I split my time between front end development and UI/UX design. I believe this is because achieving a good UI/UX requires a holistic knowledge of the entire sof

I split my time between front end development and UI/UX design. I believe this is because achieving a good UI/UX requires a holistic knowledge of the entire software suite, and detailed information about who is using the product and for what. This kind of thing takes a ton of research, and it's the kind of thing that only a BDFL working side-by-side with a talented UI/UX designer can achieve. Basically, it takes a small group of people with a vision, who know the product and the user very well, and can afford to spend dozens or hundreds of hours on it. This is not something that most open source projects have, unfortunately.