Our Story · Just Landed Kit

Who we are

We're Ayushi, Shimona, and Sonal. Three grad students in the Master of Design in Interaction Design program at California College of the Arts.

All three of us moved to San Francisco for someone we love. We know what it feels like to arrive in a city where your partner already belongs, and start from zero. The excitement of the move followed by the quiet of the after.

That gap between arriving and belonging is what this project has been about.

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Ayushi, Shimona, and Sonal

Why we started this

Nine months ago, we started asking a question: what happens when you move countries for someone you love? We interviewed fifteen people who did, from India, Mexico, Taiwan, Italy, and beyond. We talked to friendship expert Kat Vellos, author of We Should Get Together. And through all of it, one thing kept coming up: loneliness isn't a personal failure. It's a design failure.

There's no onboarding when you move to a new city or a new country. No settling-in phase, no orientation, nobody to show you around. You just arrive, and you're expected to figure the rest out on your own. So we designed something. We called it Just Landed.

Spill the Mimosa Event

On a Sunday afternoon in June 2026, we spread a blanket on the grass at Dolores Park. We brought mimosas, snacks, a stack of bingo cards, and a simple structure. And we invited people who recently moved to San Francisco to come find us. They did.

Strangers introduced themselves through food. People walked around asking each other to sign their bingo cards. Some sat quietly at first, then slowly opened up. A few asked when the next one would be. That was proof. Not that our event was perfect (it wasn't), but that this kind of gathering can hold real weight, if you build it with care.

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What we learned

The invite is the prototype. How you name your event, where you post it, and how you frame it matters more than the event itself. Getting the right people through the door is the biggest design challenge.
People want less structure than we thought. The most connection happened in the open moments, when we stepped back. Our job as hosts was to start the conversation, then get out of the way.
Belonging takes repetition. One event was enough to plant a seed. But friendships don't grow from a single afternoon. The next month matters more than the day itself.

What this kit hopes to do

This kit exists because we don't want Just Landed to stay a one-time event in one city.

If you're reading this, you might be someone who just moved. Or someone who's watched a friend struggle after moving. Or someone who's been in a new city for years and still feels like the invisible neighbor.

Whoever you are, if you want to gather people, this kit is yours. Take what you need. Ignore what doesn't fit. Make it yours.

A hand holding a flower whose petals read welcome, worthy, kind, seen, and home.

Write to us

If you hosted a gathering using this kit, we want to hear about it. If you're thinking about it, we'd love to help. If you just want to say hi, we're here.