Dribbble is a fantastic place. If you’re a designer you’ve probably used it. I setup an account too long ago to remember, and have benefitted greatly from being able to find inspiration for my work. 

A few years ago I was inspired by a colleague to find inspiration from a better source. Instead of Dribbble he suggested pulling screenshots from websites and apps that were live and in production. 

The challenge with doing this is the work is often less polished. With rare exceptions most designs that make their way into code aren’t as nice as what you’ll see on sites like Dribbble. They are, however, real. And for the work I do, where I’m trying to create a great user experience, I’d far rather steal from work that has been tested than something crafted in the mind of a single person and placed in an art gallery for viewing. 

My priority is not to make art; although I’m happy when it happens and jump at the chance to do so. My goal, instead, is to figure out how to find the intersection between a thing being useful for a real person and the service generating revenue. 

So next time you’re looking for inspiration for a design, dive into the real world. I have roughly 7,000 screenshots on my iPhone, thousands floating around on my computer, and more still in Figma and Freeform. 

One tool that’s helped with the insanity is to pay for a subscription to Mobbin, a far better repository than I have on my own.