Dribbble Is Dead: Why Designers Left

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A postmortem on a once-thriving design community

Remember when you'd spend hours scrolling through Dribbble, marveling at impossible UI animations and pixel-perfect mockups that would never see the light of day in a real product? If you're nodding your head, you're not alone. And if you're wondering when was the last time you actually opened Dribbble…

Well, that's exactly the point of this article.

Because Dribbble is dead.

Not in the “server shutdown, logo removed, officially declared defunct” kind of way. But in the way that truly matters: as a thriving community, as a career-launching platform, as the place designers once obsessed over.

Some say Dribbble died because it lost its way. Others argue it was never that great to begin with. But the truth is, Dribbble’s downfall isn’t just about Dribbble; it’s about what happened to design itself.

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When Dribbble was everything

Back in the early days of Dribbble, it wasn't just another portfolio site—it was the epicenter of digital design culture. Having a Dribbble account was like carrying a VIP pass in the design world.

This was the era when:

Daily UI challenges dominated feeds

A single popular shot could land you a job offer

Experimental interfaces with zero practicality earned thousands of views

Designers competed for likes and followers like their careers depended on it (because they often did)

Dribbble became a career launchpad. Some of the biggest names in design today got their start there, landing jobs and freelance gigs purely from their uploads. If you were on Dribbble and getting noticed, you were in the game.

The platform thrived on creative chaos. Designers pushed pixels without constraints, creating music players, login screens, and experimental interfaces that had no chance of ever being built.

And that was the entire point; Dribbble was where you went to play.

Dribbble’s downfall: How they pushed designers away

Dribbble had been fading for years, but what really drove designers away?

1. New policies that turned Dribbble into a dead-end

Dribbble recently made a controversial decision: No more contact information unless client payments are made through Dribbble

That means:

❌ No links to your LinkedIn

❌ No links to your personal website

❌ No links to where clients can actually hire you

For a platform that once thrived on discovery and career opportunities, this was a death sentence.

Tom Johnson, a designer who credits Dribbble with helping him land his first job, summed it up:

“Feels so bizarre. I mean, it was IT. And then it just became low-quality leads, spam, no gates for designers, and the quality just went south. But no showcasing of social links on your profile? That's just too far. They literally decided to make it a dead end.”

Dribbble, once a pathway to new opportunities, had sealed itself off.

2. The private equity play: Tiny’s acquisition

In January 2017, Dribbble was acquired by Tiny for $5.5M in exchange for a 70% stake.

Tiny, a private equity firm, specializes in buying online businesses and making them more profitable. And when they acquired Dribbble, they pulled three key levers:

New management and mentorship (aka more “business strategy”). Dribbble's team went from 8 to 50 remote workers, and named a founding member, Zack Onisko as the new CEO.

Growth through SEO (aka optimizing for Google, not designers). The new effort were focused on content marketing and product development.

Product iteration (aka monetization). By 2022, Dribbble's revenue had grown to over $16 million, and it 10x it’s value from $7.9 million (2017) to approximately $80 million (2022).

At first, it seemed like Dribbble was scaling up. But over time, it became less about designers and more about revenue extraction.

Instead of focusing on community, discovery, and creativity, Dribbble started prioritizing paid job postings, premium subscriptions, and locking down their ecosystem.

The result?

Dribbble slowly transformed from a thriving design playground into a corporate cash grab.

And designers noticed.

Did Dribbble kill Itself, or did design change?

Theory 1:

The first theory is straightforward. Dribbble made a series of business decisions that prioritized short-term revenue over long-term community health.

The platform's gradual shift from a design playground to a job marketplace to whatever it's trying to be now diluted its core appeal. By trying to be everything to everyone, it ended up being not enough for anyone.

Theory 2:

The more nuanced theory suggests that Dribbble didn't change—design did.

Brett from Designjoy articulates this perspective:

"The early 2010s were a golden age—the best era of design in human history. It was chaos, creativity, and pure, unfiltered exploration."

Back then, designers weren't obsessed with design systems, tokens, or constraints. They experimented wildly.

Now? Design has been systematized. Every app looks the same. Creativity has been replaced with consistency.

And Dribbble, once a haven for boundary-pushing visuals, became a reflection of an increasingly homogenized design landscape.

Enter Contra: Dribbble’s Biggest Threat?

Dribbble's downfall has left a massive gap and some platforms are trying to fill it.

Some argue that Twitter (or X, if we must 🙄) has become the new hub for design discourse. Others point to Layer as an Dribbble alternative.

But the bigger question is: can we ever get back the kind of design culture that Dribbble once represented?

Enter Contra.

They’re making bold moves, calling out Dribbble directly, and making it easier for designers to import their portfolios in seconds.

Then the trolling happened….

Wait is that a Contra ad inside Dribbble itself? Ouch. 🪦

And the heavyweight designers spoke out:

And designers are leaving Dribbble for Contra:

Because the real problem isn’t where designers go next.

It’s whether design itself can find its way back to what made it exciting in the first place.

What designers really want now

The decline of Dribbble reflects a gap in the current design ecosystem. When asked what they miss about the platform's heyday, designers consistently mention:

1️⃣ Authentic discovery – Not just algorithmic feeds

2️⃣ Creative freedom – Not just templated portfolios

3️⃣ Community feedback – Not just clout-chasing likes

4️⃣ Real career opportunities – Not just spammy job postings

Could Dribbble turn things around? Maybe.

But it would require:

✅ Rebuilding trust with designers

✅ Reprioritizing creativity over monetization

✅ A business model that puts designers first

But the bigger question might be whether the design climate that allowed Dribbble to thrive can ever return. In an era of design systems, established patterns, and AI-generated designs, is there still room for the kind of playful experimentation that defined Dribbble's golden age?

The void left by Dribbble's decline presents an opportunity.

The design community needs new spaces that balance:

Creativity with practicality

Professional opportunity with authentic connection

Individual expression with collaborative improvement

Perhaps the answer isn't a single platform but an ecosystem of complementary spaces serving different needs in the design journey.

So, now what?

Dribbble's death wasn't sudden (even if you read their announcement).

It was a slow transformation—from vibrant community to corporate platform to fading relevance. Some designers mourn this change, while others have long since moved on.

But one thing is clear: Dribbble wasn't just a website. It was a reflection of an era in design; a time of experimentation, possibility, and community. And whether that era returns in some new form will depend not just on the platforms that emerge, but on whether designers themselves choose to prioritize creativity and community in an increasingly systematized field.

The design industry continues to evolve, and the spaces where designers gather will evolve with it. But the fundamental human desires that made Dribbble special—to create, to share, to connect, to inspire—remain unchanged. The question isn't whether these needs will be met, but how and where.

My personal take…

Dribbble isn’t dying because of one bad decision.

It’s dying because it stopped being for designers and started being for profit.

They could have focused on creativity, community, and opportunities. Instead, they locked down portfolios, chased revenue, and burned their own user base.

And now?

🚪 Designers are leaving.

🪦 Dribbble is fading.

💰 And Private Equity got what they wanted.

Dribbble wasn’t just a website. It was the go-to spot to share work, get inspired, and experiment.

Can we get that back? Maybe.

But not on Dribbble.

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The Death of Dribbble: Why Designers Abandoned Their Favorite Platform

A postmortem on a once-thriving design community