Establishing a strong brand identity for a new community
How do you visually communicate a feeling like belonging? We needed a brand identity that felt emotionally resonant, clearly distinct from typical expat or networking groups in Tokyo, and flexible enough to evolve as the community grew. The challenge was to balance credibility with warmth, and clarity with fluidity.
Cultivating UX Maturity in a new team
How do you bring design thinking into a grassroots social collective on the organizer side? In the early days, decisions were ad hoc, and experiences were inconsistent. There were few feedback loops, no structured retrospectives, and little documentation. We needed to introduce systems for iteration, collaboration, and shared ownership, without losing the magic of spontaneity.
Designing meaningful social experiences
How do you design events that feel meaningful and not transactional? Events are the primary touchpoint for most of our members. But too often, social events in Tokyo feel shallow or exhausting. Our challenge was to design participant journeys that fostered depth, safety, and genuine connection, from the moment someone signed up to the moment they left.
To create a clear and welcoming identity, I developed a brand system that reflected Kizuna's core values of connection & diversity.
Ideation
Explored many directions, including…
Logo & Visual Identity
Logo was a thread to symbolize connections woven together (relating to the thread in 絆 kanji), but also had a kaleidoscope of colours to represent the diversity we wanted to attract. The square shape brings a sense of stability.
Dynamic Branding
We realized we wanted the design system to evolve over time along with the community. This idea emerged in parallel with our idea to have ‘seasons’ of events, and we could refresh the branding every season
This evolving nature of the brand added a playfulness that set us apart from other groups
Impact
Many people initially signed up because they thought a lot of care and attention had gone into the branding
Branding was both warm + exciting
I introduced UX maturity practices into the way our community operates such that our decisions were guided by research, prototyping, and iteration rather than guesswork.
Approach
I established core principles to guide this process:
Design with intention
Test early, iterate often
Make processes transparent and collaborative
Capture learnings and feed them back into the system
Solutions
Developed Figma prototyping workflows for marketing and event concepting
Co-created reusable Notion templates for event design and facilitation
Launched “kizuna labs” — open, experimental gatherings for both team and community members to explore new event formats and ideas
Introduced lightweight retrospective templates to capture and apply learnings after each event
Co-designed a team meeting structure to improve flow, clarity, and shared ownership
Impact
These changes streamlined our planning process and fostered a more collaborative and experimental culture. The team now works from a shared framework that encourages diverse ideas, rapid testing, and continuous iteration.
I co-designed formats and flows to help Kizuna gatherings feel intentional, emotionally safe, and worth returning to.
Approach
I treated each event like a user experience to be designed end-to-end, mapping the emotional and social journey at every stage:
Before the event: Clear, engaging sign-up flows set expectations and built anticipation
Arrival and onboarding: Warm welcomes, intentional icebreakers, and environmental cues to establish psychological safety
During the event: Facilitation methods that balanced structure with organic conversation, ensuring everyone felt seen and heard
After the event: Follow-up touchpoints to extend the connection beyond the room
Solutions Implemented
Created participant journey maps to identify emotional peaks and potential friction points
Designed modular facilitation frameworks adaptable to different event themes and group sizes
Incorporated micro-moments of connection—small but intentional activities that encouraged vulnerability and authenticity
Developed feedback loops to capture participant sentiment and iterate on future formats
Impact
These changes transformed our events into experiences members described as “refreshing,” “deeply human,” and “energizing rather than draining.” Retention increased as attendees began returning regularly, and new members often cited the event atmosphere as the reason they chose to join our community.
A strong brand and clear vision make it easier for people to trust you and feel proud to be part of the community.
Even a small, volunteer-led team can work like a design team, provided you give them the right tools, processes, and space to experiment.
Depth in social experiences requires creating the right conditions for trust, safety, and curiosity.