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Customize shapes in Smart Diagrams, Mind Maps or Flowcharts

Renée Meloche
Renée Meloche
  • Updated
Available on the following Venngage subscription plans: Free, Premium, Business and Enterprise.

When you add a smart diagram or chart to your design, or create a mind map or flowchart from a template, you can customize the appearance of the shapes on the design canvas. 

About diagram shapes

Diagram shapes are shapes that appear in mind map or flowchart templates. In order to use them, select a mind map or flowchart template from our templates page. You can also add flowchart or mind map template pages into a design that you're working on in the Editor.

The shapes in diagrams are different than the regular shapes you can add from the left sidebar. Diagram shapes function to present data in a visually appealing way, while still making the information or data they contain clear and accurate, by:

  • Making the design more customizable

  • Allowing you to to visually separate hierarchy in the data via shape (e.g., using a circle for the root item, and squares for the children items)

  • Visually breaking out groupings of associations

The smart diagram shapes you can choose from include: rectangle, circle, pill, diamond, parallelogram, square, hexagon, and octagon.

Text that appears in diagram shapes is center-aligned by default. 

Resize shapes in mind maps or flowcharts

Click on the shape to select it. Use the side handles on the bounding box that appears when you select it: click and drag to resize. The contents of the shape will scale automatically as you resize the shape. 

A design in the Venngage Editor shows a dark blue background and a mind map with colorful accents in blue and pink. In the center, an icon of two people doing yoga poses appears over the title 'Essential Components of Fitness'. A user clicks on one of the shapes in the mind map to the left. The shape is selected, appearing with a blue bounding box. The user clicks and drags the bounding box handle in the center-right side of the shape and resizes the shape.

 

When you resize the shape to the point that the vertical or horizontal dimensions change the shape's position in the chart, the line connecting that shape to the next diagram shape will adjust so that they stay connected.

A design in the Venngage Editor shows a white background and a flowchart with light blue accents. At the top of the design page, the title 'Summary of Steps to Develop a Workplace Violence Policy and Program' appears. A user clicks on one of the shapes in the flowchart at the top left of the chart, under the title. The shape is selected, appearing with a blue bounding box. The user clicks and drags the bounding box handle in the center-left side of the shape and resizes the shape. As the shape is resized, the black line that connects it to the shape next to it in the flowchart changes, from a straight horizontal line to a diagonal line, keeping the two shapes connected in the chart.

Changing a shape in a mind map or flowchart

Mind maps

The size of a shape in mind maps is based on the content that takes up the most amount of space in the shape, maintaining a 1:1 ratio in the shape. This is especially for shapes like polygons and circles.

Resize the shape to distribute the content proportionally within the shape, maintaining that 1:1 ratio.

A design in the Venngage Editor shows a dark blue background and a mind map consisting of rectangular shapes containing text and title bars with colorful accents in blue and pink. In the center, an icon of two people doing yoga poses appears over the title 'Essential Components of Fitness'. A user clicks on one of the diagram shapes in the mind map to the left. The shape is selected, appearing with a blue bounding box. With the shape selected, additional tools appear in the top toolbar. The user clicks on the Node Shape drop-down in the top toolbar, and selects a square shape. On the canvas, the mind map card goes from rectangular to square, making the title and the text inside the square slightly smaller on the resize.

 

NOTE: When you change a rectangular/square shape to a polygon or a circle, the text will stay fixed in a single, square cell at the center of the shape. When you resize the shape, the text will scale proportionally, but the lines of text won't collapse or redistribute like they would if you were resizing a long rectangle into a tall, narrow rectangle. 

A design in the Venngage Editor shows a dark blue background and a mind map consisting of rectangular shapes containing text and title bars with colorful accents in blue and pink. In the center, an icon of two people doing yoga poses appears over the title 'Essential Components of Fitness'. A user clicks on one of the diagram shapes in the mind map to the left. The shape is selected, appearing with a blue bounding box. With the shape selected, additional tools appear in the top toolbar. The user clicks on the Node Shape drop-down in the top toolbar, and selects a circular shape. On the canvas, the mind map card goes from rectangular to circular. The title and text in the shape retain their size; the user then resizes the circle, and the title and text size of the content in it gets smaller proportionally as the circle is resized to be smaller.

