SOO, I got an email the other day that really made me stop and think for a second about where design/web is going. The email that I received was basically a designer who was asking for my assistance  (he was super nice and respectable by the way so not talking down about him in anyway) in helping him understand code for Myspace designs. He told me that he had been designing for 15 years and just didn’t understand code and definitely didn’t understand how to code for myspace or where to put it or where to start etc …. Obviously and unfortunately I was not able to assit him in this just because this would create competition and well I had to learn it all from scratch and if I can do it, then anybody can haha. SO this got me thinking on how many myspace layouts there are now and how many designers there are out there doing them right now.

Lets face the facts here, Myspace is dead to the daily user and Facebook is taking over. Hell if Google and Facebook join forces then we would all be doomed … BUT for bands it is still a great look to promote yourself and network and move up in the music Industry. (sidenote* If Myspace was smart they would turn almost all of their attention to the music part of their site.) Anyways, I started to really think about all the myspace sites I have done and all the AMAZING Myspace sites I have seen done by others and thought I would give credit where credit is due. Also give some helpful hints to people starting out.

1. If your new to designing myspace pages I suggest you brush up on your code skills. BUT is that really a skill? Some think so… I on the other hand think it is more of an understanding. Study it. When I started designing myspace pages I had to learn from scratch and had very little web experience but figured I would jump right in and see what I can do. GOOGLE helped me out soo much! Google is and amazing tool for Code and questions of any type. If you didn’t know this already then you really need to wake up hahaha. Regardless my best advice to anyone trying to start designing myspace pages is to google everything. Not only do you need to google everything but make mistakes, and try new approches to old ways of writing code. Myspace is already bulky enough as it is, so your primary goal is to use as little code as possible to design the myspace page that you are creating.

2. Set up a primary practice page. When I started trying to design pages I set up a fake band account and just tried everything that I could think of on that page. That way when It didn’t work … well it didn’t matter. Also it comes in handy later when you are designing pages for bands or people, this way you can create it on that page make sure everything is golden and then BOOM just copy paste the code to the page you are creating. It is also a great way to preview your design to the band before you load it up. People are picky and bands are pickier. BUT beware even with a practice page set up your still going to just have to make mistakes. One of the first pages I created was for an awesome band called Graves Of Valor , and when I designed that page I did it all in Safari. I did how ever neglect to check it in all browsers on the web and immediately got like 6 emails from designers and web people and just some other dudes telling me my page design was jacked. IT WAS EMBARRASSING! but I am super glad I went through it. I figured out what was wrong and then realized from that point on that I have to check it in every browser. Learn from your mistakes, but in order to learn from them you have to make them first.

3. DONT copy other people. I can’t even tell you how many myspace designers I have seen ripping other people off. The primary goal of designing these pages is for the band’s sake first and to please the client, but also for your promotion. Each myspace designer that has been really doing it for a while tends to have as distinct style and branding to their pages. Leave that to them, create your own look to stand out from the rest.

4. Why is it good to design myspace pages? Myspace is seriously probably the best promotion tool out there right now. Especially for designers trying to get more freelance. When you design a myspace page especially for a bigger band or person it is almost free advertising for you. People go to the band page they wanna check out and there you are ! plastered all over the place. Undeniable design presence. Trust me you create or design a big enough band myspace and YOU WILL GET MORE WORK. There are thousands and millions of people on myspace everyday checking out bands. MY point is when you start out designing do some of them for free. You can not expect to just say “HEY everyone I am here ready to design … but thats going to cost you $xxx” You have to prove to people that you are capable of doing it and capable of doing it good. I designed about 5 pages for free before I even made any money on anything at first. I still to this day design them for free for certain people. If the client is big enough then hell yes I will do it for free … because I look at it as an investment in a sense. You do it for free people will see it and you will get more jobs. A digital billboard for everyone to see.

OK now that I have given soem friendly and helpful advice I wanna turn to the designers that are really kicking ass right now in the Myspace world.

