About Natalia Vargas

Natalia was born in Bolivia and began her art career the same way I did, by taking
AP Drawing and 2D design classes at her high school. Like me, she was initially interested in
creating realistic art and enjoys the process of replicating digital images. The year she
began her BFA in Communication Design at UNT, she became a member of the
organization WIVLA (Women in the Visual and Literary Arts) where she gave a talk at one of
their meetings about her high school portfolio.
While enrolled in the Communication Design program at UNT she recognized her
passion for interaction, or UI/UX design. The Com Design program at UNT is an intense
degree plan that starts off with hundreds of freshman yet yields only around forty
upperclassmen. Natalia started off by taking classes in typography and traditional art
disciplines like drawing and painting during her first year in the program, but after her
junior year she shifted her focus towards digital design. During her time at UNT she was
featured in the DSVC National Student Show and won two Bronze and one Silver ADDYs
awards (American Advertising Awards).
After graduating from UNT in 2014 with the top portfolio in Art Direction, her friend
referred her to Bottle Rocket, which had then just been established at the time. However,
they didnt have any design positions available when she first started working, so she
began her career in the Marketing Department. In Marketing she had many conversations
with Bottle Rockets clients, which helped her learn how it feels to be a client seeking an
advertising service rather than a designer.
Now that Natalia is an Art Director at Bottle Rocket she mainly works on design
projects for the company, but one thing I have noticed about her is that she thinks like an
entrepreneur. She is always discussing her ideas with me about apps she could create and
has a strong ability to view the different features of an app through a consumers
perspective.