Dribbble, yes that’s three Bs in a platform which enables you to share 400x300 sneak peeks on design projects (“shots”) in real-time, with a community of like-minded designers, developers and other creative folks, providing you with feedbacks and responses of your effort. It is a virtual community for exhibiting user-made artwork. It works as a self-promoted and networked platform for graphic designing, web designing, illustrations, photography, and other creative domains. With an approximate 460,000 user-base, it is one of the biggest platforms for designers to discuss their work online, rivalling straight with Adobe owned Behance (which is the largest).
The Past
Founded by Dan Cederholm and Rich Thornett, Dribbble, located in Salem, Massachusetts, initiated its alpha in April but is still comparatively on the down low, as membership is invitation only procedure. The invites (“drafts”) to become a Dribbble “player” have become a very coveted issue. Stating Cederholm, “We’ve been careful in giving out invitations, doing so in small, infrequent batches. That helps quality (the player drafts wisely) and helps scaling as well (we’re two guys bootstrapping this ourselves).”
The Present
Dribbble presently has just over 4,000 players and in spite of or perhaps due to this exclusivity the community is spirited, generating many of its own memes including the notorious “hate” button. While design portfolio sites like Coroflot are nothing new, Dribble's social capabilities and dynamic community sets it apart. Thankfully for the rest of us, everything on Dribbble is publicly visible and the only dissimilarity between a player and a Dribbble member is the capacity to upload designs, comment and follow people.Dribbble not long ago released its API and has been submerged with a slew of clients most notably Dunk, an iPhone app developer and Dribbblr, an iPad app is set to hit the app store any day. Designer Jason Lynes recently dedicated a snapshot to Dribbble etiquette, and there is even a complete log covering recent apps.
The Future
In terms of upcoming propositions for Cederholm and Thornett, there are many, and also a few which they can talk about. “We’re looking into ways of making it easier to get great talent into Dribbble while still supporting an invitation system that helps us scale gracefully—and potentially to allow non-designers to follow Dribbble players with non-uploading accounts.”To put it simply, they’re growing. Dribbble will be closing in on its 4 billionth pixel upload shortly. What other social network possesses these kinds of bragging rights?
Conclusion
Overall Dribbble is a splendid platform for having your work out there if you can get hold of an invite. Though some designers have become disenchanted with the platform, many others are still animated and passionate about the site. Take the time to do your research and find out if Dribbble is right for you, and then jump in! Comment, like, engage and make the most of it.