About Us

Hired Guns Creative was founded in 2008 by two guys who were fed up with working for other people.

After operating for a year as a generalist design company, we decided to specialize in providing services for the alcohol industry. Since then, we’ve narrowed our focus and broadened our expertise within our chosen niche.

We bring a broad understanding of the alcohol market and what’s hot in packaging design. This includes the ability to recognize when a project would be best served by avoiding the latest packaging design trends.

Richard Hatter, Creative Director

Richard is an award-winning designer, illustrator, and conceptual thinker. He has 21 years of experience in graphic, print, and web design, as well as creative direction, market strategy and artistic management. He is a graduate of the Graphic Design Program at Malaspina University-College (which is now known as Vancouver Island University). Richard has worked for several large design firms, first at the production level and then working his way up to Creative Director. He has worked on a wide range of projects, including multi-million dollar accounts for nation-wide clients. He has a black belt in judo and two young children at home.

Leif Miltenberger, Business Director

While studying for a Music Composition degree from Capilano College (now known as Capilano University), Leif began teaching himself to build websites from scratch. The hobby became a career, first as a freelance web designer/developer, which then led to full-time employment in the industry beginning in 2006. These days, Leif’s time is primarily spent on business development and project management. He speaks on branding and packaging design at craft brewing conferences across Canada and the United States. (Speaker’s bio.) He is a father of three very busy young children.