Graduate Secures Senior Designer Job at Samsung

Northampton Community College (NCC) graduate Nickolas Kossup proves that you can accomplish impressive career success with an associate’s degree, provided you have talent, drive, and a strong work ethic.  

“You can get a dream job on a community college degree, but you must run and chase it,” Kossup said, adding that NCC provided him with an excellent educational foundation from which to build a career.  

In September 2025, he secured a position as a senior designer at Samsung Creative Studio. Based in South Korea, Samsung is a multinational company specializing in the production of consumer and industrial electronics, including appliances, televisions, smartphones, semiconductors, memory chips, and integrated systems.  

“There’s nothing special about me. I just worked very hard for my success,” Kossup said. “Everything is achievable if you want it enough.”  

In his Samsung role, Kossup designs and produces branding, campaigns, and presentations. He directs agencies on major campaigns for Samsung and designs the key visuals for these campaigns. He ensures brand consistency across all digital and print touchpoints. An example of his work, art direction for a global partnership with the game Roblox, is currently running in Times Square. 

Digital design wasn’t Kossup’s first career choice. Raised in Phillipsburg, NJ, he worked in a group home, overseeing three developmentally challenged adult men. His schedule allowed him to attend classes at Warren Community College in pursuit of a degree in nursing. His girlfriend, now wife, suggested he quit the nursing program and pursue a degree in an area that would lead to a career in something he loved doing. Always interested in art, he began searching for a graphic design program.  

“I knew NCC was a good option,” he said. “I had a lot of friends who went there, and the campus was beautiful.” He met with a counselor in the Admissions office, who explained that there were two tracks in the design program, print-based/web or new media.  

“At that point, I wasn’t sure which way to go,” he said. “I left it in God’s hands and followed my gut instinct.” He found new media to be more interesting. He also believed that, in the future, digital marketing would provide more opportunities. 

“I felt I needed a degree, but I knew my talent was strong enough that I didn’t need a bachelor’s degree,” he said. “I felt real-world experiences would be more advantageous than spending two additional years in college. Besides, I had had enough school. I said, ‘Let’s see what I can do.’”  

Even before he graduated, he began sending out his résumé. After graduation, he moved to California and, within two months, found a job at a packaging business called Marina Vape. He aggressively sought progressively more advanced positions. As is common for a designer starting their career, he changed jobs frequently over the next decade. With each jump, his salary increased.  

Before joining Samsung, he served as senior design manager at ZAM, a full-service gaming agency that specializes in building engaged communities for developers and publishers. There, he crafted brand identities and led high-profile marketing campaigns for global gaming IPs (intellectual properties).  

Additionally, he has consistently pursued freelance design work on the side and, over the years, developed a niche in creating websites and digital marketing campaigns for high-end realtors. Now, working remotely, he has moved back to the Lehigh Valley to be closer to his family. He and his wife recently welcomed a baby girl.  

He also frequently returns to NCC, the school that helped him start his design career. He has maintained close ties with several of his former instructors and often visits their classrooms to speak with students.  

“I tell them to take the fundamental skills they have learned at NCC and build on them,” he said. “The design field is highly competitive. When just getting started, students should accept any job they can so they can build a body of work to showcase their capabilities to prospective employers. Design is a game. Students need to know how to demonstrate they’re a person who people want to work with. They need to show, here’s the reason you should hire me.” 

Having rebranded his logo and website seven times since graduating, Kossup also encourages students to constantly reinvent themselves and stay in step with advances in technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI).  

“Embrace it and determine how to use it to enhance your skills,” he said. “By doing so, you can develop a successful career.”  

If you’re interested in learning more about NCC’s communication design program, click here.