Hi! I'm Richard: HCI researcher, community leader, and design engineer.
I create software with stellar, delightful experiences.
You can find all of my personal, academic, and professional writing here. From time to time, I also publish snippets of my research and prototypes.
Reach out to meAI Disclosure: While I'm a heavy user of AI tools to build software, I don't let AI write my blog posts. Rest assured that everything in this website is designed, written, and created by me. Expect grammatical errors and run-on sentences! :)
Community
Outside of work, I like to contribute my skills, knowledge, and labor for free to non-profit tech and design communities in the Philippines. The design community in particular has been crucial to my personal development and is a big reason why I fell in love in HCI, UX, and design in the first place. I started volunteering way back when I was an university undergraduate in 2017.
- I co-founded Tambayan 404 in 2020, the Philippines' biggest Discord community for Filipinos in Tech and general tech enthusiasts. We don't take things too seriously, and this community is more for hanging out than career-maxxing.
- I'm currently one of the Community Leads of the Philippine Web Designers Organization, a registered, volunteer non-profit organization in the Philippines aimed at uplifting the state of web design in the Philippines. I was appointed as Community Lead by the PWDO Board in 2019. We're on a bit of a hiatus though.
- I'm a Senior Research Volunteer at UXPH, the only registered, volunteer non-profit organization in the Philippines aimed at supporting and growing the User Experience profession in the Philippines. I've been volunteering with UXPH since 2017.
- I co-founded the DLSU Chapter of the User Experience Society in 2017 and served as its first Director for Operations.
What I'm working on
- Currently working on something related to Human-AI Interaction
- I'm a part-time professional lecturer at the De La Salle University - Manila College of Computer Studies.
- I teach undergraduate students Human-Computer Interaction (ITISHCI and STHCIUX). As of July 2026, I've taught over 100 students how to do research, prototype, and evaluate human-centric software and hardware.
- I'm currently affiliated with the DLSU Human-X Interactions Laboratory.
Previous work
- I co-founded Navegante alongside Xavi Ablaza.
- We started as a cloud infrastructure devtool aimed at improving the overall user experience of deploying software to the Web.
- I previously worked as a Conversation Designer, Front-end Engineer, and Product Manager at Senti AI (acq'd by Kollab).
- Senti AI is one of the first homegrown AI startups specializing in social media sentiment analysis and conversational assistants in the Philippines.
- Worked on AI products back when it was still called Machine Learning
Selected HCI work
- HCII 2025: The Probing Machine: Can Using GenAI Tools Help With Better Reflections During User Interviews
- CHI 2023: Good Day Manager! Exploring Social Relationships in NFT-based Play-to-Earn Games
- MSc Thesis: ”A New Kind of Internet”: Towards Understanding Social Interactions in the Social VR Rave Community