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.

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.

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".