Areas of Expertise

Illustration
Logo/Branding
Packaging
Web Design

Hello! I’m Nikola, and I'm a Graphic Designer in the Chicagoland Area. My experience ranges from painting, illustration, and drawing, to Graphic Design, Web Design and some UI/UX. Ever since I was young, I enjoyed drawing cartoons and had a gut feeling that art was going to be with me for the rest of my life. The jokes came here and there from all around; will you be a starving artist? How will you have a professional career? And it’s rewarding and exciting to show people that you can be an artist and pay the bills.

I didn’t find myself drawn to design until I was in the Army and continuing my education. I had joined the military when I was finished with my Junior year of college and I was majoring in drawing and painting. I had a feeling I needed to solidify my career outlook and shifted my focus, and have enjoyed every second of creating in a digital environment ever since. The shift led me to Columbia College Chicago in 2018 after I left the military where I got my bachelors degree in Graphic Design with a Focus in Web Design, 2020. I didn’t know it until I was in the class but I had a passion for coding front-end work that most of my peers didn’t align with. I try to differentiate myself by learning what I can about being a front-end web designer.

I have developed this passion further at Pintas and Mullins, where I have been coding the landing pages and making them look better than they had before. I know how to use the different programs in the Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Dimension, After Effects) and have started using Visual Studio Code as the place I build HTML5 and CSS landing pages, with some Javascript thrown in here and there (though I wouldn’t say I can actually create Javascript). I also learned how to work in a Scrum team where I partner with back-end developers and learn from them to improve myself as a web designer. I know how to work well as a team and know how to listen and execute projects in a timely manner.

In my spare time, I enjoy writing and watching TV and Youtube videos, hanging out with my friends and family (sans COVID, of course) and going on walks to the Chicago Riverwalk. I have two adorable cats named Sasha and Batty and a Corn Snake named Carl!