How to Find Web Designers on Dribbble and Behance

How to Find Web Designers on Dribbble and Behance

If you've ever gone down a rabbit hole looking at beautiful website designs online, you've probably landed on Dribbble or Behance. These are the two dominant portfolio platforms where designers showcase their best work — and they're genuinely useful places to find talent, if you know how to use them properly.

Here's how to search both platforms effectively, what to look for, and the key limitation to keep in mind before you reach out to anyone.

What Dribbble Is

Dribbble is a curated community of designers — primarily graphic designers, UI/UX designers, and web designers — who post individual shots of their work. Think of it as Instagram for design. Work is visual-first, highly curated, and often aspirational.

You can search Dribbble for "web design," "landing page design," "small business website," or keywords related to your industry. You can filter by location (useful if you want to find Canadian designers), by follow count, and by tags.

Designers on Dribbble range from individual freelancers to small studios to senior designers at major agencies. Many are open to freelance work.

What Behance Is

Behance is Adobe's portfolio platform — think more like a visual résumé than Instagram. Designers post full case studies of their projects, often including the brief, their process, and the final result.

This makes Behance particularly useful for evaluating process and thinking, not just the finished visual. A Behance case study that shows how a designer approached a problem, what decisions they made, and why tells you far more than a polished screenshot.

Behance also integrates with LinkedIn, which makes background verification easier.

How to Search Effectively on Both Platforms

On Dribbble:

• Search your industry + "website" or "web design" (e.g., "trades website," "restaurant web design")
• Filter by location to find Canadian or North American designers
• Look for consistency in quality across multiple shots — one great piece is luck; ten great pieces is skill
• Click through to the designer's profile and find their external website

On Behance:

• Search for "web design" or "website design" with location filters
• Read the full case studies, not just the cover image
• Look for projects similar to yours in scope and industry
• Check their follower count and "appreciated" count as rough quality signals

The Critical Limitation: Pretty ≠ Converts

This is the most important thing to understand about both platforms. Dribbble and Behance are optimized for visual appeal. Designers post their most visually impressive work — not necessarily their most effective work.

A website that looks stunning on Dribbble might have weak copy, poor information hierarchy, confusing navigation, and a conversion rate of 0.5%. None of that shows up in the screenshot.

When you find designers on these platforms, you need to go beyond the portfolio:

• Ask for live site links and test them as a real user
• Ask about the goals of the project and the results after launch
• Ask about their process — do they think about conversion and user behaviour, or just aesthetics?
• Check their response time and communication quality when you reach out

Reaching Out to Designers on These Platforms

Both platforms have messaging or contact features. When you reach out, keep it brief and specific:

• Who you are and what your business does
• What you need (type of site, rough scope)
• Your timeline and rough budget
• A direct question: "Are you available for a project like this?"

Designers receive a lot of vague inquiries. Being specific and respectful of their time gets you a faster, better response.

What These Platforms Won't Tell You

They won't tell you whether the designer:

• Communicates reliably
• Delivers on time
• Handles difficult client feedback professionally
• Has experience with conversion-focused design for real businesses
• Will still be responsive six months after launch

That's why platforms are a starting point, not a complete vetting process. Treat any designer you find on Dribbble or Behance the same way you'd treat any other candidate — portfolio first, conversation second, references third.

ClickAdMedia's Approach to Design

Our work is built for results, not portfolios. We design websites that look professional and convert — because a beautiful site that doesn't generate leads or sales isn't doing its job.

See our work and get in touch.

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