Education:
Texas Tech University,
B.A., Advertising

Career History:
Editorial Artist
San Antonio Light
1989 - 1991

Chief Artist, Feature Design
San Antonio Express-News
1991 - 1995

Art Director
Kich/Cotter Advertising & Marketing
1995 - 1997

Creative Director
The Summit Group
1997 - 1998

President/Chief Creative Officer
Ideawire, inc.
1998 - present

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Company:
Advantage Rent-A-Car,
largest independently-owned
car rental company in the U.S.
Located in 10 states

Services Provided:
Design, database-driven content, online rental services, site promotions.

Additional Services:
Hosting, maintenance, online strategy.

There's an unusual question Mark Harlien likes to ask people when it comes to whether their company or organization is on the Internet:

"Are you wired yet?"

New Century Graphics. Mark's first website was for a prepress output company. "I hated designing web pages at first, but now it's a passion I can't shake."
"Then I tell them I'm not with the law and I don't work for the coffee industry," he jokes. That question is the tagline for his web development/design firm, Ideawire. "I knew it was a bit racy, but it gets people's attention and it's a question any organization should ask itself - regarding the Internet, of course."

Mark has been asking that question for years now. And because of it, along with his reputation, he has developed websites and marketing material for some of the largest organizations in the country. "When I did my first website in 1996, I hated it. I was from the print industry and was accustomed to placing graphics and type on a page and knowing it would look exactly the way I wanted it to look. I remember thinking, 'I sure don't want to get into this.' Now, it's a passion I can't shake."

In the beginning...

Weekender. I developed my illustration talents when I was faced without means to hire freelance illustrators.

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Newspaper Industry. Among Mark's accomplishments is newspaper editorial design. His career has included redesigning three newspapers, two of which were completed while employed at Ideawire, inc.
Throughout his career, Mark has faced limitations that he later used to his advantage. While in college, he dreamed of becoming a political cartoonist. But the college newspaper was only interested in hiring a graphic artist to do charts and maps. "I said, 'look, I'll do your maps if you let me draw my cartoons,'" he recalls. "They agreed and I won the Society of Professional Journalists' Mark of Excellence contest with my first cartoon. Then they let me do whatever I wanted. The experience led me to creating win-win opportunities in professional situations which I still use today."

After graduating from Texas Tech University with a degree in Advertising, Mark was quickly recruited by the San Antonio Light, a newspaper in Texas. He had dreams of becoming an award-winning newspaper designer, but he was again faced with limitations. "We didn't have a budget for hiring illustrators. So I developed my own illustration talents to help me achieve award-winning design." He soon fulfilled that goal by earning numerous Society of Professional Journalists awards in newspaper design, informational graphics and editorial illustration.

Crowning achievement

When he joined the San Antonio Express-News two years later, his career reached new heights. "I was head of feature design at the paper and I was selected to work on the redesign of the entire newspaper. In the process, I won the newspaper's first national Society of Newspaper Design (SND) award and also won first place in the Hearst Newspaper contest." Mark was one of two designers who headed the redesign project. He considers it to be the crowning achievement of his newspaper career.

"Then, what do you think I did? I left."

©2001 Ideawire, inc. all rights reserved.