Creative Project Manager

Wheelie Creative is looking for a Project Manager to be the primary point of contact with our clients on managing the strategy, relationship, details, and extreme creativity that go into all of of our projects.
We love our clients. And we love our crew. That’s why the Project Manager position is very important to us. This position requires management of projects and attention to detail while maintaining the culture of Wheelie and the high-level creativity it produces. This position manages our creative team and is the point of contact for our clients. This position is best suited for the rare “creative Type A” personality because it balances business with creativity. To be blunt, this job is not an easy one, but it is rewarding, dynamic, and there is never a dull moment at the Wheelie HQ.

Job Summary: 

• Be the project leader and primary client contact in managing all phases of creative and marketing projects.
• Develop a strong relationship with the client and provide insight and strategy
• Provides leadership and direction for day-to-day project operations as well as administrative activities.
• Participates in the planning, design and development of project requirements, strategy, analysis and development process.

Job Accountabilities:

• Assists Creative Director with formulating project objectives, functional requirements and technical specifications.
• Works with Sales Team and Creative Director to plan, organize and schedule activities to meet objectives.
• Develops and implements operating policies, procedures and systems to support planned operations.
• Extreme attention to detail when entering, recording, and analyzing information within our project management software.
• Administrative duties as needed such as ordering supplies for projects, answering the phone, etc.
• Ensures policies are well-documented and communicated to project personnel.
• Contributes to the design of technical standards and project processes.
• Develops and manages project budgets, including writing change orders.
• Authorizes expenditures and monitors account reconciliation and status to ensure compliance with fiscal guidelines and project profitability.
• Prepares and/or directs the preparation of financial reports as required.
• Manages staff assigned to project. (ie, manages the creative team)
• Provides training and technical supervision to staff if applicable.
• Motivates and monitors the progress of work performed by project staff.
• Responds to external requests for information.
• Serves as key resource for project information and resolves problems or questions referred by internal and external sources.
• Establishes and maintains an active network of professional contacts.
• Performs other related duties as assigned or requested.

 
Job Qualifications:

• Agency experience: 2 years
• Minimum Education: Bachelors Degree or Related Field
• Minimum Experience: 2-4 Years
• Minimum Field of Expertise: Directly related project administration experience in specialized field represented by project
• Preferred Education: Ideally, in our dream world: an MBA with a minor in design.

Competencies:

• Problem Solving - Identifies and resolves problems time efficiently; Gathers and analyzes information; Develops solutions; Uses reason.
• Managing People - This is a management position. Includes staff in planning and decision-making processes; Makes self accessible to staff; Develops subordinates' skills and encourages growth; Seeks to improve processes, products and services.
• Cost Consciousness - Works within approved budget; Develops and implements cost saving measures; Conserves company resources.
• Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively; Listens and gets clarification when necessary; Responds informatively to questions and concerns. 
• Written Communication - Writes clearly and concisely; Edits work; Varies writing style to meet specific needs; Presents data effectively; Able to read and interpret written information.
• Planning/Organizing - Prioritizes and plans work activities; Uses time efficiently; Plans for additional resources; Sets goals and objectives.
• Design - Produces creative solutions; Translates concepts and information into images; Demonstrates attention to detail. Able to speak about design to our clients in a way that resonates with them. A high level of intuition is required for this.
• Project Management - Develops project plans; Coordinates projects; Communicates changes and progress; Manages project team activities.
• Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportions, and percentages, change orders.
• Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.
• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals and professional journals.
• Extensive knowledge of the outdoor industry. 
• Ability to write reports and business correspondence.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from supervisors, clients, customers, and the general public.

 
How to Apply:
Send a cover letter and resume to lisa@wheeliecreative.com


Application closes: October 28, 2016
Start Date: Preferably ASAP, but we are seeking the right fit over the right timeframe.
Salary: DOE, either 32 hours per week or 40 hours per week. (Flexible) 
We are closed on Fridays.
Benefits: Employee IRA beginning 2017, ski pass to WFMR.

By: Stephanie Shomperlen, our kickass intern

Hey there, WheelHeads! Hope everyone is having a killer last week of September. It's already that time of week again where I update you on the Wheelie happenings around here. We've had a lot going on this week, and we are stoked about the recent changes in the weather.

Ski season is upon us, and this week was Wheelie Ski Pass week!

Each September, we head to a local business in Whitefish to get our season passes--Lisa buys everybody at Wheelie a season pass as part of a job perk. This year was no different, and Lisa surprised us on Monday morning by saying it was officially ski pass day. We were pretty much stoked beyond all reason.

by Amanda Guy -- Our Designer

As most of you may know, for the last few years, Lisa has put together a really fun wall calendar filled with bicycle artwork and Wheelie Creative branding.​

Recently Lisa went to the 2016 OR Conference in Salt Lake City and was pleased to hear from several companies that, "I already know you! We have your calendar hanging in our office." How awesome is that?! 

By Amanda Guy -- Our Designer

So here I am, addressing hand drawings, again, in this week's post. I know we've talked about hand drawings a lot lately, especially in our Instagram posts, but I wanted to fill you in a little on how my drawing process works. Plus, hand drawing is a huge part of graphic design whether you're really good at drawing or not. 

When a new project presents itself I begin to look through books and online for new ideas or inspiration. When it comes to hand drawings, online tends to work the best for me. It's too hard to look at a shape, animal, object, or whatever other noun you thing you can think of, on a brightly lit computer screen the whole time I'm trying to draw it. So here are the top four things I do when getting ready to do a drawing.

Obviously I print it out. It's nice to have it right there, I can print it the size I want or know that I want to draw it and it can lay on my desk for inspiration. 

