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Suggestions for growing my Dribbble following?

over 5 years ago from , User Interface Designer

As a designer, I'm trying to grow my brand and online following, I constantly seek ways to improve my skills, productivity, creativity & communication.

My current focus is to grow my community on Dribbble, I have processes in mind such as; post more often, be active more by liking and commenting on others.

But I thought I'd seek the advice of DN. So, if anyone has any suggestions, advice or comments on how to improve, I'd love to hear! - https://dribbble.com/koreyhall

38 comments

  • Ryan PrudhommeRyan Prudhomme, over 5 years ago

    Just post more stuff like this

    https://dribbble.com/design-god

    33 points
  • Cristian MoiseiCristian Moisei, over 5 years ago

    Make the flashiest, prettiest and most useless designs you can think of. And of course, don't forget to make them GIFs.

    Here's some inspiration:

    https://www.designernews.co/stories/85498-what-is-it-with-dribbble-and-nike-shoe-uis

    https://dribbble.com/Radium

    https://dribbble.com/dropbox

    https://dribbble.com/designers

    __

    Edit: I did not realise you are already doing all of that :) Just keep at it, you'll be popular in no time. 'Here's this shitty card I made > hire me.'

    18 points
    • Interested Curious, over 5 years ago

      At this point, like why comment at all if it's just a snarky insult on OP lol.

      9 points
      • Cristian MoiseiCristian Moisei, over 5 years ago

        We are all part of the same industry and affected by the same problems. OP's cheap attempts to become popular will only fuel (albeit in a tiny way) the further degradation of what still is one of the biggest networks for designers and that I believe deserves criticism. + he asked other people for their opinion.

        You are of course welcome to disagree with me, or pamper OP all you want.

        11 points
        • Korey HallKorey Hall, over 5 years ago

          everyone's entitled to their opinion :)

          2 points
          • Aaron Wears Many HatsAaron Wears Many Hats, over 5 years ago

            "A famous bon mot asserts that opinions are like assholes, in that everyone has one. There is great wisdom in this, but I would add that opinions differ significantly from assholes, in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined. "

            • Tim Minchin
            0 points
        • Interested Curious, over 5 years ago

          You provided 0 criticism, first you provided a very bitter viewpoint and then followed up with directly insulting his work.

          You bashed a piece of his work that wasn't in a full design system because you feel like its useless (even if it was this person simply practicing, which they literally said in their post) with having no context besides him saying it was a fun piece he made because he was going to a zoo.

          Worse off, they actually literally didn't say they wanted to be popular but grow their community on dribble to improve themselves.

          Also dribble tends to be unfinished practiced works, and experiments vs Behance where we typically see fuller more robust projects.

          Maybe I'm being naive and I should be just as bitter every time I see anything dribble related. I'm not saying be a fluffy butterfly to everyone who posts. Fuck it' tell em its garbage, but at least be serious about how they can improve.

          5 points
          • Cristian MoiseiCristian Moisei, over 5 years ago

            Can a bitter viewpoint not be critical of the state of dribbble or of this person's work? I do not owe him constructive criticism since that is not what he asked for - he asked how to get more 'followers' on dribbble (which is definitely the pursuit of popularity seeing how that's the very statistic the platform ranks designers by).

            I wish dribbble had more unfinished work and experiments with a community of people discussing ideas, explaining their thoughts and asking for feedback. The parrot picture, or any of the concepts put forward by this person do not fall into that category - they are instead cheap attempts to become popular and desperate attempts to get hired.

            But our argument is not about this broke designer, but rather about how we should deal with different points of view. I would be curious to know why you believe we should only express our thoughts if they are positive and constructive and why you asked a guy further down to put in some effort to ignore your comments if he disagrees, instead of saying something.

            5 points
      • Rhys MerrittRhys Merritt, over 5 years ago

        like - omg. why even.

        At this point I'm convinced you're just a troll account after seeing this, along with your comment in this thread a few days ago: https://www.designernews.co/stories/88767-dropbox-bizarre-empty-state-illustration

        1 point
        • Interested Curious, over 5 years ago

          If you've put this much effort into finding my posts, you can put a quarter of that effort in and just disregard them.

          0 points
          • Rhys MerrittRhys Merritt, over 5 years ago

            It's no effort at all mate - you stick out like a sore thumb.

            I'll take a guess and assume that you don't have your real name on here so you can shitpost without it having an effect on your reputation.

