A design plan can be defined as follows. In response to a user interaction with a user interface control for selecting from among a plurality of available nodes, a plurality of user selected nodes are caused to be displayed. Each node is displayed at a position on a virtual canvas determined by the user's interaction with the control. Each node is a visual representation of a plan element. The plan elements are examined to identify connection compatibilities between the elements. Based on the identified compatibilities and at least one of a user defined virtual canvas path and relative proximities between the nodes on the virtual canvas, the nodes are linked to create a plan artifact specifying corresponding connections between the represented plan elements.