friday night opus - on a saturday night
swirl
It had been going on for years. And I had grown tired of it. It was an endless quest for the definitive image of sun and fun, of play on the little latitude beaches, of island living that would be representative of the laid back lifestyle of Pug At The Beach.
In the beginning, it made sense to use the image of the product we were promoting: a dog, the beach, a book. But when the “product” became more than a tangible object, when it became a way of thinking, a way of seeing, then what made sense, didn’t anymore.
As the Island Dog Philosopher, Pug’s profile was, and indeed still is, the quintessential image of calm reflection. Adults familiar with the Pug Philosophy found comfort in it. Our friend Valerie has that image front and center on her desk for her office visitors to see. Children are drawn to the Pug image. We hear stories all the time about kids, some as young as six years old, who have bonded to Pug. One kid sleeps with her Pug book under her pillow. This is the stuff we love. This is what we’re about. This offering of a talisman, which happens to be a dog with a dorsal fin for an ear and a really nice collection of surfing shorts, is what brings us joy in this work. Our goal is, after all, to offer people hope and the tools to transform their lives, and we are, in fact, touching many lives. We want to touch more.
But it was that very image of Pug himself which was an endless source of confusion to the distributors we sought to bring onboard. They took one look at the old website with an animated Pug walking on the beach and another of Pug surfing across our navigation bar and they assumed it was a book of cartoons intended solely for a younger audience. We knew differently. And so did our fans. We owed it to everyone involved to make some changes so we could comfortably reach out and bring the wisdom of Pug At The Beach to a broader audience.
The debate began. There were meetings and conversations. Most of it made really good sense and as with anything, the more clarification we sought, the murkier the issue became. Finally, we decided to take the advice of the PugMan himself. Pug tells us that change is good. In his adventure titled “Pug At The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse," Pug suggested that “Change is necessary to keep the inner light burning brightly.” So, that’s what we’re doing. We’re making some changes.
Pug, once the defining image in our logo, has now become our icon and the swirl at the top of this page is now our logo. Think of this way. You’ve been invited to Pug’s house for dinner. The swirl is the front door of his house and Pug, as always, is your welcoming host greeting you at that door with a smile and a warm hello.
Make no mistake, Pug remains front and center in all the activities at Pug At The Beach whether in stories to soothe the soul or in product development which supports that healing. Just as you would expect the rooms of Pug’s house to reflect his taste and opinions so too will all of the Pug endeavors follow those same reflections. After all, this is Pug’s house.
In the next few months you can expect two things: to see more of Pug himself, and a gradual inclusion of the swirl into all things Pug related. We’re excited about this new perspective and know you will be, too!
Download printable PDF version here: fno-osn_swirl.pdf (64K).
