Welcome To Good Bois Club: Authenticity & Self In Brand Identity
Ming Chang
Good Bois Club is a research-driven pop-up experience developed from my research, “Self Identity & Brand Identity: Creating Authenticity in Brands Through the Lens of Self.” The research explores how identity is shaped through personal narratives, social relationships, and objects, and applies these ideas to brand-building. Through interactive storytelling, collaborative activities, custom objects, and playful dog-centered experiences, the pop-up translates the research into a living brand activation that celebrates the uniqueness of every dog while exploring what makes a brand feel authentic.
Welcome to Good Bois Club
The pop-up was held over two days, April 24–25, 2026, at Studio 45, a third space in Bushwick, Brooklyn that supports artists, creative projects, and private events.
Space Curation
The first layer of the pop-up explores how my own identity as an artist is reflected in the brand. The overall atmosphere was celebratory, crafty, and childlike, reflecting the brand mission: “celebrating the uniqueness of every dog.” In this way, the event became an expression of my own identity, values, humor, and visual language.
Big dog fixture and photobooth
Exploring different materials, tactility, and making processes has always been important to my creative practice, so the event space was designed as an extension of that authorship. The photo booth backdrop banner was made from CNC knit, supported by an aluminum frame and 3D-printed connectors. Two large dog forms were suspended from the ceiling, made from cardboard and wrapped in fabric, translating the flattened, beady-eyed dog icon that defines my illustration style into a three-dimensional form.
Visitors at Welcome to Good Bois Club
The second layer of the pop-up focused on community participation. The event generated around 200 visitors across two days, with approximately 40 dogs attending. Beyond attendance numbers, the event created many in-person conversations and connections.
Community story wall
A central part of the space was an interactive wall, designed as both a participatory activity and a live exhibition. The wall invited visitors to contribute to the brand world through playful, low-threshold prompts that encouraged storytelling, humor, and creativity. These included “What is your dog’s green flag / red flag?”, “If your dog had an award, what would it be?”, and “Proof that my dog is my biological child.” Each prompt gave participants a simple entry point to tell a story about their dog’s personality and gain resonance with other dog owners.
Good Bois Archive
The storytelling aspect of the project also expanded beyond the physical event through a mini site, Good Bois Archive, where people could submit their dog stories. These submissions create a long-term engagement plan for the brand, becoming a source of future illustrations, social content, newsletters, and community storytelling.
Korean K9 Rescue partnership
The collaboration with Korean K9 Rescue expanded the event’s purpose by connecting the celebration of dog personality to adoption awareness and animal welfare. A wall flowchart titled “Are You Ready for a Dog?” invited visitors to reflect on the responsibilities of dog ownership, while portrait paintings highlighted adoptable dogs as individuals with distinct personalities and stories. This shifted the rescue dogs away from being seen as anonymous animals in need and instead presented them as characters with identity, presence, and emotional specificity.
Custom Pet Portraits
The third layer of the pop-up focused on objects as extensions of identity. The custom pet portrait service explored how customization allows people to project personality, affection, and meaning onto an object.
Block printing workshop and Good Bois Certificate
The block printing workshop and Good Bois Certificate expanded the role of objects through making. While the pet portrait offered a customized interpretation by the artist, these activities invited visitors to physically participate in the creation of their own artifacts. For the certificate, visitors printed a Polaroid-style photo of their dog and spelled out the dog’s name with letter beads, turning the object into a tactile, handmade keepsake. In the block printing workshop with Trash Bandit, participants printed their own bags, making choices through material, placement, and process. Both activities reinforced the handmade value of Good Bois Club and showed how objects become more meaningful when people have a role in shaping them.