I always open the office, I get here at 7am and when Dan gets here he's always noticing the weird stuff that I'm printing out to help me with whatever graphic needs to be hand drawn that day. "Say Amanda, why is there a chicken in the printer?" or, "What's with all the monkeys?" I know there is a bit of an animal pattern here, but that's what I've been printing out the most of lately. That, and tricycles. Anyway to get back on track here it is nice to work on hand drawings in the morning when I'm alone. It's quiet in here, and I turn up the music as loud as I want.

Dan might laugh at some of the weird stuff sitting in the printer, but he actually secretly loves it, I think he's obsessed with scratch paper. He has a whole drawer full of the stuff we've printed out and don't need anymore. The more I think about it though, maybe I should start a file of these weird animals and objects I've printed out for drawing purposes. But I don't want to ruin Dan's scratch paper collection.

Sometimes you just have to start with an initial sketch. This is what all designers should do. I never start a drawing thinking, this will be THE drawing. I recommend getting a sketch book or a journal that you don't really care too much about for this part. I have some really nice marker paper that absorbs the ink to prevent runs, but I don't want to waste this paper on a silly pencil sketch! Lisa loves drawing with pencils and is really good at it, but I have to do my final drawings with a micron. The dark ink on the super white paper makes this design nerd super happy. 

Once I have an initial sketch--and sometimes the initial sketch might be some stick figures with some really sloppy text strictly for layout purposes--the fancy paper gets to come out and I carefully start adding the first lines of the drawing. The details come after the outlines of larger shapes, and the drawings adapt from there.

Any time I start a drawing project I have to remind myself that I'm not world's best illustrator, and it's important for me to remember that there are things I can draw, and things I cannot. For all of you designers out there that think you need to be a fine artist to do graphic design, you don't. There are so many ways to get the exact look and feel of a design that you're really looking for without having this ability. It's a nice skill to have, well actually, an amazing skill to have, but not all of us were born with the skill to draw a straight line perfectly. So don't be ashamed if you lack certain drawings skills.

That's what is so great about a design agency and having a team that can work together on projects. You're not just getting one person, you're getting four of us that work together to put your visions into realities. Lisa and I have several occasions where we combine forces. We call these Amanda and Lisa collabs, and with this, Lisa will add something to the design that I may not have thought of, and visa versa. These collabs are my favorite.

Once I have my drawing the way I want it, I add it to the design. I scan it and put the drawing into Illustrator, or simply use it in Photoshop, depending on what the final product may be. Then, if necessary, I can color it in, or remove colors I added while drawing. It's really as simple as that, and the best part is, it's totally original. It's something that I literally used my hands and art supplies to create. 
​
I love hand drawing, it's a nice change of pace and feels really good to get away from the mouse and keyboard at times.

Thanks for stopping by the blog this week. I hope everyone out there has a great weekend and feels inspired to draw a little. Grab a piece of scratch paper and mess around. Artist or not, it's just fun to doodle!

By Amanda Guy - our Designer

by Amanda Guy -- Our Designer

​Happy ‘pre-Friday everyone! As we approach the end of yet another week here at the Wheelhouse, I’m happy to report that things have really been coming up Wheelie! From office updates, to fun and new designs, we are fired up for the weeks, months, and year ahead.

By Dan Hansen, Brand Strategist

​Like many people out there, I live in various state of clutter. My dinner table at home is the standard receptacle for various pieces of mail, newspapers, magazines, coozies, hats and a laptop. My bookshelves have turned into a makeshift workbench for my bike tools and bearspray. And my spare bedroom… well, last time I attempted cleaning in there it turned into a project that ate an entire weekend. 

By Amanda Guy -- Our Designer

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my "Friday" Blog post. Yes, I'm aware it's Thursday, but as it is summertime and we do the majority of our work Monday through Thursday, we have decided to work 4-10's for the rest of the Summer.

With Wheelie closed on Fridays for a few weeks we will be participating in even more adventures, and hopefully adding to our portfolio at the same time! But that's not what I wanted to write about this week. Instead, I would like to update you on the happenings and goings-ons around here the last few weeks.

Case Study coming soon!

By Amanda Guy -- Our Designer

We live in a mountain town and we work with companies in mountain towns, therefore, mountains, mountains, and yes, more mountains! Lisa and I laugh about this a lot:
​
"In what way will you be drawing mountains today, Amanda?"
"How many mountain ranges have you drawn to date?"
"Let's consult the mountain archive shall we?"

I suppose if we are going to work at a creative agency, live in a mountain town, and work with clients in the outdoor industry, we better be able to draw mountains. Plus we better be able to to figure out a way to make them all look different in some way.

By Amanda Guy, Our Designer

Hey there, WheelHeads! Happy Friday to you all!

I know it has been a while since you've heard from me, but I'm back to lead you into a long weekend full of fireworks, family, friends, and some much needed time off for the entire crew here at Wheelie!

With this week coming to close, I'm thinking about all that has happened over the course of the last year. Mainly thinking of exactly this time last year when I had just started working on the Spotted Bear Spirits project and all the collateral that came along with it. As I sit here, I'm looking at my desk and noticing that it is covered in liquor bottles from this particular project, as well as a huge stack of drawings that went into the making of each label on each bottle. It's satisfying to have the final, finished products sealed, pristine, and perfect right next to my computer. 

The alcohol world is super competitive, especially for startups and micro-operations. We've worked with several clients in this industry and have received tons of praise for our ability to bring innovative and honest design and branding to make individual companies stand out in a crowded marketplace. ​ 

​Let me explain.