Team
About us
Hi, Oi, Hola
Our mission is to make Tor usable for everyone by promoting the principles of human-centered design throughout the Tor Project, and the wider community too. Though small, we're a full-stack design team encompassing the following disciplines:
- User experience (UX) and product design
- Ethical user research
- Brand design
We hold weekly meetings to share what we're working on and plan our tasks for the coming week every Monday at 1600 UTC. Guests with an interest in the usability of censorship-circumvention and privacy preserving technology are always welcome. If you'd like to join, please reach out via one of the communication methods listed below.
Team members
The UX Team includes volunteers from across the globe who collaborate with the following core contributors:
| member | role | IRC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| @donuts | UX Team Lead | duncan at torproject dot org | donuts |
| @nicob | Brand Designer | nicob at torproject dot org | nicob |
| @felicia | Product Designer | felicia at torproject dot org | catladyfelicia |
| @sajolida | Product Designer | sajolida at torproject dot org | sajolida |
| @alicia | User Research Coordinator | alicia at torproject dot org | alicia |
| @bella | Project Manager | bella at torproject dot org | bellatchau |
If you'd like to contribute to open user research at the Tor Project, please see our checklist for new volunteers, review the issues marked First Contribution, and prepare a research proposal that responds to one of these issues.
How to reach us
Text-based chat
UX Team members are active in the #tor-ux IRC channel on the OFTC network, and the equivalent matrix channel #tor-ux:matrix.org, on weekdays from around 1400–2200 UTC. However, please keep any discussion on these channels on-topic, and see #tor for general user support instead.
We can be reached privately via the email alias ux-team at torproject dot org.
On the forum
We're also active on the Tor Project forum. Although there isn't a dedicated section for the UX Team, we typically monitor and reply to posts in the Tor Browser Feedback, Tor Browser Alpha Feedback and Website Feedback sections, alongside recent Tor Browser release posts within the News section.
Roadmap
The UX Team are working on the following initiatives and improvements in 2026:
| Initiative | Personnel | Timeline | Project | Impact area | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accessible color system | @nicob | Q1 | Project 163 | Brand, web, Tor VPN | Doing |
| Logo refresh | @nicob | Q1 | Brand, web | Next | |
| Unified Circuit Panel |
@felicia @alicia @sajolida |
Q1 | Project 163 | Tor Browser (all platforms) | Doing |
| New download site | @donuts | Q1 | Web | Doing | |
| Support portal fast-follows | @donuts | Q1 | Web | Next | |
| Persistent mode |
@felicia @alicia |
Q1–Q2 | Project 196 | Mullvad Browser (Desktop) | Doing |
| Tor Browser 16.0 support |
@felicia @donuts |
Q1–Q2 | ESR transition | Tor Browser (all platforms) | Next |
| New user personas | @alicia | Q1–Q2 | Project 163 | Product | Next |
| Tor VPN Beta rapid releases | @donuts | Q1–Q4 | Tor VPN | Doing | |
| Transition to Material 3 | @felicia | Q2 | ESR transition | Tor Browser (Android) | Next |
| Settings redesign |
@felicia @donuts |
Q2 | ESR transition | Tor Browser (Desktop) | Next |
| Onion authentication for Android | @felicia | Q2 | Tor Browser (Android) | Backlog | |
| DEF CON 2026 | @nicob | Q2–Q3 | Fundraising | Backlog | |
| New buyer personas | @alicia | Q2–Q3 | Product | Backlog | |
| Year End Campaign | @nicob | Q2–Q3 | YEC 2026 | Fundraising | Backlog |
To be scheduled
The following initiatives or improvements may still happen this year, but are yet to be officially scheduled:
| Initiative | Personnel | Project | Impact area | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uBlock Origin integration |
@felicia @donuts @alicia |
Tor Browser Alpha (all platforms) | Not Scheduled | |
| Signal in Tails | @sajolida | Tails | Not scheduled | |
| Mullvad Browser for Android |
@felicia @nicob |
Project 196 | Mullvad Browser (Android) | Not Scheduled |
| Search bar for torproject.org | @donuts | Web | Not Scheduled | |
| Developer portal | @donuts | Web | Not Scheduled | |
| Blog redesign | @donuts | Web | Not Scheduled |
Useful links
Project management
- UX Kanban: Tracks design and research issues due to be worked on by the UX Team.
- UX Repository: Home to all the UX-related tickets and public files that don't belong in a specific repo.