An Interview With The Creative Minds Behind Nenuno

Nenuno Creative has been running for a few months now and has seen many changes across all areas of the site.

I would like to introduce myself and the rest of the team behind the day-to-day running of our creative blog.

If there is anything else you would like to know about us please leave a comment below!

Who is Nenuno?

Daniel: Hello! My name is Daniel and I’m a 23 year old wannabe web developer from Darwen, England. I am an avid gaming enthusiast with a strong passion for Japanese music and animation (which you will soon see in an upcoming post). Currently trying to absorb all I can about WordPress as it’s a fantastic platform to work with. For those who know me they would say I am anti-drupal!

I work full time for a large home shopping Plc as a Technical Administrator and sometimes given the opportunity to help within the group on various projects that involve WordPress and advanced forms.

Jared: My name is Jared Thompson, I’m a recently graduated Product Designer aged 21 and from Bolton, England. I am an avid designer who is open to many aspects of the design world, I love to work with the Adobe Creative Suite and also enjoy working with CAD software.

I am currently working to improve Nenuno Creative alongside Lucas and Dan, but I also run my own site Design Juices. I enjoy writing about all things design online, and I have found writing for other great design sites across the web to be great experiences.

Lucas: My name is Lucas Cobb. I graduated from college back in 2006 and have been designing and doing photography full time since them. What set’s me apart from my fellow Nenuno Admins is that I’m in the US, Charleston, South Carolina to be exact. I’m a huge fan of Adobe Creative Suite and I push design to its limits daily.

Besides producing amazing content on Nenuno with Dan & Jared, I run my own design site, Lucas Cobb Design. I target my posts towards elements of design, inspiration, progressive technology, code and all things photography.

What was the original idea behind Nenuno?

Daniel: The original idea for Nenuno if I remember correctly wasn’t for a blog. I was going to start a small design studio that would convert PSD/XHTML to WordPress and I was about 90% the way through developing a website for this but was inspired to create a blog instead as I so a gap in the blog market at the time for showcasing and promoting new designers/artists/developers. It was also a key learning experience to understand SEO.

What you see at Nenuno today wasn’t at all what I had expected, for one I wasn’t really expecting many visitors but when we received over 1800 on one day for such a small blog it spurred me on to create a better platform for Nenuno to grow on, so I scrapped the original design (Free premium WordPress theme) and embarked on creating a unique design from scratch with help from many friends along the way.

Whilst working on Nenuno, what has been your best moment that strives you to work even harder?

Daniel: The best moment whilst working on Nenuno has to be when I got accepted to BuySellAds.com. It put us together with 900 fantastic designer related blogs and has given us the opportunity to generate revenue to put back into our blog. Another great part of working on Nenuno has to be seeing the “big players” in the design industry commenting and tweeting about our content.

Whilst working on Nenuno Creative, what is your main duty for the day-to-day running on the site?

Daniel: I am one of the founders of Nenuno creative and I am involved in every aspect with running this site (a lot being admin work!). Posting new content, moderating comments and community submissions and general development. I have recently partnered with Jared from Design Juices and Lucas from Lucas Cobb Design to help push Nenuno even further with their own knowledge and skills that they can bring to the table.

Jared: Not being from a web design background I will undertake more of the writing and promotional aspects to the day to day running of Nenuno. I love to social network across the board and will look forward to not only interacting with the current Nenuno community but to expand and see it grow. I love to interact with creative designers on Twitter and Facebook.

Lucas: I focus on admin development and general maintenance on Nenuno. I also bring inspirational posts, interviews and design principles into the mix. I like to focus on interesting art forms such as paper cutting and innovative design studios. I also look forward to becoming a large part of the Nenuno community and putting my best design foot forward.

What are your backgrounds in web design/development?

Daniel: I have been designing and developing websites for a number of years but haven’t had a career (yet) in either web design or development. Currently it feels more as a hobby but it is something I thoroughly enjoy and if the opportunity comes along I can see myself working in this industry for many years.

