Indigo
Social Wellness Strategy elevating everyday social life, and later expressed through a Neighborhood Game
Indigo is a master-planned community where Friendly Futures was engaged to help intentionally shape social life through play.
We were brought on to provide Social Wellness Strategy, focused on identifying how everyday spaces could better support connection, joy, and shared experience as the community took shape. At Indigo, that strategic work later informed the creation of IndiGolf, a Neighborhood Game embedded throughout the neighborhood.
Indigo is one example of how Social Wellness Strategy can guide meaningful design decisions in service of stronger everyday connection.
Context: Indigo
Indigo is a master-planned community designed around a 42-acre working farm, walkability in a suburban context, and joyful community gathering as a core value.
A vision centered on “full-bellied living” and shared life
Connected green areas distributed throughout the neighborhood
Garage-loaded alleyways and narrow streets that favor pedestrians
A culture of “free-range children,” where kids can safely roam and play
Friendly Futures worked upstream with the Indigo team to intentionally shape how social life could unfold across the community over time.
Identified where social connection could have the greatest long-term impact
Translated community values into everyday, lived experiences
Applied an explicit social lens to early planning and design decisions
Social Wellness Strategy
What We Studied
The Social Wellness Strategy began by examining Indigo’s early physical layout, brand vision, and cultural aspirations to identify high-impact opportunities for social connection.
Anticipated patterns of daily movement and encounter
Brand tone and the kind of social life the community aspired to support
Where informal interaction could naturally be encouraged over time
What We Advised
Based on those insights, Friendly Futures provided guidance on how play could support social wellness at a community scale.
Using play as a connective system rather than a single destination
Designing for casual, repeat participation across ages and abilities
Allowing residents to discover social moments organically
From Strategy to Neighborhood Game
In Indigo’s case, the Social Wellness Strategy revealed a compelling opportunity to introduce a Neighborhood Game.
A shared game framework emerged as a way to connect multiple spaces
Play became a tool to stitch together everyday paths and places
In this instance, a Neighborhood Game became a powerful expression of the broader strategy: not the only possible outcome, but a particularly effective one.
IndiGolf
IndiGolf is a custom Neighborhood Game designed to weave playful, shared experiences throughout the Indigo community.
A network of site-specific holes embedded across the neighborhood
Inspired equally by mini-golf and traditional golf
Designed for all ages to play together in everyday settings
Indigo shows how Social Wellness Strategy can guide meaningful, place-specific outcomes that enhance social wellness.
Every strategy responds to its community and context
Neighborhood Games are one possible expression of the work
The goal is always stronger everyday social life
