I’m Michael Cummings. I’ve been a digital (web/mobile/software) designer since 1997. I registered uxdesign.com in 2004. For years it was just my blog. But I always thought the domain deserved much more than that.
Over the years I’d asked various UX leaders and luminaries what they thought UxDesign.com could be. How it might serve our professional community. With no satisfactory responses, in 2025 I finally decided to start building according to the mission and vision I’ve had for too long already. I am sorry it took so long. Before being laid off this year, I was well over-occupied with other personal and professional priorities. Regardless, here we are – let’s do this!
As of December 2025, here’s what I think UxDesign.com should be, and why.
Guiding Principles
1. Product/Ux Designers first. Every letter of content or code for features, every and directional decision to come, comes back to a single question: “will this help Product UX Design professionals? If the answer’s no or not clearly yes, it’s a no go.
2. Ux Design matters. Our industry is fueled by new ideas and new terms to represent them. Sometimes to add value (and cost) of our services. Sometimes for a little Shiny New Object dopamine hit. As such, terms morph. Call it “Ux” or Product or Service Design, the fundamental premise is the same: design holistically for humans, humanely. This isn’t a passing trend. Demand ebbs and flows yet the basic human desire for quality software experiences is only growing in the AI epoch. Product/Ux Design remains a robust body of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to be directed with discipline towards better achievement of greater goals. Based less on changing tech than the consistency of human nature as tech evolves. We’re here to promote our chosen profession, our work, and to shape its future as the tectonic plates of tech continue to push seismic upheavals across society.
3. Getting by giving. Access over gatekeeping. Educational resources, events and opportunities should be free. For every designer at every level. Those looking for a foothold, looking for advancement, or building their own products. Just as important is supporting Ux Design methods education of product and tech partners we collaborate with day in and day out. Especially as AI blurs the lines between our respective roles.
4. We practice what we teach. UxDesign.com will use UX methods. Research, iteration, feedback loops will be built in. It won’t be perfect, it will be progress. You’ll see us ship things, learn from each other, and improve in public with consensus.
5. Kindness to each other is non-negotiable. Good faith. Transparency. Inclusion. Diversity. After all, our product designs can only work as well for others as we can work together. User-friendliness begins with personal and interpersonal friendliness.
6. Community value first. We provide value to the UX design community first. Any benefit to us comes from that success, not before it.
How We Operate
No ads. We’re not selling your attention to anyone. No ad networks. No sponsored content disguised as editorial. UxDesign.com’s only customers are the people who use it.
Free for designers. Profiles, portfolios, the newsletter, core features. All free for individual practitioners, now and forever. Revenue comes from companies posting jobs, promoting events, and agencies seeking premium features. Individual designers don’t.
Better UX recruiting. Let’s be honest: hiring in our field is a mess. Ghost jobs, self-conflicting or boilerplate requirements, and recruiters who don’t know UI from Ux, or an affordance from a mental model. We can’t fix all of that. But we can and will do our part to support better job data, clearer requirements from knowledgable recruiters, and support for screening processes that respect your talent and your time.
Participatory Membership
What you get: Profile and portfolio publication. Access to the Product UX Design Weekly Digest. All current and future features built for individual design professionals.
What we ask: Participate in occasional surveys and research. The same methods you use in your own work. This is how we practice what we teach. Your input will shape each and every new feature we add or iteration we release.
The Personal Pledge of Participation spells out the details. You’ll see it at newsletter signup.
Shape This With Us
These guidelines will change. As the community grows and we figure out what’s working, we’ll update them. When we do, we’ll explain the reasoning.
If something’s broken, tell me. If you have ideas, I want to hear them. Every message through Contact Us goes to me directly.