Human–computer interaction has long been guided by principles such as system feedback, directness, and usability, most clearly articulated in Direct Manipulation Interfaces (DMIs). With the emergence of adaptive, AI-driven systems, new interaction paradigms raise the question of whether these foundations still hold or must be redefined. In this paper, we introduce Infinite Interfaces (IIs), a novel paradigm that integrates natural language processing, contextual awareness, and multimodal outputs into a single, adaptive entry point. To examine whether traditional principles extend to this new context, we conducted a moderated usability study with 10 participants, testing an II prototype on tasks ranging from simple actions to complex, multi-step problem-solving. The findings reveal that while IIs introduce new requirements—such as semantic alignment, personalization, progressive disclosure of functionality, and visually distinguishable multimodal outputs—they remain grounded in the same core principles as DMIs. Rather than replacing established foundations, IIs reinterpret and extend them. This work contributes to HCI theory by demonstrating HCI Researchers and UI/UX Designers that design principles remain stable across technological shifts, with innovation emerging in the methods used to achieve them.
@conference{grivapp26,
author = {Anastasiia Satarenko},
title = {Do Our Design Principles Ever Really Change, or Do We Just Change the Methods of Achieving Them?},
note = {\emph{Accepted to GRIVAPP'26.} \url{https://research.macpaw.com/publications/design-principles-change}},
month = {Apr},
year = {2026},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Computer Graphics, Interaction and Visualization Theory and Applications - GRIVAPP},
pages = {230-237},
publisher = {SciTePress},
organization = {INSTICC},
doi = {10.5220/0014252800004728},
isbn = {978-989-758-803-7},
}