handpushkyung dot poke dot site

pushkyung

Hi, I'm Minkyung (Min) Sohn - a Brooklyn-based designer who pushes brands, pop-ups, signage, and the occasional block of tofu around until they look good. The internet calls me handpushkyung. So go ahead. Push the hand.

// 0 shoves. coward.
01
// the part that pays rent

What I actually do

Associate Designerat HaruFilm USAnow

Currently making film, photo, and Valentine's Day look extremely intentional.

Designerat TH Experiential

Built experiences people walked through and pretended they weren't taking selfies in.

BFA, Communication Designat Pratt Institute, Class of 2025

Survived. See the Trauma Center below for receipts.

Brand designExperiential productionPackage mockupsMotion designEnvironmental graphicsAggressively good kerning
02
// things that left the laptop

Work that escaped

All real, all on minkyungsohn.com. The descriptions here are slightly less professional than the ones over there.

Birthday Festival

An event that introduces strangers who share a birthday. Half the attendees discovered their nemesis was born the same day. Worth it.

2024
eventbranding

CoverGirl 2025

NYC's first beauty pop-up of the year. Designed so well that people queued for a foundation they could not afford. Mission accomplished.

2025
pop-upexperiential

Airing

Clean air, sold as a trendy product. Yes, it's air. No, you can't return it. The packaging slaps though.

2024
brandpackaging

Pratt Wayfinding

Minimalist signage built entirely from letterforms. Students still got lost, but now in a tasteful, well-kerned way.

2024
environmentaltype

Ziggle Tofu & Grill

A full rebrand for a tofu and grill spot. See section 05 for the spiritual journey this put me through.

2023
rebrandidentity

HaruFilm Valentine's Day Campaign

A Valentine's campaign for HaruFilm. Made love look art-directed, which is honestly the only way I know how to feel things.

2026
campaignmotion
03
// based on a real project (Birthday Festival)

Find your birthday soulmate

I once built an event that connects people who share a birthday. This is the deeply unscientific home version.

04
// rejected, too wild, or both

Min's design disasters

The Sentient Logo

A brand mark that subtly changed shape based on the client's mood. The client did not have a consistent mood.

verdict: too alive

Scratch-and-Sniff Annual Report

Investors would smell the quarterly earnings. Q3 was supposed to smell like growth. It smelled like glue.

verdict: legally questionable

Wayfinding for Vibes

Signage that pointed you toward how a room felt rather than where it was. People found enlightenment, not the bathroom.

verdict: spiritually correct

Pop-up Inside a Pop-up

A beauty pop-up that contained a smaller, more exclusive pop-up. Reviewers called it 'recursive.' I called it 'thursday.'

verdict: shelved, for now

05
// a love letter to Ziggle Tofu & Grill

Designing for tofu

Rebranding a tofu and grill spot taught me more than four years of critiques. Tofu has no ego. Tofu does not ask for a third logo option. Tofu simply absorbs whatever flavor - or typeface - you give it.

  • 01It's soft, neutral, and quietly takes on everything around it. So is good branding.
  • 02Nobody agrees on how to spell the menu. Solved with bigger type.
  • 03The grill marks were the real logo all along.
06
// field notes from a designer who lives here

Brooklyn survival guide

  1. 1

    Your nearest 'cute coffee shop' has no outlets and judges your laptop. The good one is the laundromat with an espresso machine.

  2. 2

    Carry a tote bag at all times. Not for groceries - for credibility.

  3. 3

    The G train is a rumor your friends tell to scare you. It does, eventually, arrive.

  4. 4

    Everyone you meet at a gallery opening is also a designer. Pretend you have not met them at four other openings.

  5. 5

    Sunset over the Manhattan skyline is free design inspiration. The rent that buys the view is not.

  6. 6

    If a restaurant has no sign and only a small ceramic object in the window, the food is incredible and you cannot get a table.

07
// admit one, all welcome

The Class of 2025 Trauma Center

A safe, dimly-lit space for anyone who survived design school. Symptoms you may recognize:

Flinching whenever someone says 'just make the logo bigger.'

An unhealthy emotional attachment to a single typeface.

Printing your final at 4am and watching the ink run out at 99%.

Crit panels who 'love the energy' but 'aren't sure about the concept, or the execution.'

Reflexively saying 'it's intentional' about every mistake.

A graveyard folder named 'final_FINAL_v7_real_USE_THIS.'

// prognosis: employed, somehow. you're going to be fine.