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May 14, 2010

Dribbble – Share Your Designs One Peek at a Time

When you work as a freelance professional in a creative field, seeking feedback on an upcoming project can be a challenge. Without any cubicle mates or coworkers to bounce ideas off of, it can be tough to know whether your latest design is right on point or completely off base. That’s where Dribbble comes into play. The website developed for designers, developers, and creative professionals makes it easy to share sneak peaks and snapshots of your latest projects and get straightforward advice from other professionals online, without revealing too much about your overall design or business plan.

Once you’re a member of Dribbble, uploading screen grabs of your latest projects is a snap. The site limits these “shots” to 400 × 300 pixels at max and recommends posting only zoomed-in images that don’t reveal too much about your overall design. Each shot you upload can be tagged with keywords that make it easier for users with expertise in certain areas—such as typography, color blocking, or iPhone applications—to stumble onto it. Once users find your shot, they’ll be able to comment, like, or link to it using a shortened Dribbble URL. They can also click directly on your username to see any other shots you’ve uploaded—each users can upload up to 24 shots per month—or tweet your image out to their own Twitter followers with one simple click.

Dribbble only works if all of its users participate, which means it’s important for anyone who enjoys receiving feedback to share some of their own advice, too. Leaving comments on recently uploaded shots is easy, and you can respond to any shot by posting a “rebound” shot of your own as a way to link two connected images together. When you find a specific user whose designs you admire or advice you appreciate, Dribbble’s “follow” feature makes it easy to keep track of anything new that he or she posts on the site. For creative professionals who wish they had more ways to riff off of each other’s ideas, Dribbble is an interesting site that that can help you stay more connected to your professional community.

Practical Uses:

  • Get feedback on a design before submitting it to a client
  • Find out how other designers would improve your layout idea
  • Share your advice with other Dribbble users
  • Make sure your concept is well received before moving forward on an important project

Insider Tips:

  • Use tags to make it easier for other users to find your uploaded shots
  • Follow users whose comments you enjoy reading
  • Link to your uploaded shots using Dribbble’s shortened URLs
  • Check out Dribbble’s content by browsing through uploaded shots or clicking on usernames

What we liked:

  • The “debuts” feature helps new users get discovered on the site
  • Image size limitations prevent anyone from revealing too much about a design
  • “Like” feature makes it easy to share an opinion even without leaving a comment
  • Browsing through shots marked as your “favorites” can be a good source of design inspiration

What we didn’t like:

  • Membership at Dribbble is currently restricted to only those with invitations from current members

Alternatives:

  • Nothing quite like Dribble

Company Info:

  • Launched: April 2010
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Salem, Massachusetts
  • Founded by: Dan Cederholm and Rich Thornett
  • Web site: http://dribbble.com

Costs:

  • Free

Comments

  1. great article, thanks

  2. how to uplod my works on dribble,
    please tell me.

  3. Dribble is really awesome. Now developers can sieve out the chaff you see on facebook and totally concentrate on networking with fellow developers.

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