            Your advice seems to consist of suggesting that people don't speak up about content they perceive as low quality. Which kind of defeats the purpose of DN. Do yourself a favour and stick to Facebook pal.

            5 points
            • Interested Curious, over 5 years ago

              Nope- My names not here because I'm literally observing, hence it being interested curious. Also it can be changed at any time in profile settings.

              The intent is that once I gathered more insight I'd be deciding if UX was the type of design I wished to pursue, joining a community as obviously curious, my word could be taken as someone who's interested but not directly in the field.

              "Wow dude give actually commentary on the persons work, or answer the question at hand" = "don't speak out"

              If that's shit posting, then sure, I have a handful of shit posts for sure. Even though I've myself called out work not being good and low quality content on this site.

              I only joined this site in the first place because some older more popular posts made this feel like this was a community of designers as opposed to something less focused like hackernews. When there's just this bitter feedback towards any different idea, it's just overall like, why.

              If you have a problem with me calling out someone venting their frustrations on dribble at someone who made 0 mention of the popular page, then so be it.

              The OP simply asked for people to meaningfully engage with him to learn and just gets this giant anti-dribble post, then an edit thats like "here's your own useless shit work too!" what is that providing? I'm down for some tough love, but what exactly here helps make the poster not like what you hate?

              Even the post you mention has someone tripping over themselves with hyperbole to get upvoted, over an empty state illustration. Which have no consistent standard and even if they did could freely be broken so long as the text provides a link to begin the action to no longer make it empty.

              I'm fine with you not liking my content or calling it out. But just calling something a shit post, or calling a site shit, and then a persons work shit when they ask how to improve, with no actual way to improve then whats the point of designer news then? I'm assuming a community, not hot takes and assumptions .

              1 point
              • Rhys MerrittRhys Merritt, over 5 years ago

                If you've put this much effort into replying to my comment, you can put a quarter of that effort in and just disregard it.

                3 points
              • Rhys Webber, over 5 years ago

                Either way, no matter what your name means, it should only be your real name.

                To keep the quality of content and discussions high, members are expected to register under their real names (fake names are assumed to be fake accounts, and are subject to moderation).

                -DesignerNews guidelines

                1 point
    • Adam RasheedAdam Rasheed, over 5 years ago

      Hate to say it, but do exactly this. Just blindly follow trends and you'll get upvotes in no time.

      2 points
  • Victor ErixonVictor Erixon, over 5 years ago

    I haven't been active in a while, but I guess, just post things that are interesting to the masses if you want a big mass of people to starting following you. I guess that goes for any kind of network you are a part of. Please disregard any discouraging comments, do your thing. This dribbble hate thing is getting old.

    3 points
  • Korey HallKorey Hall, over 5 years ago

    Wow, didn't expect such a great response. Thanks to all of you who commented you've been a huge help!

    3 points
  • Miramark DiazMiramark Diaz, over 5 years ago

    Dribbble hate is so old. My suggestion for you dude is to work/practice the things that you wanted to do. It can be on layout, ui, illustrations, motion, typography, etc. Dribbble has changed for the past years. And so is the community so just be good on commenting, liking and providing feedback. You can always hate on everything thats uploaded on dribbble but it doesnt help the community.

    Make something thats give interest on the masses. Either be a concept or some idea that you wanted to do. :)

    2 points
  • Goran Tomicic, over 5 years ago

    Definitely post more often and engage in meaningful commenting and liking other people’s stuff. I also share your pain with followers (even more because I can’t post all the things I design , contracts... :) ).

    Btw. Some very nice stuff you got there, followed!

    2 points
    • Korey HallKorey Hall, over 5 years ago

      Thanks, really appreciate that! You also have awesome work, followed back :) Expect likes off me in the future aha

      1 point
      • Goran Tomicic, over 5 years ago

        Tyvm :)

        I forgot one small tip as well. Keep an eye on the timing. I am playing a bit with posting in various time zones. Also I stopped using schedule for my shots, because usually the thing I post gets immediately thrown down. Schedules are i.e. 10:00 or 10:30, so I try posting it manually in between those, so it could stay up in recent shots before everyone sinks it again :D

        It’s just an experiment but sometimes it may give you some few extra views when it’s fresh, since everything counts :)

        1 point
  • Judah GuttmannJudah Guttmann, over 5 years ago

    Honestly, you've already answered your own question. Post work regularly and contribute to the community. Post thoughtful comments, give feedback, and engage with people who comment on your work.

    It also helps to engage the design community outside of dribbble, like on Spectrum and here on DN.

