Meet Josué Oquendo Natal | Graphic Designer, Art Director, Creative Director and Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Josué Oquendo Natal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josué, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Originally it started as a means to create income and pay through college, since I started my design practice / business at the same time I was studying in art school, my family was having a though time and it was important for me to be able to sustain economic needs on my own, but also be able to provide support to my family as well.

As time progressed what was once a means of income for college and self-sufficiency became a career for which I became passionate about and saw that it was not only fulfilling but a profession with a strong sense of responsibility.

Being a good designer entails being responsible for the work you do and how you fully understand and consider thoroughly your clients/projects and their impact they have on society.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
The best way I can describe my art and what I do, is that it is the product of a very curious mind that finds fun and joy in exploring the many ways that I can create amazing works of visual communication. During my career I’ve found myself finding joy in tackling projects which are challenging and that from time to time, take me out of my comfort zone. I constantly push myself into re-inventing and re-examining the work I do, searching for new ways or ways to find solutions to complicated or sometimes, uphill challenges. I have many interests that make me able to bring all of those interests to the work I end up producing, be it illustration, photography, video, animation, typography, graphic design, website/app design, amongst others.

Definitely getting to this point in my career has not been easy, it has taken a lot of sacrifice and many many work hours, specially during my college years, also when I was younger, I would obsess about constantly drawing and improving my craft, even though I did not have a specific goal or career in time at that moment, I would obsess about at least drawing 2 hours per day, in search of being better at it and learning new techniques and possibilities, if a day went by that I could not achieve that, it would be really frustrating for me and I would try to make up for it the next day. Definitely that approach to improving and exploring is something that to this day, I try to apply to the everyday experience.

I think it’s important to invest the hours in exploring and just creating something for the fun of it and discovery, even if it does not have an immediate result, that time invested pays off in the long run and shows up in surprising ways.

Sometimes working within constraints makes visible a world of possibilities and finding creative solutions.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If this is in Denver, all I can say is that I would love to get to know the City better! I’m born and raised on the beautiful Island of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has a lot to offer and I would say almost every aspect of Puerto Rican culture is amazing, on a first time visit, I would definitely recommend some of my favorite places to eat local food like Cocina al Fondo, get some amazing bread and delicious food from Levain Artisan breads in Aguadilla or Santurce. In terms of visiting, I would suggest seeing many of the public street arts projects in Rio Piedras, which also has a very vibrant upcoming young local businesses to visit, see the mural artworks in Santurce as well, in the San Juan area as well you could visit the Contemporary Art Museum (MAC), the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) and also the design museum Museo de Arte y Diseño de Miramar (MADMI). I would also like them to enjoy my hometown of Utuado and its amazing sights and locations.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Definitely my Mother and my Father are a huge inspiration and thanks to them and all of the efforts they did when raising me and my two brothers, I was capable of having the personal journey which gave access to art school in college which created the turning point in my life to the possibilities of an amazing career which I’m passionate about.

To all of the teachers from the public school system that from early on, cheered on and motivating me in pursuing on my dreams to do art and to pursue a career related in the art world, I remember that they would always mention “When you are grown up, you will do art for Disney movies!”, that was always a really motivating and wholesome experience, even though working at Disney was not necessarily my dream.

And my Infinite source of inspiration and motivation, my wife Samantha and my son Lucca. They give me the energy to keep on growing and finding new horizons in what I do and how I work.

Website: josueoquendo.com

Instagram: josue_nunostudio

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nunolein/

Image Credits
Photos from projects where taken by: Josué E. Oquendo Natal