A wheelie BUSY-but-fun Week!

As this fine week at Wheelie comes to a close and we look forward to a long weekend to honor those who have fallen for Memorial Day, I find myself extremely proud of all that has been accomplished this week at the Wheelie HQ.

We'll start this week off by going over the events from Sunday through today for this Designer. This Sunday was the WAG Race at the Whitefish Dog Park. I don't have a dog, but I was babysitting my parents' dog, Drake (lovingly referred to as my Lil Brother), so I decided he'd be a great running companion for 4 miles.  Anyway, he was very excited about all the other dogs, and dragged me all over the race course. I was pretty much exhausted after that, but it didn't sway me from taking a long bike ride with our current Project Manager, Laurin. We rode to Kyla, had ourselves a brew, and then rode back to Kalispell in some pretty epic wind.

By: Amanda Guy

All in all, Sunday was a great day, I rode my bike 18.7 miles and ran 4.15 miles, and slept amazing that night! As soon as Monday hit, I couldn't wait to get back to work at Wheelie. I've only had a couple other jobs in my life where I woke up and was stoked to head to the office. Those jobs will always hold a sweet spot in my heart, but I have to say that this is probably the happiest I've ever been, and being able to jet out of work by 5:00pm leaves more free time to do the other activities I love to do. With the sunshine this week, I found time after work to explore and BBQ! I spent my Monday evening running the Lion Mountain Loop in Whitefish and then assembled a BBQ that my awesome parents got me as a really great gift! Tuesday hit, and I couldn't wait to head to Kalispell Brewing Company for the Bike/Walk Montana Benefit Brews Night where I joined their member program to help make the Flathead a more Bike-Friendly place. Totally worth it-- I got a pint glass, a really cool tire patching kit, and sticker. (Man, I love stickers!) The rest of the week was pretty fun with Trivia, The Flathead Fat Tire event at Great Northern Brewing, and all the great things we accomplished at the Wheelie HQ!

Lisa, Pete, & Myself had a pretty busy week. We definitely didn't have lack of things to do around here, and that's one of the best feelings in the world. We spent quite a bit of time making a really gorgeous map for Glacier Park Inc., We Launched a couple of websites, made several mockups for Spotted Bear Spirits (coming soon), and had meetings with potential new clients as well as with some of our current clients. We're busting out great designs right and left and loving every minute of it. I even got to take a field trip out to a ranch to scout out the property for a possible project. I got to meet this awesome horse while I waited for the caretaker to arrive :)

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But what I mostly want to talk about this week at Wheelie is presentation.

When presenting your work to a client, it's really important to keep it professional but fun. Whether it's a logo, web map, brochure, or a tee shirt, it's very important to present it in a fun and engaging way. We want our clients to get a really good idea of what they'll be receiving in the end of the design process. With this in mind, we like to make realistic presentations. It's one thing to send a 2 dimensional digital file over an email to show your clients what you're working on, or just how great the new changes look to a logo, but it's a completely different thing to show them what this logo will look like on the Plaid Shirt they want, the Flask they plan to sell to customers, or even the card stock coasters for the tasting room of a soon-to-be fantastic distillery.

Presentation can make or break your ideas when showing them first hand. Sometimes, all it takes is a logo on a coaster or a t-shirt to get the ball rolling and show the client their vision in a nice way. Ask the right questions, like what types of materials your client would like to see their branding on, and make it happen. 

But let's sway a bit from the super professional stuff, especially since we're approaching Memorial Day Weekend, and all of us just want to have some fun! Go out and play this weekend! I'll be slinging Beers at Kalispell Brewing tomorrow, and I intend to have a blast doing it, and then I plan to play. I'm going to BBQ, ride my bike, possibly go fishing, and eat at least 20 s'mores at the cabin with my family! 

Hope you all have a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend, and we'll see you back here next Friday for another round of A Wheelie ____Fill in the blank____Week!