Goal: software design
Reader: Engineers describing how a system is put together — its types, components, packages and scope. Meta cluster: B — process & systems Scenarios: 7 · Examples: 7
Scenarios
| Scenario | Tier | Engines | Example files |
|---|---|---|---|
| c4 container | T1 | plantuml | c4-container-diagram.md |
| component decomposition | T1 | plantuml | component-decomposition.md |
| domain class model | T1 | plantuml | domain-class-model.md |
| object snapshot | T1 | plantuml | object-snapshot.md |
| package layering | T1 | plantuml | package-layering.md |
| sysml block definition | T1 | plantuml | sysml-block-definition.md |
| use case model | T1 | plantuml | use-case-model.md |
Reading order
Structure first (classes, components, packages, use cases, SysML blocks), then the C4 view for the audience that thinks in containers.
Engines in this goal
plantuml— diagrams with icon families and UML/ArchiMate/BPMN semantics
Details, limits and anti-patterns: ../engines/plantuml.md.
Palette
Every figure takes its colours from a theme. Pick one in
../styles/palette.md — the token contract, the theme index and the
per-engine blocks all start there.
Most figures in this set want Default. Depart from it for the medium, not the topic: Print when it may be photocopied, Contrast for low vision or large-print handouts, Vivid when it will be projected, Accessible when colour must not be the only cue, Editorial for long-form reading, Slate for technical reference, Pastel when the figure sits inside gentle prose, Nord for a cool Nordic register. Every theme is designed for a light ground — the set has no dark page.
Don't
- A component diagram that shows deployment topology → split the views
- Class diagrams with every field of every entity