A UX Designer’s Protestation
Why I Hate/Love Dribbble
This is my first blog post here on Medium, so I thought I’d start on the offense and really make a name for myself as someone who attacks popular things just to dredge a fault in the earth, bringing to light whom among your peers holds different beliefs, and perhaps inciting an internet skirmish of clashing perspectives.
But that’s too much. Let’s talk about Dribbble.
Because of the clickbait title, I want to make my claims clear now so my position on Dribbble is not misunderstood:
1. Dribbble is great for creative inspiration, expression, and browsing beautiful works of art from a myriad of people all around the globe.
2. Dribbble is bad for UX Designers.
So, what is Dribbble?
Dribbble.com is essentially the Instagram of design. Designers of all backgrounds post their work here (self-promotion style, as is popular), receive feedback, gain inspiration, and even find jobs on occasion. It boasts itself as “one of the largest platforms for designers to share their work online,” and, as far as I’ve seen, it definitely is. According to TechCruch, Dribbble, after acquiring Creative Market in April of 2020, has skyrocketed its user base to 12 million users. Every designer that I know has used it for inspiration or for posting their own designs. To be honest, even I have used Dribbble for inspiration when I’m looking for potential design solutions. Some web designers post absolutely beautiful designs for anything from wearable interfaces to web pages. There are even graphic designers flexing their typography and illustration muscles. Dribbble has some seriously cool, eye-catching designs that the website (and it’s designers) totally ought to be acknowledged for.
But here’s the thing, I’m a UX Designer.
If you don’t know what a UX Designer is (Medium is brimming with us) then the brief overview is that we build digital interfaces. However, we build digital interfaces with proven process, using user-fueled insights to influence all aspects of the design.
And there’s my problem with Dribbble as a UX Designer: There is no design process behind many of these designs. I fear that using Dribbble for inspiration as a UXer can misdirect a better user experience had the designer drafted their own, logically derived and user centered creations.
So, how can you tell that Dribbble is bad for UX?
Because Dribbble’s designs are beautiful.
Okay, I’m not saying that a beautiful design is ALWAYS bad UX. Definitely not. But, usually, a beautiful design on Dribbble is not something that one should trust as good design. Plus, if you’re a UXer, then you know that getting to a beautiful design is not always a beautiful process. It’s lengthy, gritty, and methodological. If a UX Designer were to complete a design project and put it up on Dribbble, you bet your butts that they’ll attach a link to a case study to reinforce their design decisions and show their hard work. That’s not usually the case for a lot of what’s posted.
Backing it up
Not to sound snobbier than I may already have, but it doesn’t take long to find examples of questionable designs when browsing a bit on Dribbble. Let’s take a look at some of these examples from the front page of Dribbble that are beautiful, but most likely lacked user testing as they were being designed.
Study “Example 1" for a moment:
Pros:
- It’s a clean, pleasant feeling homepage
- Cool graphics
Where I’d like to see what user testing has to say:
- The CTA asks you to input your email immediately. Will that deter users?
- Will users know what to expect when interacting with the (supposed) navigation options on the bottom?
Here’s a second example, we’ll call it “Example 2.” Take a few seconds to notice what’s there:
Pros:
- I love me some flowers.
- The typeface feels well representative of an old school botany textbook
Where I’d like to see what user testing has to say:
- Will users understand what the nav bar allows them to do at a glance?
- Moreover, there’s an Ellipsis button for overflow AND a hamburger menu. How many options do users have, and what could they possibly be?
- Can users confidently guess what the purpose of this app is?
Alright, alright. How about one last example, named “Example 3.” Study it for a moment:
Pros:
- There is a clear feeling of industry and power
Where I’d like to see what user testing has to say:
- Will users feel distracted by all of the yellow bars, some of which are important for highlighting product features but others simply for aesthetic?
- Will users understand the purpose of “notifying” someone, highlighted not only in the lower left quadrant but also in the upper right corner?
- How effective is the visual hierarchy in this design?
Ultimately, these designs exemplify a good sense of color theory, typography, and imagery. In terms of functionality and usability, however, these designs are weaker than they appear.
Wrapping it up
Once more, to make my point perfectly clear, I write this all as a word of caution to UX Designers. As is the golden rule of the internet, do not trust everything that you see to be correct. Many designs on Dribbble are attractive and feel professional. Personally, I appreciate them as works of art. But, if you’re looking for inspiration, don’t blindly fall in love with particular designs. Be sure to question whether they actually make practical sense. Try to discern what has been developed through the design process and what has just been created with little to no user input.
You’re a designer, you got this :)
