It’s a dog’s life

Being an altruistic philanthropic mini misanthrope (try saying that after a couple of drinks) that works alone most of the time, it’s lovely having the company of a beagle in the studio. It’s also good when you can do your bit for a good cause.

Beagles are known for their trusting, placid nature, they are pack hounds that crave company and hate being left alone. Sadly, this is why they’re also used for experimentation. The relationship works well for both of us, I sit at my Mac working away on design, film, music, photography, writing or whatever happens to be the priority and Ruby the beagle sits behind me. Most of the time she just snores, happy to be close to me and I’m happy to have her there.

A while back I wrote a blog entry about how I like to offer creative services for free from time to time to causes I believe in. Organisations and charities don’t often have a decent budget for professional design and it’s the people doing the important work that can benefit most from effective design as it can raise their profile, add credibility and help with raising important funds.

Recently I saw that Beagle Welfare was looking for someone to help with design that they could then use on badges etc. I didn’t tell them I was a professional designer, I just sent them a few options and said I’d be happy to help. They received quite a few designs but selected mine to be used which I’m really pleased about.

I think they can do a lot with the design and it’s cute enough to have considerable marketing and fundraising potential. I like that the design pretty much sums up what beagles are about – sniffing, sleeping, snacking and strolling and the image does have a look of Ruby too. So, I can bask in her reflected glory at being reproduced thousands of times and being worn by beagle fans across the UK.

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