Good Design accolade for My Aged Care: “a clear, accessible and empowering digital experience”

Liquid’s redesign of complex public services around sensitive and evolving needs of older Australians has earned a prestigious 2026 Australian Good Design award for helping millions of older Australians confidently navigate the largest reform of aged care in a generation.

Announced today, the national myagedcare.gov.au platform is a Good Design Winner in the Digital Design category. Our second award for human-centred transformation of the Australian Government's digital gateway to aged care services. View full details on the Good Design winners’ index.

The jury described the redesign of My Aged Care — which re-launched on 1 November 2025, aligned to the Australian Government’s introduction of person-centred, rights-based legislation — as “an exceptional example of large-scale, human-centred service design that successfully translates complex legislative reform into a clear, accessible and empowering digital experience.”.

The jury also said:

“The thoughtful integration of personalised guidance tools, progressive disclosure and carefully structured content demonstrates how digital design can directly improve public understanding and decision-making during sensitive life transitions. Innovation is evident in enabling personalisation without introducing friction for users with low digital confidence, while the masterful information architecture and navigation patterns establish trust between people and the organisation. The Jury congratulates the team on achieving meaningful societal impact at national scale.”

The new Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) brought sweeping reform to how aged care works: from assessment to funding services to compliance, impacting everyone providing and receiving care. It extended the focus of My Aged Care from first-time customers to new and existing users, refocusing attention on older people and their evolving needs and rights, with the intention of meeting them wherever they are on their ageing journey.

During the preceding 18 months, even as new policies were still being developed, Liquid worked with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, and hundreds of older Australians and their families, to redesign and personalise My Aged Care to reflect principles of choice, control, fairness, transparency, and accountability. Read full case study.

The Department's Assistant Secretary (Navigation and Access Branch) Aimee Chambers welcomed news of the 2026 Australian Good Design award for My Aged Care.

Aimee said: "The new Aged Care Act places the rights of older people at the centre of the aged care system. The redesigned My Aged Care website helps bring those rights to life by making information easier to find, understand and act upon.

"Through close collaboration between Liquid and the Department, we transformed complex reform requirements into a simpler, more accessible digital experience that supports informed decision-making and greater choice and control.

"Our success came from combining policy expertise, user-centred design and customer insights to create practical solutions that meet the needs of older people in a changing aged care environment.

"As the aged care system continues to evolve, the My Aged Care website will remain a key tool for supporting older people to understand their rights, access services and make informed decisions about their care."

This year’s Australian Good Design Awards reflect the theme ‘Design that Leads’, celebrating the critical role of design in navigating complexity, driving innovation and creating positive change.

Good Design Australia Managing Director Rachel Wye said the range of projects recognised in 2026 reflected the role design now plays across the economy and community. She said: “Design is an important economic and social capability. It influences the products we create, the services we rely on, the policies we develop and the way organisations respond to complex problems.”

Liquid CEO Fiona Armstrong said the Good Design award paid testament to the societal importance of taking a human-centred approach to build confidence, trust and access to aged care.

Fiona said: “We knew legislative reform at this scale would significantly increase the need for clarity and support for millions of Australians, so we took the opportunity to redesign the national platform around the way ageing actually happens, and how older people use digital.

“Aged care can be overwhelming, and no-one's journey is the same. We co-designed new easier approaches to wayfind in a complex ecosystem; new contextualisation tools that show what could help in each individual’s situation; clear process checklists and decision points; and easy comparison tools that make it simpler to understand costs and choose a provider.

“The new My Aged Care experience is already having a positive impact, with lessons for other complex care systems that people interact with over their life course.”

Aged care is a complex, sensitive topic that has the potential to impact a significant proportion of more than 4.4 million Australians now aged over 65 and expected to live into their 80s.

Since 2019, Liquid has worked with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, and hundreds of older Australians and their families to transform the My Aged Care platform, empowering people to make informed decisions about care options.

The latest project involved a significant digital transformation of aged care customer experience, requiring a complete redesign of the platform, scope and approach to meet both changing user needs and the intent of the new Act.

Read full case study.

Good Design accolade for My Aged Care: “a clear, accessible and empowering digital experience”

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