Flowcharts

The width and height of shapes in flowcharts are determined by the content; the more text in a shape, the larger the total width/height of the shape will be, to accommodate the content.

A design in the Venngage Editor shows a white background and a flowchart with light blue accents. At the top of the design page, the title 'Summary of Steps to Develop a Workplace Violence Policy and Program' appears. A user clicks on one of the shapes in the flowchart at the top left of the chart, under the title. The shape is selected, appearing with a blue bounding box. The user clicks on the Node Shape drop-down in the top toolbar, and selects a circular shape. On the canvas, the mind map card goes from rectangular to circular. The title and text in the shape retain their size; the user then resizes the circle, and the title and text size of the content in it gets smaller proportionally as the circle is resized to be smaller.

Types of item layouts in diagrams

  • Multiple text boxes

  • Single text box

  • Single icon

  • Icon + text box(es)

Change the color of a diagram shape or shape border

A colorful flow-chart on a white background appears on a design canvas in the Venngage Editor, under the title 'Plan-Do-Check-Act Process Improvement'. A user selects one of the shapes (nodes) in the diagram. It is a rectangular shape with rounded corners and a blue color fill. When the user selects the shape, more tools appear in the top toolbar, for the user to customize it further. The user clicks on the Color Tool widget for the shape fill to open it, and changes the fill color to maroon. Then the user clicks on the Color Tool widget for the border, which is transparent, and changes it to an orange color by clicking the tiles under the Swatch Colors heading in the widget.

Change the text in a diagram shape

Font face, size, styling and color

Double-click into the text in the diagram shape to select it. Change the font face, size, styling (Bold, Italic, Underline) and color using the font tools in the top toolbar. You can also link the text or create a numbered or bullet list with text in a diagram shape. 

Alignment and Line Height

Text in a diagram shape is center aligned by default. To change the alignment or line height, double-click on the text in the shape, and use the font tools in the top toolbar to change the Alignment, or the Line Height. Click on the drop-down menus to open them and select the setting. 

A colorful flow-chart on a white background appears on a design canvas in the Venngage Editor, under the title 'Plan-Do-Check-Act Process Improvement'. A user selects one of the shapes (nodes) in the diagram. It is a rectangular shape with rounded corners and a blue color fill. When the user selects the shape, more tools appear in the top toolbar, for the user to customize it further. The user double-clicks into the text on the diagram shape (node) and selects the text. More text tools appear in the top toolbar. The user changes the alignment of the text from center to left, and then the line height from 1 to 2.

Mind map or flowchart ports

In a rectangle mind map, the ports are available in all four directions (N, W, E, S). In a circular mind map, the ports are available around the root item. In a flowchart, the ports are available in all four directions to all items (N, W, E, S).

Connecting lines

The lines in all diagrams can be changed using the Line Type drop-down. 

Stepped Lines can be customized further with arrow ends (curved or straight lines cannot).

Click on the Edge Type drop-down menu to change the line type. 

A colorful flow-chart on a white background appears on a design canvas in the Venngage Editor, under the title 'Plan-Do-Check-Act Process Improvement'. A user selects one of the lines connecting two diagram shapes (nodes). Additional tools appear in the top toolbar that allow the user to change the appearance of the line. The user clicks on Line type to open the drop-down and changes it from Solid to Dotted, then clicks the Line Width drop-down and changes the width from 1 to 6; then, the user clicks on Line End 1 and Line End 2 and adds a triangular arrow to the left and right ends of the line. The user then clicks on the Edge Type to change the line from Straight to Curved; when the line is curved, the arrow ends disappear. The user changes the line type back to Straight using the Edge Type drop-down and the arrow ends return to the line.

 

Change the color of lines with the Color Tool in the top toolbar, using the color widget to customize the line's appearance. 

The feature(s) discussed in this article is available on the following Venngage subscription plans: Free, Premium, Business and Enterprise.

Curious about upgrading? Compare our plan features side by side.

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