NORFOLK, Neb. – As Luis Nolasco has become more comfortable working in graphic design, it has allowed him to be himself.
“Since I have been very young, I have always been interested in the arts. I remember one of my first thoughts when I was young was, ‘What will I be when I grow up?’ I always liked to watch cartoons and wanted to do something (related) to it. Things like ‘Tom and Jerry,’ I grew up with that,” the Norfolk native said.
When he was at Norfolk High School, Nolasco began to explore the idea of getting into graphic design and then possibly entering the world of concept art. That would give him a lot of freedom for his creativity, including working in more traditional mediums to get established.
Concept art can be applied to anything from landscape design to movies and video games, Nolasco said. His creative personality comes through in his work, which was featured during the senior exhibit of portfolios by senior graphic design majors recently at Northeast Community College.
“Drawing has always kind of been my thing,” he said, while showing some of his portfolio samples on things like a foreign country’s mythical paper currency to promotion art for a fictitious record company’s album sale.
Nolasco said when he began taking classes at Northeast, he learned it is important to learn the rules before breaking them.
“One you learn what it takes to make good design, then you appreciate the work a whole lot more,” Nolasco said.
Nolasco received a gold medal in the advertising design collegiate division during SkillsUSA competition in Grand Island in April. He is one of the Northeast students who have qualified in 16 events for the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta at the end of this month.
“I was incredibly nervous, but it was a fun experience. There are a lot of great designs, but I showed up and once I got the prompts, I felt I could do well because this is what I am into,” he said.
The mission was to take a vintage record store and promote a sale it was having. He created the winning entry in Photoshop and InDesign. Competitors had to create two designs, one that would be used on social media like Instagram and another that was a postcard. It was important to provide the essential information and present it in a way that would be fitting of the record store.
Nolasco graduated with an associate in arts in graphic design from Northeast in May.
His interests are quite varied, including movies, poetry, music and building things. He has applied to several colleges to continue his education from Kansas City to Des Moines to Duke. After he takes a year off to work, he will decide which school he wants to attend.
He currently works for Walmart in Norfolk, but would like to find work in the graphic design field.
“It has to be the right fit,” Nolasco said.
Nolasco’s senior portfolio contained nine projects that showed his evolution at Northeast over the past two years. It also included self-directed pieces that he completed outside of class, such as a movie redesign piece that incorporated some elements from the original design into a new restructured piece.
Graphic Design cutline
Luis Nolasco of Norfolk, who graduated from Northeast Community College last month, shows his gold medal winning design from SkillsUSA as part of his senior portfolio presentation in Union 73 prior to graduation. (Northeast Community College)
###