Happy 2nd Birthday to the UX Mastery Community

Two years ago this week Matt and I posted the first few entries on the UX Mastery blog. The aim was to deliver practical, compelling advice relevant to people starting their career in UX, and help build our generation of passionate, empathetic and skilled designers.

We’ve since published hundreds of articles, passed our first million pageviews and first thousand forum posts, reached hundreds of thousands of readers, subscribers and followers and had countless conversations with people about their careers, ambitions, design skills, education choices and portfolios.

In the last two years we’ve also seen some big changes in the UX world;

• user experience has continued to become a practical term rather than just a high-falutin’ title used in big corporates;
• more and more companies have hired for roles that intentionally cross the silos of customer service, design and business strategy;
• mobile web users now outnumber desktop web users;
• Google Trends records a tripling in searches for the term ‘ux design’ and
• the transfer of UX skills into the general web design space is well established.

While the field of UX itself has changed, we hope we’ve also touched you on a personal level. UX Mastery is a community, with readers who debate and contribute from many different perspectives, but who all ultimately celebrate the success of good design. You only need to read a post by any of the guest bloggers or the hundreds of community forum posts to see it in action.

Two years ago we didn’t exist, but now we do and we’ve doubled our team by welcoming Kim and Hawk. We hope we’re informing, entertaining, connecting and helping you in your journeys. One thing that continues to resonate over and over again is the importance of getting practical experience rather than only going for a certificate that qualifies you. The opportunities that are currently available, and the rate-of-change of the industry mean that getting out there now is worthwhile.

We’ll continue to tell stories and share the skills of UX experts and UX beginners alike.

And yet it still feels like we’re just getting started

We’re still as passionate as ever about bringing you practical advice and connecting you with people that can help your career. We’ve got some very useful plans coming up in the next few months.

We asked members of the UX Mastery community to share what UX Mastery means to them:

“UX Mastery gives me access to people and resources I wouldn’t normally have. I get super answers to questions and real feedback. Thanks guys, Happy Birthday, and keep up the work.” – Paddy

“UX Mastery has built a great community where I feel I can ask questions to a group of like-minded helpful individuals or read up on relevant topics to User Experience. They’re a wealth of knowledge coming from different areas that are joined as one in the UX family.” – Natalie Eustace

“UX Mastery is the heart of the online UX community; there is nothing else out there that even comes close to equaling the value it provides for aspiring and established user experience designers.” – Ashlea McKay

We’re committed to bringing you valuable, insightful and practical advice that helps you succeed in UX.

Thank You!

Thank you for your support so far, here’s to the future!