There are some design principles that will be true for most things you design, such as “make the state of the design as clear to the user as possible.” These you’d arrive at first.

However, it’s likely, when designing complex interactions, that you’ll arrive at other design principles as soon as you start exploring design alternatives. Some alternatives will become more appealing and the underlying principles will drive the design in a certain direction.

For example, once you start playing with alternatives, you might notice that you’re favoring designs that hide the underlying processes more than those that reveal them. Or you might find you’re gravitating towards designs that are more expressive towards your brand elements.

These would be principles that emerge in the design process.

Also, I would interested in learning more about conceptual frameworks. Did she just make this up or what?

Thanks!