Scope: The scope level emerges through the creation of functional specifications and content requirements. It is on this level where content is determined and detailed descriptions of the site’s functionality are included. This plane was subject to MAPC guidelines requiring that student portfolio illustrate an understanding of the six MAPC competencies. To demonstrate these areas, students highlight various assets through a discussion of three components: rhetorical situation and goals, the design and development process, and critical reflection.

Strategy: The most abstract of the planes, strategy, defines both the user needs and the site objectives. As a designer, I aim to demonstrate my knowledge of the MAPC competencies and showcase the work completed during my time as a graduate student at Clemson University in a visually appealing way. To meet the needs of users (e.g., the MAPC Committee), I fulfill the site objectives of effectively communicating my knowledge and illustrating my connections to theory. This is done in a way that promotes a sense of friendliness and ease-of-use.

While Garrett’s (2003) conceptual framework supports the overall design of the portfolio, I also took into account Redish’s (2007) and Krug’s (2000) design principles. Because most people read very little on the home page, I grab the attention of site visitors with a multimedia introduction and salient photograph. My home page is “content-rich” but is not wordy, as it contains no text (Redish, “Home Page,” 2007, 30). Rather than providing written instructions or navigation tips on the home page where they would not be read, these guidelines are included in the video (Krug, 2000). My portfolio exemplifies Krug’s (2000) first law of usability: don’t think. I titled clearly the pages within my navigation bar and conducted several usability tests with MAPC Committee Chair, Dr. Williams, and other colleagues to ascertain the success of the titles.

Some additional elements I used to increase usability were a clear visual hierarchy on each page, multiple and persistent paths of navigation, breadcrumbs, and defined areas within each page (Krug, 2000). The MAPC guidelines, however, suggest that portfolio pages make use of large quantities of text, a practice that Krug (2000) warns against. This was an ongoing constraint during the development of this portfolio.

Above all, Garrett (2003) argues, “content is king on the Web” (35). While he claims that valuable content is the “single most important thing most Web sites can offer to their users” (35), Mazur (2003) claims that information design and usability are equally important, and that the best products integrate both “in a more collaborative, holistic way” (28). George (2002) argues that Web pages must speak from a design perspective, and she credits desktop publishing for encouraging the inclusion of design in writing instruction. She says, “Web pages must have an internal coherence; they must, in other words, be navigable. The internal logic of a Web piece is likely to appear first in the visual construction of the page—not only in the images chosen but the colors, the placement of text or links, the font, the use of white space, and other elements linked more closely to the world of graphic design than to composition pedagogy” (George, 2002, 26). Thus, my choices in typography, color, and element arrangement were central to conveying my personality and matching the intended tone of my website (Mackiewicz, 2005). To be a successful writer, I acknowledge and cater to my audience, “writ[ing] the content they need in the words and way that they need it” (Redish, “People, People, People,” 2007, 12). I demonstrate a user-centered design, taking the user into account every step of the way (Garrett, “User Experience,” 2003).