About Us

Hark Team and Philosophy: Humanizing the Digital World!

We believe in the power of communication, and that design makes a difference. At Hark, we want to do what technology was meant to do—help connect you with your audience. The core values of Hark are influenced by founder Jeffrey Harkness’s extensive history in the industry: listening to and collaborating with our partners, passion for the work, and respect for one another. 

Our goal is not to produce work in an assembly line but to uniquely and specifically engage with each of our partners as individuals and to humanize the digital world by building brands and businesses around real people. While the Hark team represents a diverse array of skills, backgrounds, and experiences, the threads woven throughout are the things you can’t train: passion and enthusiasm. We’re excited and passionate about creativity, advocating for our partners, relating with people, and the power of really good design.

Jeffrey Harkness and the Genesis of Hark

With over twenty years of design experience and a lifetime of creativity, Jeffrey Harkness founded Hark in 2009. Having been a part of the industry since the early 1990s, his experience preceded the digital explosion and has encompassed partnerships with hundreds of clients from a broad spectrum of industries and sizes.

In 1994, Jeffrey co-founded California-based Diesel Design and, over a decade, worked with an extensive list of clients, including Wells Fargo, Cisco, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, Lucas Films, and over 100 Silicon Valley startups. After twelve years of seeing Diesel successfully grow in size and influence, Jeffrey had the opportunity to return to his native New England. He was eventually drawn back into doing what he loved most: partnering with clients to help them grow their brands and businesses.

Having a greater understanding of where clients are coming from—after running a startup himself—the experience of working with entrepreneurs and business leaders helped create a more robust perspective of the client-agency relationship. In 2009, he re-booted Hark and sought to maintain the unique ethos of client advocacy and collaboration paired with innovation and quality.

“The longer I work with our clients, the more I see the work product as just one element of relationships we’re building. We’re fortunate to be part of a larger ecosystem and see our design work as one of many ways to help someone’s business grow. I strive to help develop an entire business ethos for our partners; design is just an avenue into that rich relationship. Of course, the living and breathing creative design daily is amazing, but there is such a rich world outside the business world that doesn’t get addressed.”