User Interface Innovations for LLMs – Insights from a Design Thinking Workshop at deRSE25

Large Language Models have become widely adopted tools due to their versatile capabilities, yet their user interfaces remain limited, often following rigid, linear interaction paradigms. In this paper, we present insights from a Design Thinking Workshop held at the deRSE25 conference aiming at collaboratively developing innovative user interface concepts for LLMs. During the workshop, participants identified common use cases, evaluated the strengths and shortcomings of current LLM interfaces, and created visualizations of new interaction concepts emphasizing flexible context management, dynamic conversation branching, and enhanced mechanisms for user control. We describe how these participant-generated ideas advanced our own whiteboard-based UI approach. The ongoing development of this interface is guided by the Human-Centered Design (HCD) process — an iterative, user-focused methodology that emphasizes continuous refinement through user feedback. Broader implications for future LLM interface development are discussed, advocating for increased attention to UI innovation grounded in user centered design principles.