A STUDENT could see one of his designs in toy shops up and down the country.

Duncan Street, 24, designed a tag which will be used on a cuddly toy for Banbury-based charity Dogs For the Disabled.

The charity is in talks with a national toy chain and hopes the fluffy dog, and its tag, could be in stores by the end of the year. It hopes sales of the dog might raise thousands of pounds for the charity.

Dogs for the Disabled came up with the idea after a similar initiative in Spain raised more than £100,000 for an animal charity.

They contacted graphic design students at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, in Broughton Road, Banbury, and gave them a month to come up with a design for an ear tag for a toy puppy.

The cardboard tag tells people about the toy dog and inside explains the work of the charity in words and images.

About 25 students took part, but Mr Street, of Dexter Road, Banbury, who is in the first year of a two-year national diploma course, pipped colleagues to the post.

He said: “Winning something like this is awesome for me and puts me above the rest.

“It will be great for my portfolio. When I go for my interview for university I can say I have already got active designs out there.”

Mr Street, a former shop worker, said he spent about 15 hours on the project and came up with three designs, one for each of the three colours of the toy dogs, which are blonde, black and brown.

Cid Carr, a spokesman for Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, said: “We’re always happy for our students to explore real business challenges and these young graphic designers, tutored by Dave Thornhill, are thrilled to have created a winning design for such a worthwhile cause.”

Steve Billington, director of marketing at Dogs for the Disabled, said: “Anyone who owns a dog will understand the great benefits that relationship brings; the effect is magnified ten-fold for people who are partnered with an assistance dog.

“An assistance dog offers far more than just practical help.

“It becomes a social icebreaker, a reason to go out again and brings new found opportunities that many people thought would never be possible.

“The help we’ve received from the college has been invaluable, and we hope that this is just one of a number of projects we’ll work together on over the coming year.”