    There's no secret formula, just a lot of time and effort :)

    2 points
  • Ismael Branco, over 5 years ago

    keep doing what you love. don't make what others want. make the things you want to be known for. post and post more! connect and connect more!

    1 point
  • Andrew Richardson, over 5 years ago

    My current focus is to grow my community on Dribbble

    This feels very shallow... one might assume it's a tactic you think will get you clients. It might one day... but when? Maybe when you have 5k followers? Maybe 20k? Maybe never... but hey, you will know you are a great designer because of all the likes and comments you get on your work right?

    I get it. The social/content marketing side of things is a really easy trap to slide into at the start of your career. It caught me for a while. You post flashy work that has zero real world value and you get easy validation from the masses who are doing exactly the same thing. It's easy and fun but it's ultimately a distraction from what you really need to be doing: getting clients

    Get out there and do some real work. Look up a few local business and find the ones that need the most help on their website and pitch them. Delight them with your work and turn that into referrals or you can take all the freelance work you've done and find a in house job. It's a lot harder than posting shots on Dribbble but it's also a lot more fulfilling and it's actually how you get going in the industry.

    1 point
    • Korey HallKorey Hall, over 5 years ago

      I appreciate your advice, however 'My current focus is to grow my community on Dribbble' isn't actually an attempt to get clients, I currently have a full time job so I'm not in huge need of clients right at this moment. I want to grow my dribbble community as a way to connect with other designers, I've met lots of people through the platform and I'd love to meet more, its a great way of making connections.

      0 points
  • Tyler AllenTyler Allen, over 5 years ago

    Just work on concept designs; your take on Facebook - let's face it, they suck at design or a reimagining of how Amazon looks and works. Post shots of your current work, there seems to be a show of you should only show completed work. But in the early days when Kerem and Drew were getting steam, they showed current projects progress in little snaps, or various ui elements for a project. It'll be slow, but once you find your style build on it and people will keep liking your stuff.

    Also, whilst I deff don't do this and have more or less been out of designing as a job for a few years now, post daily. This will help keep you on the feed, but also will hone your design skills. Though, this only really helps if you get constructive criticism, most ppl on dribbble can only muster "cool" or "awesome", hard to improve from that. So for good feedback, I'd suggest design forums, even hackfroums has a large design community and they'll be sure to give you an opinion on work. Also, ask people on Twitter who are decent designers. Used to be friends with a number of the dribbble leaderboard ppl, and they are ppl and had to do the same grind we all do when starting. Most are more than open to giving a few pointers when they've got a few minutes.

    One quick way is to animate. It used to be simply scrolling a page down to see the full design, but now you've got to learn after effects and do all sorts of random shit to make it all flashy and make them dribbblers go ohhhhh so you can get those gloriously helpful "niiiiice" comments. But they come with the likes and likes gets you that pop!ularity you want.

    One other good way to get a respected following, not sure if it's still the same seeing as how people are so touchy any more, but providing feedback in the comments. Actually look at their design and give a few pointers, some respect this and will actually see you as more than a pixel pusher and someone who actually takes the time to understand the design.

    And much like destiny, keep grinding out those pixels. Maybe you'll be a speaker at valiocon, if that's still a thing.

    1 point
  • Andy LeverenzAndy Leverenz, over 5 years ago

    Oddly enough, I'd say go elsewhere to build your dribbble following. Be active on other sites, forums, events, etc... to get your name spread out there. Give away free stuff in exchange for an email with landing pages, then later target those emails with more free/premium stuff. After a few successful rounds of that, you have built trust in people who admire what you are doing. That trust is everything and why some folks are perceived as industry experts even though their work isn't the best there is.

    I compare our industry to the music industry. Talent really doesn't get you to the top anymore. It's all about who you know...and who knows you.

    1 point
  • Joe Crupi, over 5 years ago

    "My current focus is to grow my community on Dribbble"

    This should NOT be your focus.

    IMO, your focus should be working on the relationships with current and past clients - these are your most valuable assets right now.

    How?

    Go back to them with ways to improve their bottom line. Did you design their website? Great - they might also need help with EDMs, social media artwork, heck they might even need some print work done. Have they thought about A/B testing the homepage? Provide alternatives. They'll quickly realise you are more valuable to them than they originally expected.

    Do the dame with past clients. Touch base and see how things are going with the work you did for them. You'll be amazed at the outcome of a quick email or phone call.

    In time you'll find that their referrals will be far more valuable than your Dribbble following.

    0 points