If you are here, you already know what Dribbble is, and you are anxious to get your invite and join the community. Stick with me, as I am going to show you how I got my Dribbble invite. Using this method, you will get your invitation for sure, and you join the largest designers community.

A little recap!

For those of you who stumbled across this post by accident let’s do a little recap. Dribbble is the largest designers community across the globe, and you can get a great exposure there by uploading your best shots, and interact with other designers.

But, becoming a Dribbble player (that’s the title you get, after officially being invited), is not an easy task. After all, that’s why you are reading this post, aren’t you?

Now that we know the basics, let’s dig deeper.

Create an account

If you haven’t done it already, then start with this. Go to Dribbble, hit the Sign Up button, fill in the details and create a new account. Remember, creating an account is free, and does not require any invite.

You need an invite to get exposure, and have your shots listed in the search results. Having an invite, also gives you the ability to post comments on other people shots, and interact with them across the Dribbble platform.

Be sure to have your portfolio ready

Before we start, I must inform you that you need to have at least one portfolio/project of yours, hosted online somewhere. It can be on your website, or on a social media website, or anywhere else. But make sure you don’t skip this step, as the method won’t work.

Ok, now that we’ve taken care of that, we can get down to the real business. 🙂

Login to Dribbble

Now that you have created your account and got your portfolio ready, login do Dribbble. Locate the Search field, and type in the word “invite” or “dribbble invite“. Then, on the left side of the screen (shot results), make sure you select “Recent” from the dropdown. For a better understanding, have a look at the screenshot bellow:

Start browsing results

As you can see in the screenshot above, there are many people who offer free invites to new users. Click on each invite shot, and make sure you carefully read the details. Usually, the designers are asking for a link to your portfolio, and an email request from you with the subject “Dribbble invite.”

In some cases they might ask you a link to your profile on Dribbble.
Knowing that, I must remind you, you can still have a Dribbble portfolio and account without an invite, so if the designer is asking a link to your profile on Dribbble, upload a shot there, and give them your profile URL.

To give you an idea on how an invite shot might look like, have a look at the screenshot bellow:

All you have to do now, is send some emails, and be patient! Some designers, will announce the players in a day or two, some in a week, or even a month, hence the patience Johnny!

And you’re done!

So there you have it. The method that worked for me, and I am sure that for many others, too.
I sent about 7 emails to different people, and in about a week…bam! I got drafted. Special thanks to Tom Hughes, for inviting me, btw. Remember to send more than one email, to increase your chances of being considered.

If this method helped you score your invite, please consider spreading the word around, so other great designers can join this amazing community.

Feel free to comment, maybe suggest other methods, or just say thanks if you feel like it. I also want to thank you, for taking your time to read this article!

Special thanks to Iraniislam for the image used in the article.