About Fat Dog Creatives

You need to know you're working with a professional too.

Credentials, they're important. They don't always mean much on their own, but paired with a portfolio of results, you can get a better idea of just who you're working with and what you can expect to experience for yourself. That's why you're here; I get it.

I’m looking for a few good fits.

If we’re a good fit, we share similar core values and respect one another’s expertise.

Rhonda Negard

Are your brand and website just taking up space, not working for you, and just plain lazy? Did you even know that your brand and website could be lazy? Did your designer/developer walk you through how to get them off of the dog bed and into the field working for you?

Are you willing to invest again for the same results as you level-up?

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.

—Tony Robbins

What you need is a strategy for your brand and website.

I will help you identify specific goals and develop a multi-level strategy around them. Your ideal clients will finally be able to digest and recall your brand expertise.

Fat Dog Creatives is a boutique Agency founded in 2003. After marrying my soldier in 2009, I began that life of deployment, moves, and career in the backseat. I started small as a freelancer. Then, in 2015 I transitioned to learning what it means to be a full-time business owner, focusing on who I really want to serve, and diving further into design thinking.

In 2020, I added adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of San Antonio to my resume while doing client work. I help the next generation and those transitioning to a second career learn and refine technical skills and expand their creative horizons.

I am currently settled in San Antonio, TX, but frequently return to Seattle, WA and Bethesda, MD, where I still have friends and clients.

Origins of the Name

I wanted something that conveys I’m happy, professional, easy to work with, have a sense of humor, and possess a network of other professionals to execute any creative need a business might have. Because it’s not always just me working on a project, I didn’t want to use my name.

My favorite activity is playing games. I love trivia, charades, Pictionary, etc. I also am in love with my dogs. One of my dogs was with me for 17 years–through boyfriends, college, marriage, etc. How could I combine that to come up with a great name?

A Show That Influenced More Than Just Hairstyles

I thought of one of my favorite episodes of “Friends,” where Monica and Rachael were playing trivia with Chandler and Joey for the girls’ apartment. In that episode, it was revealed that Monica’s nickname was “Big Fat Goalie.” Well, I loved how quickly that name rolled off the tongue. Big Fat Dog Design didn’t quite encompass everything since it overlooks my photography and the networking aspect of what I do. When I replaced “design” with “creatives” the name, Big Fat Dog Creatives, was too long. So, it became Fat Dog Creatives.

The dog graphic was a no-brainer. I used a combination of my two dogs. One was very fat (Zacky), and the other had some cute large patches of color (Shiner).

That’s my name story.

About Me

The Normal Way

You and your business are my passion. Helping you create and communicate the brand your clients will love makes my heart happy. After all, your success leads to mine!

MA: Communications; BA: Communications

The Stuffy Way

A brand and Web strategist and designer with more than 20 years of experience in visual communications, Rhonda Negard and her company Fat dog Creatives help executives turned entrepreneurs transform their mindset and that of their former colleagues' so that they can effectively tap into their established networks and grow. She is a multi-faceted designer putting empathy into practice in her personal and professional life, including brand strategy, user experience and web design to make real connections for her clients with the people who need them most.

A creative and proactive problem-solver, her signature friendliness and enthusiasm enable her to develop strong relationships with all levels of management and government. She has a collaborative leadership style that more than 150 businesses have enjoyed, and they benefited from her expertise to position and promote their uniqueness and goals.

A native of Texas, Rhonda has since traveled the United States and Europe before returning to her beloved home state. Rhonda has a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Communications. Her past and on-going research has focused on the effects of color on memory and cultural associations. She's shared her expertise in communications and design speaking at New Tech Tacoma, WordCamp Seattle, Rotary Clubs, Creative Alliance of Tacoma, at many community organizations, and as adjunct instructor at the Art Institute and 2U's UX and UI bootcamps for UT San Antonio.

