These are generally good tips for visual balance and legibility, but also keep in mind that the main purpose of a diagram is to promote understanding. Visual q

These are generally good tips for visual balance and legibility, but also keep in mind that the main purpose of a diagram is to promote understanding. Visual qualities like symmetry, alignment, relative shape and size imply relationships between nodes, like whether two systems have similar roles, capacity or importance. In one of their examples, there's an "unplanned" node that's placed awkwardly on far side; but maybe that's actually helpful to know! Maybe it's an ugly hack and should stay over there until it's better integrated into the core design. So just make sure the diagram is helpful and accurate first and foremost, then worry about tidying things up. And maybe leave some of the imperfect parts looking a bit more imperfect...