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Ask HN: How to make clear and legible diagrams

1 pointsby contr-erroralmost 5 years ago
Diagramming software and tools (e.g. PlantUML or even Inscape) are a popular subject on here.<p>I&#x27;ve played around with them and read their tutorials. But what&#x27;s missing for me is information about what makes a diagram clear and readable. A lot of the examples are inscrutable (or at the very least ambiguous) if you don&#x27;t know the conventions of the specific diagram used (the meaning of the icons, the arrows, the text inside and outside of boxes, ...).<p>Are there any resources that cover the basics of diagramming (starting with the simplest flowchart), regardless of the software&#x2F;medium used? Once you know how to make a clear diagram with pen-and-paper the most interesting work is done and all that&#x27;s left is (optionally) converting it into digital form.

1 comment

joubertalmost 5 years ago
Finding the best tools to represent insight is good.<p>However, I have found it better to start with thinking about the audience and what I want them to take away.<p>When you say &quot;clear and readable&quot; I think: &quot;understandable and memorable&quot;.<p>I would recommend focusing first on the content of your message, and then figuring out the form. Tooling, for me, comes last.<p>Specifically, consider:<p>* who is your audience * what do you want to convey (and why) * focus on the essentials of your message (too often I see irrelevant detail that undermines impact and recall)
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