Design Project: Buddy the Bud Light (Beer Dispensing) Dog

Master of Arts in Strategic Design Student Melanie Rankin discusses one of her more memorable projects where she was tasked with building her very own dog made from unconventional items.

The assignment was that we had to create a dog, but we had to make it out of some unconventional material, and it had to move in some way. That was the only thing we got and we had to physically build it with our hands. Going into that project, my classmates and I were like, “What the heck are we gonna do? What are we signed up for?” This one is silly, but it was really fun and frustrating at the same time.

I ended up building a dog named Buddy, he was the Bud Light dog, and I made him out of Bud Light cans. His function was his head would drop down, and the body of the dog dispensed beers. You’d pull out a beer from his body and the next one would slide up with a spring.

The hours of  building… I was on my deck sawing wood and cutting cans and pasting them on… it was just very hands on. I got out of my head, so that was probably the most fun and the most frustrating, and the most unique project that I got to work on.

The school posted the dog on their Instagram and Bud Light direct messaged them, saying “This is cool. Can we repost?” I was like “Yes! Tag me!”