Case Study:
Glacier Park, Inc. Explore Glacier Campaign Development and Collateral Creation

Challenge:
Glacier Park Inc operates seven lodging properties in and around Glacier National Park. They also sell 3rd party bookings for dozens of local companies. With this many lines of business they have a great deal of information to present. Adding to the complexity is the fact that the lodging properties are spread all around Glacier National Park, so communicating geographic locations of everything is an important step in the process.

Approach:
This presented us with the unique opportunity to completely rethink how they presented their wide variety of offerings to current and future guests. Think of it less like a breath of fresh air and more like an F5 tornado.

We began with the collateral by creating a completely custom map that was playful, useful, and easy to read. We featured properties and wildlife using stunning photos from local photographers. This allowed us to really show customers that GPI has a place for you to stay no matter what area of Glacier National Park you want to explore.

To build the logo for Explore Glacier, we wanted to show the spirit of adventure that lies at the heart of the company. So we settled on a set of four icons that helped define the different services offered and could be easily applied to future applications. This branding was applied to numerous uses including banners, signs, uniforms, advertisements and websites.

​We tied this information all together with beautiful imagery from local photographers to showcase the GPI brand while presenting something bold and exciting to tourists in Glacier National Park.

Results:
Explore Glacier successfully launched in June 2015 and opened up a effective new revenue stream in a competitive marketplace benefiting both Glacier Park Inc as well as their local activity vendors. The new collateral piece is in distribution throughout the world and has drawn numerous compliments for its ability to present a great deal of information in a straightforward manner while still keeping things fun.

In Their Words:
“Wheelie Creative exceeded all my expectations of what this project could look like. I am blown away by the results, and our guests and employees are, too. Everything looks amazing!” Melissa Baker Director of Guest Experience, Glacier Park, Inc.

By: Amanda Guy

This has been one of the crazy weeks where we find ourselves all sitting in the office today going, "Where the hell did the last 4 days go? How is it already Friday?" Which in our line of work just means we're doing something right because of how busy we are. But this week for my round of  A Wheelie__Fill in the Blank__ Week, I don't want to get too into the projects we're working on. No, this week I want to post about Lisa Slagle. 

Some days, I find myself sitting in my office at 8:00 at night wondering what just happened. 

I've been running my business since 2009, but as a lot of people know, Wheelie grew a lot in the last year. 

More pics coming soon... various boards designed for Notice Snowboards. 
We love working with Brittan and Lauren!

​Glacier Park, Inc. Explore Glacier Campaign Development and Collateral Creation

​Challenge:
Glacier Park Inc operates seven lodging properties in and around Glacier National Park. They also sell 3rd party bookings for dozens of local companies. With this many lines of business they have a great deal of information to present. Adding to the complexity is the fact that the lodging properties are spread all around Glacier National Park, so communicating geographic locations of everything is an important step in the process.

Approach:
This presented us with the unique opportunity to completely rethink how they presented their wide variety of offerings to current and future guests. Think of it less like a breath of fresh air and more like an F5 tornado. We began with the collateral by creating a completely custom map that was playful, useful, and easy to read. We featured properties and wildlife using stunning photos from local photographers. This allowed us to really show customers that GPI has a place for you to stay no matter what area of Glacier National Park you want to explore. To build the logo for Explore Glacier, we wanted to show the spirit of adventure that lies at the heart of the company. So we settled on a set of four icons that helped define the different services offered and could be easily applied to future applications. This branding was applied to numerous uses including banners, signs, uniforms, advertisements and websites. We tied this information all together with beautiful imagery from local photographers to showcase the GPI brand while presenting something bold and exciting to tourists in Glacier National Park.

Results:
Explore Glacier successfully launched in June 2015 and opened up a effective new revenue stream in a competitive marketplace benefiting both Glacier Park Inc as well as their local activity vendors. The new collateral piece is in distribution throughout the world and has drawn numerous compliments for its ability to present a great deal of information in a straightforward manner while still keeping things fun.

In Their Words:
“Wheelie Creative exceeded all my expectations of what this project could look like. I am blown away by the results, and our guests and employees are, too. Everything looks amazing!” Melissa Baker Director of Guest Experience, Glacier Park, Inc.

Challenge:
The Whitefish Trail was in need of updated trail signage and maps to help users navigate the continuously-growing trail system. The signage and maps had to be clear and easy-to-read for the wide variety of user groups that frequent the trails. Additionally, the trail network spanned across many different types of land which required obtaining approval on all collateral by multiple different organizations.