Jared: I have been an avid fan of design ever since my graphic design education in my early school years, in terms of web development I am self taught in the basics of WordPress.

Lucas: I have and MFA in Graphic Design and have worked on a professional level for 5 years now. I have worked professionally as a photographer for 3 years now. I worked for several small design studios before realizing that a career in photography was what I was better acclimated to. I still freelance on the graphic level for myself. Currently I run my own photography studio in Charleston, SC and focus on portraiture and animals. Previously I was a contract photographer for Kodak, Inc. and have been lucky enough to photograph all the Hawaiian Islands as well as Glacier Bay in Alaska, USA.

Are you working on any exciting new developments for Nenuno?

Daniel: Currently I have nothing major planned for Nenuno, just fine tuning the current design and adding features as an when they are required. Jared and Lucas may have some exciting ideas that they would like to push into Nenuno. The newest development though is in our Admin panel, we have installed a plug-in that allows us to post are ideas/thoughts without the need for e-mails.

I should keep this secret but I am currently working on some WordPress themes and I hope to get Jared and Lucas more involved in some of the side projects I am working on now they are part of the team!

Jared: Ever since beginning to work and write online I don’t think I have allowed myself or my ideas to stop for breath, I am always looking to think of new and interesting topics which I can write about. I look forward to bring a wide range of inspiration and design educating articles to the Nenuno site. In the near future Nenuno readers can look forward to a great series of interviews with some amazing creative minds as well as some special Nenuno designed graphics and wallpapers.

Lucas: Thus far I felt that I’ve brought development and inspiration to Nenuno. I seek to bring several design studio interviews to the table in the near future. I’ve already been in contact with the founders of 123Klan and will be featuring a lengthy interview in a short while. Beyond that my focus is on bring amazing content on a daily basis to our readership and creating a Nenuno we all can be proud of.

Nenuno is mainly a creative inspiration showcase blog, where do you go for your inspiration?

Daniel: I see inspiration everywhere, but the main places I go to are deviantART, abduzeedo and ThemeForest

Jared: I have a great deal of time for the DeviantART community, I love to visit there to check out digital also keep tabs on photography styles and concepts. Being a more product/industrial educated designer I often find my inspiration wherever I am, as a designer I have developed a mindset of looking at the environment around me and thinking of ways in which routines and situations can be improved. Other online sources of inspiration include Core77 and Design Boom.

Lucas: Flickr is where I go to be amazed. Other than that I find a lot of inspiration on Twitter. Besides that, I go outside and let nature create ideas for me.

What does the future hold for you all?

Daniel: Currently I am unsure what the future holds but what I would like to see happen is that nenuno is to carry on progressing as it is and generates enough revenue for the three of us to bring new and exciting developments for nenuno.

Personally I would love to go back to College in the evenings to improve my Database/PHP skills.

Jared: Having just finished my university education I look forward to the summer ahead with the possibilities it can open up for me, in the immediate future I will be attending the New Designers Exhibition in London in July. I foresee a busy and exciting future in my working life, but for me design is part of every aspect of my day so I am excited to see what the future can bring. I hope to continue improving Nenuno and Design Juices to reach as wide and varied audience on the web as possible.

Lucas: As for now, the future is uncertain. I know this partnership will take me places and hopefully be something I can focus on full time in the future. Other than design, I’m looking at getting into my first house by the end of the year. I’ve finally found the place I want to settle down and create. I look forward to the future and seeing where we take Nenuno.

Before you all disappear, where can we find you online?

Daniel: I don’t have many pit-stops, but the ones I visit everyday are below:

Jared:

  • Twitter: @designjuices + @jthompsondesign
  • Facebook
  • DeviantART
  • Coroflot

Lucas:

One Comment

  1. Hi Guys,

    Just wanted to stop by and have a read about the people behind Nenuno.

    Have to say love the site it’s a great resource on design, catering from newbies (like me!) right through to the pros.

    Wish you all the best of luck although by the looks of it you don’t need it!, and you have another subscriber btw to add to your already burgeoning list no doubt.

    All the best

    Ben

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