes that last, adapt, and reduce environmental and social impact.

It offers a replicable model for sustainable, culturally grounded social design, one that can inspire similar approaches across industries and countries.