Design Best Practices for AWS Architecture Diagrams

Clarity is Key

The primary goal of an architecture diagram is to communicate a design clearly. A cluttered or inconsistent diagram can do more harm than good. Here are some best practices to follow:

1. Use the Official Icons

Always use the official, up-to-date AWS service icons. Using outdated or custom icons can cause confusion. AWS Icon Scout is always synchronized with the latest official icon sets.

2. Be Consistent

Use a consistent size and style for all your icons. Don't mix and match different versions or styles of icons in the same diagram.

3. Group Logically

Use boxes or group outlines to show logical groupings, such as a VPC, a public/private subnet, or an availability zone. This adds a layer of context to your diagram.

4. Use Arrows to Show Data Flow

Use arrows to indicate the direction of data flow or requests between services. Be sure to label the arrows if the interaction isn't obvious. For example, an arrow from an EC2 instance to an S3 bucket could be labeled "Writes log files".