It’s Christmas day and one is trying to evolve the ‘Bumble Bee’ Transformer from robot to car form. The living room is a mess of wrapping paper, boxes, packaging materials and a Christmas song by Wham. In a moment of quizical frustration one looked too hard at a piece of stray cardboard and a grumpy dog face thingy winked back at me.

‘Oh crap’, I muttered. ‘Has my design career entered a new phase where one sees faces in anything and everything? Will this insight then be accompanied by a burning desire to publish a little book (that utilises an elegant design palette) to display the face collection?’ I poured myself another Champagne cocktail, adjusted the lilac paper crown on my head, and dug out a Michael Buble Christmas classic.

A few short hours pass…

The photography and retouching complete and the grumpy packing card has found itself published – as a pretty convincing grumpy doggy face, I thought. The process might get the face thing out of my system, before any permanent damage is done to one’s design.

Next Christmas Champagne cocktails are off the gift unwrapping agenda.

What a heart felt song! No one does fluffy nostalgic like Wham.