Approach:
As frequent users of The Whitefish Trail, Wheelie Creative was thrilled to undertake this project! We utilized a fun, fresh approach to the design and layout of the signage while working with Whitefish Legacy Partners to meet the needs and gain approval across the many different organizations overseeing the project all while maintaining accuracy. Through the process of experimenting with different design elements and layouts, we were able to develop a map that presented a wide variety of different types of information including an overall map, detailed inset maps, trail distances, legends and other trail info in a format that was easy to read and appealed to the many different trail users that would be accessing the area. We carried over design elements from the maps and took them a step further for trail signage. Illustrations of natural elements such as trees and wildlife were tied into the informational and wayfinding signage to present important information to the public in an enjoyable way.

Results:
Since taking on the project, we have created hundreds of signs as well as multiple maps, street signs, badges, posters, banners and shirts and we continue to receive praise for the fun, visually appealing design year-after-year. The Whitefish Trail is still under development with new trails planned for construction over the next few years. The current goal is to connect trails circumnavigating Whitefish Lake and connecting into the trail system on Whitefish Mountain Resort which will result in approximately 20 miles of new trail for the Whitefish Community.

In Their Words:
“We hired Wheelie to first revise our Whitefish Trail map then to revamp our trailhead maps, and now we have WIT - our Whitefish Trail Learning Center owl. We are so pleased that we get to claim some of Lisa and her team’s creativity for our own. Their work for us has been more than we could have hoped for - the Wheelie Crew worked hard to match our existing branding and have offered us an additional flare that we knew we needed but didn't know how to make happen. We look forward to doing more and more creative things on the Whitefish Trail with Lisa and Wheelie Creative.”
-Heidi Van Everen Executive Director, Whitefish Legacy Partners
 

Let me just start off by saying TGIF! Welcome back readers, fans, and friends. It's time again for my weekly blog post and I've been racking my brain on what all to cover in this week's article. So many things have happened and the week still isn't quite over.  I've had an interesting week to say the least but I think overall I'd like to cover Podcasts and why you should listen to them.

However, the Wheelie Crew and myself didn't just work on the podcast all this week, I mean we conducted three more awesome interviews and have two episodes already lined up for release in the next couple of weeks, but we had a lot of other coals on the fire as well with some really fun client work involving ad creations, logo developments, web design, and infographic creations. But the main thing that I feel needs to be addressed is this podcasting business.

It's only Thursday, but as the Wheelie Crew will be taking off on Friday for the Holiday Weekend, I felt I needed to get my weekly blog post up. I'm sure many of your are extremely excited for this weekend, even if fireworks are not allowed this year. Hopefully you have amazing, fun, and adventurous weekends planned with Family and your best friends. But hang in there for one more day and enjoy another round of A Wheelie__Fill in the blank__week!

This week started off normal. We had our weekly Staff Meeting on Monday morning and discussed all the projects we needed to address for the short work week. Our meeting, as always, was pretty fun and we accomplished a lot right off the bat. With our first podcast ready to be uploaded to iTunes and liquor labels in the works I found myself pretty damn stoked for the rest of the week.

Why was I stoked for this? Well let me just tell you!

Case Study:
Spencer Mountain Trail Signage and Map

Challenge:
In order to receive a designation as official public trails, signage and maps needed to be created and placed at trailheads and key intersections to help users navigate the trails. For this step, Wheelie Creative was contracted to work with the overseeing organizations to make legal biking at Spencer a reality. Additionally, free ride trails should not be dorky, so the signs needed to be informative without feeling pedantic.

Approach:
It’s no secret that the trails at Spencer Mountain are near and dear to the hearts of the Wheelie crew. Using our intimate knowledge of the area, we were able to anticipate the unique challenges that this project presented.

Since these trails will receive overflow cyclists from the nearby Whitefish Trail network, which skews toward entry to intermediate-level riding, additional care needed to be taken to ensure that users were aware of the difficulty and variety of obstacles on the trails prior to embarking. To achieve this, we utilized a fun, hand-drawn style in adding elements to the signage that would present the information to users without giving off a stuffy appearance. This resulted in designs that aligned well with the typical users of the trail while drawing their attention to present information in a clear and lively way.

The map portion of the project had to integrate seamlessly with the maps produced for The Whitefish Trail while still maintaining a designation of “freeride-specific” trails since this would be added to the existing map created for The Whitefish Trail.

​This was accomplished by creating differentiating marks to add to the map calling out “Spencer Trails” as a freeride playground while not making it appear so harsh as to keep riders away. This project required coordinating with multiple groups overseeing the project including the Flathead Fat Tires, The City of Whitefish and Whitefish Legacy Partners.

Results:
The trails at Spencer Mountain, complete with maps and signage, officially opened to the public in July 2015. Wheelie was on hand at the Grand Opening with a photo booth set up to capture the monumental stoke of longtime riders of the mountain accessing the trails legally for the first time. Everyone was thrilled that they could count on their favorite freeride playground existing to see another day.

In Their Words:
“Wheelie was great to work with and the signs perfectly encompass the look and feel we wanted to accomplish with the entire trail system at Spencer.”
​Erin Bodman, President of the Flathead Fat Tires