1990
Susan is born during a freezing snow storm on February 16th 1990 to Michael Harkins Sr. and Rebecca Harkins of Georgetown, Maine.
Susan Harkins is a multidisciplinary design professional from Georgetown, Maine. With over a decade of experience spanning industries specializing in graphic design, UX/UI, public art, advertising, print, digital and email marketing. Susan creates design solutions that exceed client expectations.
Susan has always had a passion and curiosity for human behavior; she strives to be authentic and this translates to the work that she creates. With an innate ability to connect with who a consumer is, what a demographic wants and how a brand is perceived – Susan leverages market research and data to make purposeful choices. Susan has experience working with diverse teams across business sectors. With a passion for creative problem solving Susan has the tenacity to turn big ideas into reality.
I enjoy 30s cartoons, 40s children’s books, 50s illustrations, 60s Batman, 70s game shows, 80s Saturday Night Live, and 90s sitcoms.
“I’m not big on holidays but believe everyone deserves something special and a wish on their birthday – you don’t need cake if that’s not your thing, jam a candle in a steak and make a wish.”
I enjoy stand-up comedy, auto-biographies and fantasy novels. I saw Space Balls before Star Wars.
CHILDHOOD BOOKS:
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Finn Family Moomintroll, Alice in Wonderland, Roverandom.
FAVORITE TV:
Black Books, Taskmaster, Night Court, News Radio, Futurama, Q.I., 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.
MOST PLAYED TRACKS ON SPOTIFY:
Mirah: The Forest, Kimya Dawson: Loose Lips, Lady Lamb: Milkduds, Bishop Briggs: Wild Horses.
Susan is born during a freezing snow storm on February 16th 1990 to Michael Harkins Sr. and Rebecca Harkins of Georgetown, Maine.
Susan enters school at five years old as a kindergarten student at Georgetown Elementary. There she would discover and become greatly influenced by the the works of Dahlov Ipcar, Tove Jansson, J.R.R. Tolkien and Lewis Carrol.
Susan begins creating websites using Yahoo! Geocities featuring custom content including a variety of animated gifs created with Jasc Animation Shop and transparent pngs for use in creating personalized avatars and forum signatures.
In the new millenium Susan begins creating custom HTML layouts for users on the online gaming platform neopets in exchange for digital currency.
Susan broadens her online presence and her offerings. She now provides custom HTML layouts and animated gifs for Gaia Online and MySpace users.
Susan begins creating digital art with her first Wacom tablet and Adobe Photoshop - again selling her artwork to forum users for digital currency.
Susan graduates from High School in Maine. Less than one month later she moves to Pennsylvania to attend the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for Graphic Design.
Susan graduates from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in December - with honors and gets to chat with Joe Murray, creator of Rocco's Modern Life as the student commencement speaker for her graduating class.
Susan moves back to her home state of Maine, where she begins a varied freelance career and soon finds work as a graphic designer for a local publishing company producing advertising driven local in-room hotel directories and niche magazines. There she quickly rises to the role of Creative Director.
Late in 2012 Susan leaves her job as creative director of the local publishing company and begins working for a retail production comapny designing all types of retail products and packaging for companies big and small. Including some super fun pet accessory products.
Susan moves to Salt Lake City, Utah to become an omni‑channel marketing designer with an initial focus on email marketing. Having never previously designed for email Susan hits the ground running and begins designing and coding custom emails on day one of the job.
Susan moves back to her home state of Maine, yet again. She continues her work from Salt Lake City while also exploring creative passion projects. February of 2020 she launches her first Kickstarter project, an enamel pin, which is funded within a week.
Susan applies for her first public art call in April. Maine's Women's Suffrage public art mural to commemorate the centennial of the 19th amendment. She is selected as the mural artist from a pool of applicant proposals across all New England states. Mural installation begins in September and is officially completed in November.
June 24th, 2022, shortly after the monumental Supreme Court decision on Roe v Wade, Path of Perserverence, the women's suffrage fountain mural dedication ceremony is held. Susan is humbled to become a small part of the rich legacy of such great female leaders for equality.
