i used this exact method to find the designer i hired about a month ago. overall, it worked out, but it was a frustrating process. i was aiming for some speci

i used this exact method to find the designer i hired about a month ago. overall, it worked out, but it was a frustrating process. i was aiming for some specifics: a female designer who was up to date on HTML5/CSS3 and ideally had some wedding stuff in her portfolio. i probably contacted no less than 25 people (through their websites) over the course of two weeks, and was met with either a lack of response, note saying they weren't accepting work, couldn't start soon enough, or for one reason or another i reconsidered. eventually i found someone who is now doing some really great work, but it wasn't a fast process. it's important to carefully check out portfolios, because while most things look good on Dribbble, a nice icon or logo doesn't necessarily translate into solid web design skill. i spent a lot of time validating pages (and pages linked in their portfolio), looking for design elements i liked and didn't like, and overall indications that they'd be good for me to work with. that way, once i hired my designer, i knew what to look out for (e.g. press the issue of validating HTML). all in all -- Dribbble was a good place to find designers, but i still had to do diligence on my end to find the right one for my project. that's basically echoing the point of the article, but it's worth repeating.