DIGITAL design firm Komodo is hoping to encourage iPad users to donate to charity by smothering them with cuteness.

The Newcastle firm has developed a dedicated iPad app for the St Oswald’s Raise Your Game competition, which challenges 25 companies from around the region to turn £100 into a much larger sum in just 12 weeks.

Komodo’s own effort is called the Cutest Pairs Game Ever, a pair-matching game featuring cute pictures of baby animals such as kittens, puppies and kits (baby rabbits).

Komodo’s managing director Andy Greener said: “There’s a lot of cuteness there, yes. We wanted something a bit tongue in cheek. The work St Oswald’s does helps a lot of people with pretty bad medical conditions and we thought that called for something that would put a smile on people’s faces.

“It’s free to download, but there’s a link to a JustGiving page that’s been set up by St Oswald’s. It’s a bit of fun to play, and you’re encouraged to send St Oswald’s a couple of quid if you like it. A few of us have put some pennies up there as well.”

Gosforth-based St Oswald’s provides specialist care for sufferers of cancer as well as other neurological, cardiac and respiratory problems. The Raise Your Game challenge allows firms to use any legal means to maximise their cash, from launching a new product to investing in the stock market or buying lottery tickets.

All money raised goes back to the charity at the end of the event, and the achievements of each company will be celebrated at an event in Jesmond’s As You Like It on November 10. Other participating organisations include GAME, Gamestation and the NewcastleGateshead Initiative.

Komodo has designed apps for clients such as Scratch Bikes, Sunderland Marine, Superkrush, NOF Energy and Sampson Hall. It also recently released an iPhone and Android app for Go North East, which gives passengers the chance to look up timetable information and track delays.

As well as providing an opportunity to raise funds for St Oswald’s, the challenge also allowed Komodo to further explore the potential of the iPad.

Greener said: “I’ve got an iPad myself and if I take my daughter somewhere, it’s a good parental tool to keep her occupied. The phone is a personal device, but iPads are much more social.”