If it weren’t, things would look very different.
Let me ask you something.
- Why haven’t you heard great UX stories?
- Why are there no real UX legends?
- Why are there no ideals you want to grow into?
In programming, you can name hundreds of giants: Alan Turing, Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Linus Torvalds.
Look at marketing, and you’ll find charismatic figures like David Ogilvy, Steve Jobs, Claude Hopkins, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk.
The copywriting world is packed with legendary stories of Gary Halbert, Joe Sugarman, Eugene Schwartz, John Caples, Waldo Albuquerque.
Salespeople can look up to Jordan Belfort, Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, and Joe Girard for inspiration.
Entrepreneurship? Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey.
There are books written about them.
Movies made about them.
They are treated like celebrities.
Now compare that to UX design.
Alas, that’s not the case with UX design.
In UX, you can count the “legends” on one hand.
Actually, two names:
Jakob Nielsen. Don Norman.
That’s basically it.
Yes, there are others like Bill Buxton, Jesse James Garrett, Steve Krug, Luke Wroblewski, Julie Zhuo.
And don’t count Dieter Rams, Charles & Ray Eames, or Jony Ive. They’re industrial designers.
Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, Massimo Vignelli, David Carson, Saul Bass, Michael Bierut? Graphic designers.
But here’s the uncomfortable part:
- You don’t really know what they built.
- You don’t know what they owned.
- You don’t really know what they risked.
Writing books, articles, or frameworks is respectable. But for an industry obsessed with “impact,” the actual impact is VAGUE.
Ask yourself honestly. How many UX designers do you know who are:
- famous for their work,
- worth millions of dollars,
- and inspiring outside the UX bubble?
Exactly.
If your skill never gives you a chance to become famous… Or do something meaningful at scale… Or earn serious money… Or even inspire others through your work—then ask yourself:
Are you in the wrong profession?
Now here’s the part no one wants to say out loud.
When a business is in trouble and starts cutting costs, who goes first?
Designers.
Web designers. Interaction designers. Product designers. UX designers.
Not product managers. Not engineers. Not sales.
Design.
Why?
Because UX design doesn’t add any direct value.
A single programmer can ship a product.
A marketer can create demand.
A salesperson can close deals.
But UX?
UX is seen as a nice-to-have. And deep down we know why.
Because most of the industry sells processes instead of outcomes.
Design thinking.
Human-centered Design.
Design sprint.
Buzzwords that sound impressive but rarely move the needle.
Outside of large enterprises—where people have too much money and time on their hands—nobody really cares.
Not because users don’t matter. But because results matter more than rituals
Tell me one instance where design thinking has actually proved its worth. Or a single great story where a design sprint contributed to any kind of breakthrough.
If design thinking were truly indispensable, firms built around it wouldn’t be shrinking. IDEO laid off 32% of their staff (~125 people), shut down offices in Munich and Tokyo, and scaled back elsewhere.
That leads to an uncomfortable truth:
Much of UX work is cosmetic.
You take something mediocre and make it look better.
And even that is subjective.
Which means any Tom, Dick, or Harry can walk in and override your decision.
That’s why you end up taking orders from product managers, engineers, marketers, and salespeople.
No wonder you spend your days:
- resizing rectangles,
- scrolling through font lists,
- tweaking color palettes.
And constantly chasing new tools to stay relevant.
Design systems today.
Animation tomorrow.
Video editing next.
Vibe coding after that.
Still, I’m not rejecting UX. It does bring value.
You have taste. You advocate for users. You learn fast. But on their own, these skills are fragile.
If you want respect, leverage, and money, you need something more fundamental.
You need the one skill every serious entrepreneur has: The ability to build and sell.
Not tools. Not opinions. Not frameworks.
Real products. Real customers. Real risk.
Why not step into the ring and prove what you’re capable of instead of watching from the sidelines?
If you truly believe in empathy, research, experimentation, and iteration, prove it.
Build something. Sell it yourself. Feel the friction. Learn.
Because once you’ve done that:
- you stop being decorative,
- you stop being disposable,
- and you start being dangerous in a good way.
This site exists for that reason.
To document the journey of becoming a UX designer who doesn’t hide behind process but stands on outcomes.
- I’ll learn what actually matters.
- I’ll test it in the real world.
- I’ll share what works and what doesn’t.
No fluff. No gurus. No theatre.
Just skin in the game.
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