Practical guidelines for the readability of IT-architecture diagrams

• Authors: Henk Koning;Claire Dormann;Hans van Vliet
• Venue: Proceedings of the 20th annual international conference on Computer documentation
• Year: 2002

This paper presents the work done to establish guidelines for the creation of readable IT-architecture diagrams and gives some examples of guidelines and some examples of improved diagrams. These guidelines are meant to assist practicing IT-architects in preparing the diagrams to communicate their architectures to the various stakeholders. Diagramming has always been important in information technology (IT), but the recent interest in IT-architecture, the widespread use of software and developments in electronic communication, make it necessary to again look at the 'art of making diagrams' for this particular class and its users. The guidelines indicate how various visual attributes, like hierarchy, layout, color, form, graphics, etc. can contribute to the readability of IT-architecture diagrams. The emphasis is on the outward appearance of diagrams. Some additional support is given for the thinking/reasoning processes while designing or using a set of diagrams and an attempt is made to arrive at a rationale of these guidelines. An evaluation process has been performed with three groups of practicing IT-architects. The outcome of this evaluation is presented. This work is part of a more comprehensive research project on "Visualisation of IT-architecture".