Farewell Medium, and thanks for everything.

This weekend I finished transitioning my blog away from Medium, choosing instead to focus on developing my site independently. You can see it at uxtools.co/blog.

But why?

Last year I was one of the top 1% of Medium writers in the “Design” topic. This is also my social media platform with the most followers. So why leave a platform that’s found me success?

I thoroughly enjoy Medium and the clarity they’re brought to online media. I’ve always loved their simple, straightforward editor and the fantastic, minimalist design of their articles. However:

• Because Medium is so locked down, I have trouble driving traffic back to my site or to my newsletter. I have to rely on third party systems like “Upscribe” just to create a simple sign up form.
• I’m unable to match the header of my own website, which is valuable for driving traffic to the different pages of my website and, hopefully, to sign up for the newsletter.
• I’m unsure of where the subscription-based model is headed, or how I would be able to monetize my content in the future (or how much I would make).

I recognize I’m opting out of a *very* active network and community, but I have big plans for uxtools.co and those plans are best carried out on an independent blog. Thanks for everything, Medium!