I'm leaving Dribbble. After 14 years.

I’m leaving Dribbble.

Since June 2011 I’m an avid Dribbble user. I’ve started as a freelance graphic designer in August 2010, so Dribbble was always part of my design journey. I’ve first created a Pro account back in 2011 which was 19USD annually then. And for the last ten years I always had a Pro account which is 60USD nowadays. So, it’s fair to say that Dribbble was the portfolio I most used and I was most invested in emotionally and monetary. I never paid money for services from Instagram, Behance or X. But I yearly renewed my Pro account on Dribbble. Even though Dribbble was less and less fun over the years. But I hoped for the best and considered the fact that I invested so much time and effort making my account on Dribbble always up to date and flourishing.

Back in the day Dribbble was THE dream for every freelancer. When founder and CEO Dan Cederholm was still on board and really build a functioning and supportive community. It was amazing sharing screenshots and WIP snippets of projects, always getting great feedback and taking part of the iconic Dribbble Play-Offs. What a journey it was.

But after some years I wasn’t so convinced of Dribbble anymore. Especially when they introduced odd features and payment models. Or when they did redesigns which contributed to the fact that Dribbble wasn’t so fun, charming and communitive anymore. I understand that Dribbble must make money and find ways to do so but it just made Dribbble soulless. The magic wasn’t there anymore. Especially when all my designheros eventually stopped posting like Nick Slater, Clark Orr, Kevin Cantrell, Chad Michael and many, many more. Feedback on posts felt odd in the past few years. Like a bot army that gives comments that have nothing to do with the respective work. It was obvious that a lot of people just want exposure by posting comments on popular shots. The vibe was slowly dying. But I never expected what came next.

With the new Terms of Service Dribbble is forcing the designer and clients doing whole project communications AND payments ON Dribbble. You’re not allowed to connect with the client that came via dribbble elsewhere or to exchange any contact information. If you want to exchange emails to make the project experience better (for example with zoom calls or referencing my work on other sites), they flag and threaten to suspend your account. Also, my Pro Playboook which functioned as my main portfolio hasn’t a message function anymore. They want to force communication only via Dribbble at any cost. You’re not allowed to share any contact information in name, username, tagline, bio, shot or description. Not publicly or private. At all. This is so out of this world that it’s almost laughable. Making restrictions and censorship your business model? This can’t be real. This won’t work. Limiting your personal freedom and free choice how to conduct your business and way of work as the way to make money?  This paternalism and coercion towards paying and long-standing loyal customers and users are just unacceptable. It really seems so desperate on their part that it feels like the ship is sinking fast. I would accept a higher Pro fee or other things that make the portfolio or networking aspect better. But they don’t seem to care what designers are here for. They want to make it profitable fast (desperately). It almost feels like extortion. What do we as designers think? They really don’t care. This new business model isn’t working. Especially not with me. But I bet it also won’t work for them either. What they forgot is, that we designers are their most important asset. Limiting the freedom of their most important asset will limit their profitability.

I’m thanking everyone who commented and followed my work here over the years. This made the journey here worthwhile. Thank you. Dribbble was always part of my design journey. But now it ends. I’m leaving with a thankful heart. I can't bring myself to simply delete 15 years of work. But I won’t login or post here anymore. And surely, I won’t renew my Pro subscription anymore. Maybe, if a new leadership will come or the Terms of Service will change drastically, I’ll pick up the pink ball again. But for now, I’ll leave the court.

You know where to find me. Get in touch with me there.

All the best,

Peter

Update (March 31, 2025): Thanks for your overwhelming feedback in the comments. That reminded me of the good times of Dribbble. I'll respond to everyone of you, but it may take a while as I'm currently in my yearly social media hiatus.

I made some spelling and wording errors in the article. I corrected them accordingly. Also I was 14 years on Dribbble not 15. I'm a freelance designer for 15 years and 14 of those I was a Dribbbler. Unfortunately the number is still in the header which I can't change. Sorry for that.

Before I posted the article I wrote a mail to Dribbble, expressing my worries regarding the new ToS. I never got a response. After I posted this shot it got initially shadowbanned. After a day or so the ban was lifted. After that I got a weird mail from Dribbble saying:

Thank you for updating your Dribbble shot! We are pleased to let you know that your shot, “I'm leaving Dribbble. After 15 years.”, was approved by our moderation team.

Your shot is now discoverable on Dribbble and should appear in relevant searches and feeds.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to check out our Help Center or reach out to our Support team — we’re happy to assist.

High fives,

Team Dribbble

I think it's worth mentioning that I never "updated" my shot. And in 14 years not one shot hat to be "approved". The new ToS and behavior of Dribbble is strange to put it mildly. A personal and open communication with the most active and loyal users should be self evident to better the situation.

Lastly Dribbble should go back to it's roots making it a premium, invitation only network. The focus should be portfolio and networking features and they could rise the Pro fee (significantly). And they should respect the autonomy of every freelancer at every cost. Especially in times of AI. Making it a haven for like-minded creatives. Something Dribbble alway stood for (in the beginning). Sure this strategy wouldn't turn Dribbble into a billion dollar company, but there should be a place for organic, healthy networks that are lasting and profitable the same way as many freelancers try to make a living.