Dribbble has completely banned dozens of designers from its platform following a brand new effort to pivot to a market and chase monetization. This contains some of the platform’s maximum well known designers, Gleb Kuznetsov, founding father of the San Francisco-based design studio Milkinside.
Dribbble deleted his account with its over 210 million fans as a result of he shared his touch data with potential shoppers throughout the platform in violation of its new laws.
Remarked Kuznetsov in a submit on X, “I introduced 100,000+ per month customers. 15 years of labor. 12,000+ pictures. All in an instant deleted, as a result of a shopper requested for my e-mail. One caution. No enchantment.”
Bored to death with the adjustments on the corporate, which is helping product, UX, internet, and different virtual designers exhibit their portfolios and to find new shoppers, Kuznetsov says he’s been speaking to buyers about launching a competitor.
In a while after his social media submit, Dribbble customers expressed their surprise and anger over the verdict, crediting Kuznetsov as being one among their greatest inspirations and lamenting that the platform would make one of these faulty transfer.
Dribbble, in the meantime, says Kuznetsov was once in truth warned more than one occasions that he was once violating the brand new laws and the e-mail was once the overall realize.
Dribbble’s pivot to a market
The problem has to do with a more moderen coverage trade first introduced on March 17, 2025.
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In an e-mail shared in March with Dribbble’s some 750,000 authorized designers — that means those that are licensed to keep in touch with others at the platform — the corporate mentioned it was once now not permitting designers to proportion their touch data with potential shoppers till after their shopper despatched fee thru its platform.
The corporate located this variation as one intended to offer protection to designers from non-payment, in addition to one that permits Dribbble to proceed to maintain its trade.
The announcement was once additionally posted to social media and the corporate weblog.
Then again, Kuznetsov claims that non-payment isn’t a quite common downside, and truly, this replace is set Dribbble making an attempt to take a bigger minimize of designers’ trade.
Dribbble doesn’t dispute that.
Sooner than the coverage trade, Dribbble made cash in one among two tactics. Beginning in September 2024, Dribbble started pivoting to a market that attached designers and shoppers. Designers may keep in touch freely at the platform after which both proportion a three.5% income minimize on shoppers they transformed, or they might pay for a Professional subscription to skip the rev proportion. In March, the corporate tightened the foundations additional, pronouncing that any one discovering shoppers on Dribbble would want to be offering the platform a minimize in their income.
“It went from it was once not obligatory to make use of our transactional options to it was once required for non-advertisers to make use of our transactional options, in the event that they have been on Dribbble, to search out shoppers,” explains Dribbble CEO Constantine Anastasakis, in an interview with TechCrunch. “If a consumer is on Dribbble to search out inspiration or to get comments on their paintings, or to speak store with their friends, none of this impacts them,” he added.
The exec, who joined the corporate after running at direct-to-consumer lender Decrease, video market Pond5 (exited to Shutterstock), and freelancer market Fiverr, was once employed ultimate April to pivot Dribbble right into a market. Whilst the corporate is successful below mother or father corporate Tiny, it’s nonetheless a small 20-person group and isn’t reliant on mission backing to serve its 7.5 to ten million per month distinctive guests.
“Dribbble was once one thing that truly sped up our trade dramatically again within the day,” Kuznetsov instructed TechCrunch. Sooner than Dribbble, there was once no platform the place designers may proportion their paintings wth others, he says. It helped designers obtain comments that got here particularly from their friends and allowed more moderen designers to be told from the ones on the most sensible of the business.
Kuznetsov is now a part of the latter team.
At Milkinside, Kuznetsov has labored with firms like Apple, Google, Amazon, Scandinavian Airways, United Airways, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, and different huge firms within the Bay House.
Because of this, he most probably didn’t really feel that Dribbble would chance banning him for now not abiding by way of the brand new phrases.
Anastasakis necessarily showed this to be true.
He instructed TechCrunch that Kuznetsov gained 83 paintings inquiries for the reason that new phrases rolled out in March, and spoke back to 61. In each and every message, the web site displays a caution that reminds customers that touch main points will have to now not be shared sooner than venture fee. Then again, Kuznetsov shared his touch data in six messages, which might have displayed a more potent caution at the moment.
The corporate then adopted up with a caution e-mail on July 22 about his repeated terms-of-service violations, which knowledgeable him he was once risking everlasting suspension.
Kuznetsov instructed us he didn’t see this e-mail to start with, however Dribbble says it tracked that the e-mail was once opened thrice sooner than his suspension.
“I consider that Dribbble — it was once their purpose to harm me so I will be able to unfold that [news] so they may be able to give a harsh lesson to everybody who tries [to break the rules],” Kuznetsov says.
Dribbble’s CEO Anastasakis showed as a lot to TechCrunch.
“There’s there’s truly no imaginable method wherein he didn’t notice that what he was once doing risked everlasting suspension of his accounts,” Anastasakis instructed us.
“I feel that in the long run it was once that he believed that we wouldn’t take motion in opposition to a dressmaker of his caliber,” he persisted. “As a facet observe, I in truth suppose that he’s carried out us a large desire so far as getting the phrase out about how severely we take the phrases.”
For Kuznetsov, or any dressmaker who was once banned for equivalent causes, your best option to return again to Dribbble is by way of becoming a member of as an advertiser, which calls for a minimal marketing campaign price range of $1,500 per thirty days for no less than 3 months.
A brand new competitor to Dribbble emerges?
Kuznetsov has made up our minds to forge his personal trail, pronouncing that he’s harm by way of Dribbble’s trade.
“It’s now not going to be a copycat of Dribbble,” he says of his pending startup. As an alternative, it is going to be a useful resource for designers that may also leverage AI.
Whilst there was a large number of backlash about AI fashions coaching on creatives’ paintings with out repayment, Kuznetsov believes there’s a use case for the generation on the subject of inspiration, introduction, and design.
“It’s a large hollow presently available in the market…Everyone’s doing AI startups, however no person’s truly doing AI startups for designers,” Kuznetsov notes. “AI is one thing that truly can raise our talent to create, and make it on a miles upper degree of high quality. It’s going to lend a hand us not to simplest make more money and develop, but in addition create one thing we by no means even idea was once conceivable to create with out a particular talent set.”
Kuznetsov says he expects to have an MVP (minimal viable product) in a position in 3 or 4 months.
Then again, he notes the purpose isn’t to “kill” Dribbble, even supposing buyers introduced him cash to take action.
“It’s now not like that. I’m seeking to do one thing just right for the neighborhood as a result of I’m a dressmaker. So I know the way painful it’s to be a dressmaker on this global,” says Kuznetsov.
“We want to be truly sensible about how we make investments our time — how we give our highest and provides our lifestyles to different platforms. Diversification of that funding will have to be one thing that everybody will have to be excited about,” he provides.
