For a while I was really gutted I didn’t have a Dribbble invite, I posted a tweet requesting one, and Drew McLellan gave me one. From the off I was kind of disappointed with it. It’s just Twitter with screenshots. Anyway, I wrote these thoughts down the other day elsewhere, and I thought I’d do a mini-post to share them more publicly. They are totally unrehearsed, unedited and completely off the cuff:
“I think it’s just another place where the more famous designers just pat each other on the back, regardless of what they actually produce.
It’s too elitist and the more known designers only follow each other, leaving less known people following them but their own work barely been seen. This in turn fuels the cycle—the famous get more so, while the more humble designers go unnoticed. I am seriously unimpressed with Dribbble”
So, if you’re really really wanting a Dribbble invite, don’t worry; you’re not missing much.
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Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 in Personal.
Jack Osborne said on 11 May, 2010 at 11:07 am
While I agree to a certain extent there are some absolutely phenomenal people I follow on there that I would not have known about had it not been for that site.
Ben Everard said on 11 May, 2010 at 11:18 am
I’m not losing any sleep over it… I’ve got dribbbbbbbble.com :D
Gedy Rivera said on 11 May, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Though I respect your opinion, I totally disagree.
I have been on Dribbble for about four months now and I’m not a famous designer at all. I’ve learned a lot from some of the guys on there (well-known designers as well as completely unnoticed ones).
In addition, Dribbble has been a great place for people to discover amazing talent. There are designers that are fairly new, even younger kids with incredible skills, and the first ones that are congratulating them on their work are the “all-stars”, including Dribbble’s creator, Dan Cederholm. Good work never goes unnoticed. That’s for sure.
I do not think people are always “patting each other in the back”. Some people are open to criticism, some are not. There are some that benefit from the feedback, and some that think they are perfect and don’t need to improve anything at all. After giving feedback on a few shots, you get the idea of who welcomes honest feedback and who doesn’t. The people who are patting each other in the back are doing so with good reason and it’s because their work is legitimately good. Most designers are pretty detailed when commenting on the shots. Do some people kiss ass? Of course – you’re always going to find that in any community where some are more popular than others, but the majority are honest opinions from one designer to another.
Dribbble is doing a good job at building a community of people that will respect each other regardless of the work they put out, and that’s a great thing.
Ethan said on 11 May, 2010 at 8:03 pm
While I think your opinion is true, I don’t think it always applies. Look at me, a not-so-known designer. I posted a shot, and Tim Van Damme commented and said he loved it, then gave me suggestions. Mitch Bartlett also commented on a shot I made. I think some famous designers do pat themselves on the back once and a while, but I don’t think they ignore the less-known ones.
Peter said on 19 May, 2010 at 10:19 am
This is so true. I have been working for a company for 13 years doing design and I have decided to go it alone and start my own business. I cannot believe how many time I have come across the same people on every site promoting there work. Agreed its good. But it seems clear to me there is little room in the freelance market for newbies. Well perhaps there is. But getting new clients is impossible.
I too through I should get a invite to dribble. But from what I have seen its just a network of elite friends who big themselves up.
Dont forget about the rest of us!
Terry said on 26 May, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Hey! I respect and appreciate your opinion. Here are my thoughts:
1) I have met some really cool people, although not super famous or anything. It’s good to build community and get feedback. I really dig that aspect. I think for that reason alone it’s a great interaction tool for designers, illustrators etc.
2) Here’s my criticism: It’s too easy to look at other people’s work instead of doing your own. We see great design and get discouraged, or get way too amped up without ever producing anything. So I try to keep that in mind and just do my thing.
At any rate, it’s just good to keep getting better and not worry about popularity or copying others. Happy designing!
Alex Newman said on 27 May, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I feel like the world’s designers and developers, who praise “openness”, are participating in a closed community and not allowing the people they preach to, to truly benefit from their input. They’re keeping it closed and elitist and I don’t think that’s fair to the people who strive to attain a higher level of internetz.
Benjamin Reid said on 2 June, 2010 at 2:08 pm
I was going to post my thoughts on Dribble but I won’t duplicate content, spot on mate.
tarellel said on 28 June, 2010 at 9:29 pm
I totally agree with you, I may not have a dribble invite… but I it seems like a flashy way for all the elite designers to flash off how much better they are. One place I found that I like is – http://forrst.com/ it’s very similar in concept, but not as strong headed.
Paul Gordon said on 29 June, 2010 at 9:19 am
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – sooner or later, I’m going to post some beautiful WinForms apps up on dribbble…..
Martyn Clark said on 29 July, 2010 at 10:38 am
The day Dribble tweeted that participation was by invite only I replied that it was not very open at all and would defiantly suffer from this sort of reaction (no body responded) the only members at first was the big names floating around the net and they get to decide who’s in and who’s not. Perhaps they are scouts for the industry?