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@DavidEmery
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I’m a heavy user of tabs in whatever browser I call home – Safari at the moment. There’s always a bunch of sites that I keep open all the time: Google Reader (using Helvetireader of course), this site, the visitor logs for this site, the server stats for this site (I may be sharing too much here…), my Flickr stats, Facebook & Last.fm. They can be split up nicely into: News, Blog+Stats & Social Networks.
In the last couple of months I’ve added another site into that last category, which slots in very nicely right next to Flickr: Dribbble.
So what is Dribbble? In short, it is to design and creativity as Twitter is to a blog post; as a member of the site, you upload little snippets of what you’re working on, limited to a 400×300 pixel canvas. That’s actually pretty much it; everything else has a vague twitter-ish feel around it so you can follow people, have followers and all that jazz. It’s simple, and all the better for it.
It’s just come out of a lengthy beta period so now non-drafted players (it uses basketball as a hook to hang all of the interface metaphors around, which is a nice touch) can see what people are posting. In a (if you ask me) brilliant move though they haven’t opened it up so everyone can join; it still rocks the same invites system it did pre-launch.
Artificial constraints are key to the Dribbble experience and it’s all the better for it. Obviously there’s the canvas size limitation (which means you can post work-in-progress things without giving away too much, for example), but also they limit they amount of shots (images) you can post per month – the inference being to make every pixel count. That naturally extends out to members; by keeping with an invitation system – and an invitation system that makes it clear who invited who at that – it keeps the quality up, and puts the quality control in the hands of the users.
That ‘quality’ is probably the most important factor of Dribbble, and the reason why it’s joined the stalwart list of sites I always keep open. It’s like having a little stream of beautiful creativity you can dip into every time you feel the need. Obviously you can tailor it by following people you already know and respect (and that’s perfect for a quick creativity fix), but I find both the ‘Popular‘ (which lists the most popular shots) and ‘Everyone‘ (which shows everything) feeds intoxicatingly addictive.
It’s such a brilliant way to be inspired.
I’ve written before on the topic of Ambient Interactivity and this seems to tap into a similar strain; Ambient Inspiration. A stream of little nuggets of creativity flowing past your browser, just ripe for sparking off your own interesting ideas.
So, with that all said I do have a couple of invites (UPDATE: all gone!) I can share with you but as in the spirit of the above they’re not going to go to just anyone; if you want one, post a link in the comments below to your work. If you make the grade, it’ll be yours.
P.S. Here’s my Dribbble page.
Comments
Excellent summary of Dribbble. I am totally with you David, the site has become so addictive it is ridiculous.
I also agree that it is a good move to keep the invite system while still opening it up to non-Dribbblers to view.
Dribbble is the Twitter for designers only without the spam and 10,000 times the inspiration.
I would definitely love to use Dribbble, so if you find me worthy, I would be honored with an invitation.
http://www.shinkadesign.com/
Dribbble’s my new favourite thing too, but I’m slightly worried that I’ll stop posting work in progress now that it’s publicly viewable (rather than the ‘designers club’ it was) – they need to implement a ‘members only’ view state for shots, rather than unpublishing stuff you don’t want the world to see…
Site is being redesigned. Please have a look at this screenshot of a few current projects I’m working on.
http://cl.ly/C9r
Love this blog design, btw. adding it to my Fever feed!
I completely agree that Dribbble is a breathe of fresh air when it comes to how we find (as Cameron Moll put it) ‘nodes of inspiration’. The limitation of the actual canvas size does create a feeling creative stress by make you squeeze everything you have into your work.
I would love to be drafted in Dribbble if you find my work worthy enough.
Thanks for the consideration David!
http://www.xyentific.com
I agree that Dribbble is quite clever, its limitations are an ingenious differentiator. I’m exploring more and more, and wishing I had an account so that I could Like and Follow.
I’m a design student still without the time to make a proper website (Dribble would be a nice supplemental portfolio), but here’s a link to a recent project: http://alexdahl.com/projects/misc/vireo.pdf — it’s for a hypothetical bike sharing program in Burlington, VT, US, created for a student design challenge from AIGA Vermont (I wrote its structure and designed its branding, and I’m honored that it won best in show). Thanks for the consideration, I’d love to be drafted.
By the way, kudos on your site design. Extremely striking and non-conventional; it’s great to see designers push what the web can be.
I’m really interested in dribbble, it seems like a really good idea, and to be honest I’m surprised that no one has thought of this idea before now.
I think it could be a great tool for collaboration between artists, and for exposure too obviously. I’ve tried using twitter to meet more creative types, but I find it’s very difficult to wade through the inane chatter and get to the examples of work. I think possibly dribbble might fix this problem – no nonsense, just the art and design.
In saying all of this, I’d love to experience the site for myself and get drafted if I am acceptable!
– A.I’ve got examples of my illustration work at my blog ( http://moads.wordpress.com/ ).
Have to agree with your post too—spent some time digging around on there and love both the quality of work and the idea of quick current bits of interaction and inspiration shared back and forth between designers/creatives. I’m at shyamagolden.com if you have an invite to spare for lil’ ol me. I’m possibly the best drawer I know. Just Sayin.’
As you said the ‘interface metaphors’ are one of my favourite parts. The 404 page is very cool.
I thought it would end up being fairly closed minded with the more well known and experienced designers shunning the average Joe that might get an invite, but that seems not the case.
It rules!
Dribbble certainly looks cool, i’m looking forward to seeing what people are showing now that the general populous can view all the work too. Though I do wonder how much will now be kept private by some not wanting everyone to be able to see their work.
It will be nice being able to get stuck in to this. I tweet all the time, but it feels very untargetted. It might be nice to converse with my peers in a conference hall (dribbble), as well as scream from a soapbox in a busy street (twitter).
An invite would be greatly appreciated, our work can be seen at http://www.igoo.co.uk in case you’re screening your applicants
I’d love to be able to share ongoing work on Dribbble and get some proper constructive feedback from people with a design background.
My site is http://floatleft.com – hope you like it!
Dribbble will certainly be part of my daily routine. I’m really excited to see the latest and greatest work of the design community that isn’t in the form of a greatest of list.
I don’t have much uploaded to my site but you can check out http://lesjames.com and let me know if I’m worthy enough for an invite.
Thanks and have a good one!
Hi folks – thanks for the kind words!
A couple of you will shortly receive the aforementioned invites – wish I had more to share so you all could get them!
@luc & @kean – my guess is that the opening up won’t make a huge amount of difference, but I agree it would be nice to have the ability to upload ‘private’ shots. Maybe having a similar ‘this player has chosen to keep their shots private’ private stream mechanism as twitter does could work as well.
I also wouldn’t mind a feature that would let you join simply to follow other players or favorite certain shots. Even if you didn’t get to share your own work, it would still be useful as a place for inspiration.
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