Sons of Nero - www.sonsofnero.com
More than likely you have seen some of these dudes work. They do amazing stuff and are staggered all over the nation. Not only are these guys designing amazing myspace pages but the are doing some amazing branding solutions as a whole for bands. They create consistent and fresh work every time. They also Have a active blog that they update frequently. If you are a designer this is the place to go get your creative juices flowing.

D-Dub Designs – www.myspace.com/ddubdesigns
Daniel Wagner straight out of Seattle, Washington. This dude rules at designing myspace pages. I have seen many of his pages around the internets and let me tell you, this is top notch work here. Super crisp designs that function well and flow well. Also he works super hard!, it seems like he has new designs coming out every week! Very talented designer and nice person. Check out his work and pick your jaw up off the floor.

Guardian – www.guardianstyle.com
Wow … this designer came out of no where to me. hahaha In fact the first stuff I saw from him was for my friend Jake’s band August Burns Red. He designed their myspace page and it is awesome! Also he designs shirts and they are all super awesome! I have not seen anything that this dude is doing that is not AWESOME. He presents all his work on a super clean and effective website. If you have not checked out this work yet do your self a favor and check it out now.

Designs By The D – www.myspace.com/designsbythed
This designer is doing really nice stuff as well. I stumbled across some of his work with some metal bands that I use to share the stage with back in the day. His work really stands out and is super profesional looking. Also he hails from my home state of SC, so gotta give mad props to the dude for representing home. Check out his work at his myspace page. He has a nice list of designs he has done. Check it now.

Some other designers that deserve credit where credit is due!

Skyline By Design – www.skylinebydesign.com
Skyline By Design, a Web & Graphic Design company based out of Provo, UT.

Design By The Kitsch – www.designbythekitsch.com/web/
This is some really strong and clean design work, clients include Maroon 5, Arrested Development and many many more.

Icon Design - www.myspace.com/icondesignuk
Tom Winslade, Digital Designer based in the South-West, UK

There are so many more people that are designing these days but these are the top of the game guys that I know of right now. If you know of some more than deserve credit for just ruling life let me know! You may be asking yourself why I am giving credit to all these people? .. why are you helping your competition? Well I was told recently by a smart man to give away everything you know and more will come back to you. This has proven true and I really wanted to give credit to all the good designers out there right now. They deserve it as much as the next person. Support the design community. So be sure to go check out these dudes designs and let them know how much they rule :]

OH and be sure of course to check out the page I have created and my other work on my website in my portfolio section.

Brandon Sharpe
www.myspace.com/bsdesign

Here is a little bit of what he wrote about me in his blog! .. Pretty Much dead on.

“Monday, August 31, 2009

MYSPACE MAKEOVER BY B.design Creative!
Well, Jordan Buckley did NOT make this myspace page. Weird to type, mainly because it was in the third person, but over the last couple month i have had the chance to meet and collaborate with some absolutely amazing people. Brandon Sharpe at B.design Creative is one of them. His emails are weird and he tends to have tourette’s of the keyboard, but i truly appreciate him and am very grateful that he was motivated enough to write me out of the blue and offer his web design services. If I was Howard Stern, a plug would cost him a trip to the robo-spanker, but since he just straight up rules, plugs are free! So check him out at createtheuniverse.com. But make sure to look around my new myspace first! It’s got a twitter tracker! And the drawings change on the main page! This is so cool!”

Also in addition to his page I have been super busy working on other myspace pages and websites. I just finsihed up two other myspace pages for local acts here in Columbia, SC

check them out when you get a chance:

www.myspace.com/beholdthemessenger

www.myspace.com/concretejumpsuit

GET CREATIVE!, LIVE LIFE!
Brandon.

Seriously I would love to hear any feed back you guys may have so comment below and let me know what you think. There no excuse not to comment cause I got this junk set up so you can log in with a billion different methods hahaha!

WIS TV Real Estate 15 Sec Promo from Brandon Sharpe on Vimeo.

This is a 15 second promo for wistv.com real estate. The Sales department at the news station I work for is about to launch a real estate section on wistv.com. They needed spots to run on air to promote the section of the website. I created this spot using After Effects and Photoshop.

Hope you enjoy!