Hi, I'm Tommaso Armstrong, a PhD UX researcher passionate about designing inclusive and meaningful experiences.
About me
I’m currently finishing my PhD in Human Computer Interaction at the University of Technology Sydney. My research examines the way social platforms shape the experiences of queer young men and explores how their design might be improved. I also teach into Interaction Design and Design Innovation subjects.
Post-PhD, I'm looking to start an industry UX research role in late-2024. I'd love to hear from you if you're working or hiring in UX.
My research
LGBTQ+ young people depend heavily on social platforms to find peer support and explore their identities. However, they're often not considered in the design of such platforms.
My research focuses specifically on queer and trans young men and uses ethnographic and research through design approaches to address this gap.
Overview of research
- Recruited and worked with 60+ queer and trans young people.
- Used semi-structured interviews and a custom-designed probe kit to understand current experiences.
- Ran co-design sessions with technology designers to generate 11 new concepts for social platform features.
- Validated concepts in evaluation sessions with end-users.
- Published findings in peer-reviewed conferences.
Publications to date
- Tommaso Armstrong, Tuck Wah Leong, Simon Buckingham Shum, and Elise van den Hoven. 2024. “This is the kind of experience I want to have”: Supporting the experiences of queer young men on social platforms through design. In Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’24), July 01–05, 2024, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 20 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3643834.3661564 [PDF]
- Tommaso Armstrong. 2022. Swipe Right To Create Queer Safe Spaces Online. The Star Observer. https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/swipe-right-to-create-queer-safe-spaces-online/214606.
- Armstrong, Tommaso, and Tuck Wah Leong. 2019. SNS and the Lived Experiences of Queer Youth. In Proceedings of the 31st Australian Conference on Human-Computer-Interaction, 376–80. Fremantle WA Australia: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3369457.3369497. [PDF]
