Social networking websites have obviously changed the way people interact and do business, but with these platforms now such a routine part of our lives, how do you keep the experience fresh? Helping to push the evolution of Wordpress blogs and sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace are Full Sail graduates Ryan Steinhardt and Hunter Ecklund, whose company Daddy Design is specializing in helping businesses customize their social networking pages to create a more dynamic experience for users.

“When we first built our studio we started with web design and graphics, then just happened to create a custom MySpace page for a client, and the idea developed from there,” he says. “There weren’t any companies doing advanced MySpace pages because it’s a whole different type of coding, so we figured out how to do it quickly, marketed it on our website, and started to get a ton of calls from big clients. Universal Music, TNT – all these places wanted us to do their MySpace pages, and that’s how we grew.”

Since founding the company in late 2006 Daddy Design has attracted an impressive roster of clients looking to create engaging content across different sites, including ESPN X Games, Elle magazine, Dolce Touch, Sennheiser, and Vevo. And while the quality of their work has driven the company’s success, what’s most impressive about Daddy Design are the logistics of Ryan and Hunter’s partnership. With Ryan based in Miami and Hunter living overseas most of the year, the pair have had to carefully coordinate their 12-hour time difference, using the few hours where they’re both awake to handle any creative and business decisions.

“I handle all the clients and marketing and some of the design, and he handles most of the design and coding – somehow it just works for us,” Ryan says. “I work a lot at night because that’s his morning, and we have a really great relationship. We’ll get on Skype and I’ll go over anything that’s happened that day, and any changes we need to make, or new projects that we’ll be working on

“Hunter is one of the best designers I’ve ever seen, and I got really lucky to have him as a partner. Anyone who sees our portfolio thinks we’re some huge firm, but it’s just the two of us. That’s one of the things we’ve been happiest about. Every time we finish a big project, and we start getting compliments, that feeling is so good.”

By having the foresight to specialize in an area that wasn’t being catered to, Daddy Design has become a successful startup company only a few years after these grads left Full Sail. Always eager to keep their momentum going, Ryan and Hunter are looking forward to bringing on a larger design team to help expand their presence in the web design industry.

“Social media is huge, and it’s going to just keep getting bigger, so our goal is to get to a point where when people want a page built, they think of Daddy Design,” he says. “One of my biggest joys is watching our Alexa ranking get higher and higher, because we’ve never spent a single dollar on marketing. It’s all been from word of mouth and doing search engine optimization work. In this business you just have to go out and put 100% into it, and I still spend hours doing that every day because I just love what we do.”

*Check out some of Hunter and Ryan's work at DaddyDesign.com.