Project Overview
This project is a redesigned one-page infographic for UNM’s Center for Teaching and Learning, produced as the visual rhetoric final project for ENGL 512. The deliverable — titled “CTL Quick Start: A User-Centered Guide for Students and Instructors” — was designed to replace CTL’s dense, text-heavy service pages with a scannable, action-oriented document organized around two primary user pathways: students seeking help immediately, and instructors working to improve course accessibility. An accompanying reflection memorandum documented the theoretical frameworks informing every design decision.
Theoretical Framework
The infographic was designed at the intersection of three visual rhetoric theories. Kimball and Hawkins’ (2007) document design principles justified reorganizing CTL content into task-flow sequences with strong typographic contrast, enabling users to scan and act rather than read linearly. Chandler’s (2000) semiotic framework motivated the replacement of generic imagery with literal, labeled pictograms, ensuring that visual signs were immediately decodable without relying on culturally specific prior knowledge. Kenney’s (2002) visual communication theory supported the design of persistent calls to action — buttons and highlighted boxes that rhetorically frame CTL as approachable and responsive.
Design Decisions and Audience Analysis
The infographic was structured as two distinct columns serving two distinct audiences. The left column — “Students: Need Help Right Now?” — used a step-by-step format (Choose Your Service, Book or Join Drop-in Hours, Show Up Prepared) designed for users in an immediate state of need who require clear, low-friction instructions. The right column — “Instructors: Improve Your Course Accessibility” — organized information around three service categories suited to a professional planning orientation.
This two-column structure enacts a core principle of user-centered document design: the organization of content should follow the user’s mental model and task structure, not the service provider’s internal organizational chart. A further design decision was the use of literal pictograms (a checklist icon for tutoring, a laptop icon for course review, a speech-bubble icon for workshops) rather than abstract decorative elements. Per Chandler (2000), literal icons reduce the cognitive work required to decode meaning, which is particularly important for multilingual users or first-time visitors who may not share the cultural background assumed by generic iconography.
Content Validation and Social Justice Dimensions
All content in the infographic was validated against CTL’s published web pages, including the tutoring, workshops, and digital accessibility sections. Microcopy was developed to be plain, action-oriented, and free of institutional jargon. The social justice dimensions of this project are embedded in the design choices themselves. Designing for reduced cognitive load, accessible iconography, and plain language is inherently an equity intervention — it makes services more legible to users who are less familiar with the institutional context of American higher education, less fluent in academic English, or less practiced in navigating bureaucratic websites.
| SLOs Addressed: SLO 1 (Audience Assessment), SLO 4 (Communication Output), SLO 5 (Workplace Contexts), SLO 6 (Social Justice Design) |
Reflection
This project challenged me to work at the intersection of theory and practice in the most direct way. Every pixel of the infographic had to be justified by a theoretical principle, and every theoretical principle had to be visible in the design. This discipline — grounding aesthetic decisions in scholarly frameworks — is what distinguishes professional technical communication from amateur content production. It is a discipline I intend to carry into every communication project I undertake, whether in academic, nonprofit, or industry contexts.