Graphic Designer Art Director

KELLY HARKINS

*********@***.*** • LinkedIn • Portfolio

858-***-**** • Phoenix, AZ

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER / SENIOR ART DIRECTOR

Multi-skilled creative ninja with over 15 years of experience as design lead in diverse environments offering a broad skill set that drives all aspects of brand marketing for print, web, social, PR, and bespoke content creation.

Proven success in art direction, graphic design, and brand development for digital and print projects. Motivational team member and leader, accustomed to collaborating effectively with multi-functional teams, organizing workflow, and delivering projects on time and within budget. Leveraging high-level experience of managing multiple clients’ accounts for advertising agencies, an in-house designer on the client-side, as well as supporting many clients as a freelancer. Accustomed to delivering exceptional quality with great attention to detail, have a solid work ethic, and a high level of professionalism with a contagious positive attitude.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Design Strategy & Implementation

Campaign Management

KPIs & Analytics

Design & Art Direction

Project Management

Client Relationship Management

UI/UX Design & Best Practice

Research & Insights

Trend Analysis

Brand Development

Video Editing

Leadership & Coaching

TECHNICAL PROFICIENCIES

Adobe InDesign Illustrator Photoshop Lightroom Premiere Adobe After Effects iMovie

Sketchup Microsoft Office Suite HubSpot WordPress HTML / CSS Knowledge Mac and PC Systems

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design, Art Minor – Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Freelance Senior Art Director, Senior Graphic Designer Present

Kelly Harkins Designs – Scottsdale, AZ

Leverage strong conceptual and design skills to create compelling work and provide integrated design and art direction from concept to campaign for clients across diverse sectors. Deliver multi-faceted expertise to offer commercial graphic design services, marketing, and brand strategy development, as well as web and social media management and asset creation. Evaluate client needs and create custom solutions while drawing from diverse methodologies and technologies. Collaborate with directors, project coordinators, copywriters, and photography teams and maintain awareness of current and future design trends to drive innovative solutions. Formulate criteria for project success and produce high quality outcomes for clients while successfully managing multiple projects. Communicate effectively across stakeholders to complete projects within set budgets and timeframes.

•Provided interdisciplinary services including graphic design, art direction, photography, and video filming/ editing for print and web.

•Reliably met tight deadlines and handled concurrent, varied assignments while providing consistent quality and accuracy exercising innovative creative thinking to quickly grow brand identity and presence.

Project Highlights:

-Risk Management Association / ProSight Financial Association (3/2022 – Present): Partnered with Professional Development and Marketing teams to rebrand 200–600-page financial course materials. Delivered solutions to reduce redundancy, improve accuracy, and implemented a custom project tracking system.

-ICG Technology (7/2023 – Present): Led a full-scale rebrand, including a 30+ page website redesign, 80+ product sheets, and a cohesive digital presence. Established and executed a bi-weekly content cadence—concept to publish—across blogs, email campaigns, and LinkedIn.

Art Director, Creative Director 02/2010 – 4/2022

Art Director Digital Airstrike – Phoenix, AZ (07/2021 - 4/2022)

Art Director Datix – St. Louis, MO (1-Year Contract, 11/2019 - 11/2020)

Art Director, Creative Director TOMCAR – Phoenix, AZ (02/2019 - 10/2019)

Art Director Advanced Genomic Solutions (AGS) LTD – Scottsdale, AZ (11/2016 - 12/2018)

Art Director Erickson-Hall Construction Co. – Escondido, CA (02/2010 - 04/2013)

Led and directed graphic and website design, copy, video, animation, infographic, social media material, and promotional assets for various businesses and brands. Supervised graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, production artists, creative freelancers, and managed content and production teams. Collaborated with members of marketing or media buying teams to develop strategies for brand identity and worked with copywriters to develop strategies for audience engagement. Created presentations and project plans, met with clients and vendors, and ensured successful online representation of clients’ content creation. Guaranteed consistency in design across all online and offline marketing channels while upholding brand guidelines. Adhered to schedules in challenging, deadline-driven environments.

●Collaborated with international clients and delivered wide range of physical assets and web support in remote positions meeting quality, time, and budget specifications.

●Applied strong sense of personal responsibility and professional demeanor with positive, solution-seeking attitude to manage challenging clients and forge rewarding working relationships across language differences to secure successful outcomes to complex projects.

Project Highlights:

-Datix – Redesigned all marketing collateral, rewrote to simplify and redesigned website to be responsive on smart devices, working 100% remotely. Rebuilt and launched second website with login functionality and tracking per user and played key role in seamless migration process to consolidate hosting accounts.

-TOMCAR – Created new marketing material for sales team and rebuilt tomcar.com to be responsive on smart devices with the ability to efficiently host and play video headers 75% faster than the previous site. Programmed website Quote Calculator allowing potential customers to Build Their Own TOMCAR and get an instant quote saving sales team time. Hired and managed front desk employees and acted as office manager in delivering employee training, setting up email accounts, allocating appropriate server access, and initiating many improvements to work culture. Resolved IT issues and collaborated with a third-party IT team for server issues.

-Advanced Genomic Solutions (AGS) LTD – Generated marketing material for global sales team as sole marketing employee. Worked with a programming team to rebuild ags-health.com from WordPress-brochure site to HubSpot-smart website with CRM and tracking ability. Ensured process was HIPAA compliant for customer data security. Redesigned genetic reports, audited the genetic database, and rewrote content to be easier to understand. Worked seamlessly with Hong Kong team regardless of time zone and language barriers.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Corporate Branding & Media Manager / Sr. Graphic Designer Verari Systems – San Diego, CA

Sr. Graphic Designer / Jr. Art Director PETCO, Inc. – San Diego, CA

Graphic Designer Direct Partners – Marina Del Rey, CA

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

Wild At Heart – Raptors, Website Development and Design 02/2022 - Present

Cactus Shadows High School PTO, Technology & Design, Secretary 07/2021 - Present

Sonoran Trails Middle School PTO, Technology & Design 08/2020 - Present

Designed new logo for school, rebranded all collateral, apparel, signage, built PTO website and ongoing updates.

Black Mountain Elementary School PTO, Director of Marketing 08/2017 - 05/2019

Created yearly design theme for print and social media campaigns. Raised $55k for school. Built PTO website.

Jerebek Elementary School, Lead Art Corp Teacher 09/2014 - 05/2016

Taught monthly art lesson to Kindergarteners, First, Second, and Third grade classes.

Contact this candidate