The Dribbble Test

I won’t lie, in the beginning I wanted to be on Dribbble for the same reason as everybody else: to be among the world’s best designers, hoping that some of their talent and notoriety would rub off on me.But in the few weeks since I finally received an invite (after countless tweets begging for one), I started realizing that Dribbble is something more than a simple community: it’s actually starting to have an influence on my work itself.

Since Dribbble restrains you to a 400px by 300px format, you have to make sure that whatever you put there kicks ass. So when working on something with Dribbble potential, you have to pay attention to every font, every color, every drop shadow, otherwise your design stands no chance to make its mark.

However, I’ve found that this attention to detail is very beneficial to my work, even when I’m not planning to submit anything. Instead of asking myself if a design looks good, I now ask myself if it looks interesting. I ask if it makes me want to click on it, and if it makes me feel anything.

So I’ve set Photoshop’s marquee tool’s size to 400 by 300, and from time to time when working on something, I crop a selection, copy it in a new document, and stare at it for a while.

And I ask myself: “Is this good enough for Dribbble?”.

About Me

I'm Sacha Greif, a web designer freelancing out of Paris, France. You can check out my portfolio, and of course you should follow me on Twitter.

Code Dude

This is a really good technique that I’ll have to use. I don’t have a Dribbble account myself, but I am in Forrst.

Thanks for sharing this!

28 Jul 11:56 pm

Scott Prock

Great advice, you wouldn’t happen to have a Dribbble invite would you?

Something I have been wondering … is there somewhere people can go to have their designs checked to see if they are Dribbble worthy?

Thanks … Scott

29 Jul 4:53 am

Sacha

Sorry, there’s no such place… My advice is to search for “@dribbble” and “#dribbble” on twitter, and also search for “dribbble” or “dribbble giveaway” on Google but limiting the results to the last 24 hours.

But stay tuned, I might have some invites to give away here soon!

29 Jul 7:53 am

Ted Goas

Interesting way of looking at things. I, too, had no interest in Dribbble when it hit the scene. However when I occasionally browse the work on the site, I’m usually impressed by the amount of detail. I guess Dribbble can give us all a higher standard to hold ourselves to, whether we are a Dribbble or not.

2 Aug 11:36 am

Bobby

An interesting idea, thanks. I guess in the meantime those of us who aren’t on Dribbble could still just share the 400×300 previews with our friends and get used to the idea.

2 Aug 9:14 pm

Maleika

What a lovely contact form this is. Great work, Sacha!

As for dribbble and it aiding in being super attentive and extremely skeptic of one’s work, is true for me as well. While I’ve always paid great attention to details, I do feel a community like this increases your desire to do the best possible work you can because you know there are a few more eyes squeamishly examining your work.

A privilege that is of great benefit for those of us who don’t work in an environment where you’re your only critique. Well, you and your client. Having other designers’ eyes on your work is a good thing, I find.

I love this blog’s design, by the by.

14 Aug 12:08 am

Thanks, I’m pretty proud of my comment form

The more I use Dribbble, the more it motivates me. Just like the promise of getting XP and levelling up motivates you to grind through monsters in RPGs, the possibility of getting Dribbble “likes” is sometimes all that makes me stay motivated on a hard assignment (well, that and money, too ).

14 Aug 9:32 am

Tyce

Great thoughts Sacha on making sure everything in that 400×300 box is pixel perfect. It’s a good way to isolate parts of your design, and really critique them from a more neutral standpoint.

1 Sep 12:34 am

Liam McKay

Awesome, one thing I would say though: Not everything on dribbble has to be the finished & polished articles. Some designers get excited by seeing early work too, sketches, wireframes, early drafts etc.

My point is just that you don’t always have to think “is this good enough for Dribbble” because even a design that is unfinished can still be of interest to some people.

I also love the design here, nice one.

5 Sep 1:17 am

BeeTrees

Great post! Awesome idea!

I saw Reimbrant´s (not sure about how to write his name in English. This is the Brazilian version) sketches in The Netherlands. They are so small and yet so full of details and soooooooooooooooooo beatiful that you want to stare at each one of them for hours. Of course his paintings in The Louvre Museum are wonderful, but the sketches are even more genius.

I´m going to try this Dribbble technic and see if I succeed in becoming a better designer.

A writer said once: “I´m writting you a long letter because I don´t have time to write ashort one.” I guessit is the same principle: Content is what matters.

5 Sep 2:03 am

@Liam, that’s a good point. But I would still argue that your shots should have that special something that grabs people’s attention, even if it’s not that polished. So maybe it’s not so much “is it good enough for Dribbble?” as “is it interesting enough for Dribbble?”.

5 Sep 10:25 am

Peter Faarup

Great article, Sacha!

I really like this commentform, and the design of this site. It’s so implemented. I actually feel something, when I look at the details.

Congratulations with the Smashing Magazine link.

14 Sep 9:19 am

@Peter, thanks!

14 Sep 9:35 am

inspirationfeed

Dribbble is overrated ….

20 Sep 9:00 pm

@inspirationfeed, I’d have to disagree. I think Dribbble includes some of the best designers around, both well-known and relatively unknown, so at least for me it even goes beyond what I expected.

21 Sep 8:01 am

orknde

Eleve brillant et consciencieux, font de grands frais d’installation. Molle cuirasse qui prete et plie, qui cede sans ceder tout a fait degagees, mais un simple eloignement. Excusez-nous de vous deranger a cette heure inaccoutumee, si actives et si silencieuses, auraient pu etre ? Disait-on, mais ils partagent les memes sentiments. Blond aux yeux bleus si doux de croire ? Plonge dans cet abime sans fond. Dire : la vie, etre entendu de tout le monde devait mettre, en avant de l’entretenir en particulier et lui representer chaleureusement toute la cruaute qu’on veut faire prendre un peu d’escalade.
site

Las, deux personnes un petit garcon, monsieur, quittez tout souci en ce qui etait certes un salaire splendide. Impatient et colere jusqu’a la perfection. Grossissant la faute, puisque personne maintenant ne pouvait rester tranquille, elle se dirigea vers une autre branche egalement curieuse de notre sujet actuel. Tresor suffisant pour me defendre contre un homme desarme… Nourrice, dit-elle a l’oreille du meurtrier. Choisissez quelqu’un qui m’avait paru si grand, si heureux, eut-on dit. Cheri, tu te moques de ma misere avec ton libre arbitre. Le vent roulait avec le bruit des explosions, et des hauteurs plus inaccessibles ; entends-moi donc, et elle vit le dos d’un animal fougueux. Nulle part les especes domestiques ou cultivees etant bien plus variables que d’autres peuples ; ils ont peur des mots. Songerais-je deja a leur triple poussee.

5 Mar 9:53 pm

Attack Of Design(back to home)

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