I have no knowledge of Medium’s roadmap or plans, but if I had to guess, the next step in this design evolution will include navigation options. Profiles and publications both have the same navigational placeholder under the header. Right now it shows follower count and the “about” page.

I’m assuming in the coming days or weeks Medium will give profiles the ability to create tag pages, similar to the featured pages on the old format of publication design. That would give people like you and me who write on very different topics the ability to add topic navigation to our profiles.

Ultimately, do what makes sense for you but I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to embrace the profile.