The Early Years

One of my earliest memories of childhood is of lying on my stomach on the living room floor with a fat pencil in my hand and a Big Chief tablet. That giant pad of paper–how I loved it! Not yet able to write all that well, I remember drawing…a lot. I was probably four years old.

In second grade we had a self-portrait project. So into it, I included all the details from the shirt I wore the first day of the project. I earned first place, which was just a congratulatory first position on the wall of portraits. (That alone was enough for me since I otherwise was always last. My last name started with W, and we always had to line up by last name in alphabetical order. Ugh!) Pretty much everything was right…except for the nose. I worked and reworked that thing to get it right and still had a Petunia Pig nose. That darn nose!

My Million-Dollar Idea

That summer (’83) was when I came up with my million-dollar idea. Too bad my mom didn’t save it, or we’d all be rich by now. On a long summer drive from Texas to visit family in Colorado, I had a pencil and notepad to keep myself occupied.

My first newspaper

Since I wasn’t much of a writer then, I put in my paper what I had seen in other papers, namely the Centerville News. Of course, I had to include a wedding announcement…Roy and Ann Droid. I wrote some story headlines and used squiggly lines for the article texts (my early version or Lorem ipsum). Car ads were a must too. One car ad was for the Long Family car. The car we were traveling in was not fun or big enough for everyone to stretch out. So, the Long Family car was pretty much a limousine. Another ad was a feature that came with the Long Family car. This feature transformed the lengthy car into a short, compact car that could fit in any parking space with ease (apparently, this was a concern of my 9-year old self). You could simply squeeze the Long Family car into a smaller car I cleverly called the Squeezador! You may know this car by its current name, the Smart car. Yes, my drawings of the Squeezador were EXACTLY like the Smart car!

I was ahead of the times and innovative at 9 years old. I'm certain my entire family is wishing we had saved that "newspaper".

20 Years of Experience

STRENGTHS

Adaptability
Brand Management
Communication & Connection
Cross-functional Team Leadership
Innovative Problem-Solver
Relationship Building
Responsive
Self-Motivated
Writing

Happy Clients

Graphic Design

Adobe CC: Illustrator, Indesign, Acrobat, Photoshop
Print design, including large format, & Web graphics

Web Design

CMS: WordPress, Telerik’s Sitefinity, E-Prise, Big Commerce, Heinz & Assoc.’s Harvest Manager
- WordPress site migrations, updates, and management
- Preferred WordPress Resources:
  - Beaver, Astra, Enfold
  - Avia Page Builder, Beaver Builder, Elementor
  - SEO Press, Yoast, Bloom, All-In-One Migration
HTML, CSS, Java Script
Dreamweaver, FileZilla (FTP/SFTP), CPanel

Illustration of a dog with a sign that reads No Cats Allowed

DOG RULES

We value mutual respect. We are collaborators, not order-takers. We welcome open-minded, continuous learners.

No cats, jerks, or dictators!

Why Clients Love Working With Fat Dog Creatives

Testimonials from Real clients

So loved and empowered

Good design produces results. It’s that simple. I had an okay design for my website and okay results. After Rhonda from Fat Dog Creatives redesigned my home page, my bounce rate went down 10% — overnight. The time on site rose to well above 3 minutes. That means, visitors are spending more time on the page — like actually reading it and looking it over!

Since the home page redesign, she has designed postcards, business cards, as well as slide decks for my speaking presentations. I even gave her a one-page sketch for a handout I need for iThemes Training. She turned it into a 10 page PDF.

I have never felt so loved and empowered as I do right now. She understands my brand. She understands me. If you are on the fence about hiring, Rhonda, get off the fence and send the email or message or whatever.

Bridget Willard

Amazing combination of savvy business woman & insightful artist

Rhonda is an amazingly talented combination of savvy business woman and incredibly insightful artist. Her ability to create the collateral which helps companies share their message in multiple mediums is unmatched. She has the technical skills to ensure the design and content of both website and print convey the same feel.