Formatting & Appearance

In this tutorial, you’ll style your Farquind diagram for presentation — overriding default colours, adjusting borders, toggling stereotypes, and using the related elements filter to focus on specific elements.

Prerequisites: You’ve completed Editing Diagrams and have a diagram open with several elements and relationships.

What you’ll build: A presentation-ready diagram with custom styling.

1. Default Appearance

Every element on the Canvas gets its visual appearance from the M2 notation — the metamodel defines the default shape, colour, and icon for each element type. An ArchiMate Application Component has a particular colour and shape; a Business Process has a different one.

You can override these defaults on individual elements when you want a diagram to communicate something specific — for example, highlighting systems under review in a different colour.

2. Change Node Fill Colour

1. Select an element on the Canvas — try FQ Vessels
2. In the Properties panel, look for the Appearance section (or right-click the element and look for formatting options)
3. Find the Fill colour control
4. Click it and choose a new colour

The element updates immediately on the Canvas. This override applies only to this element on this diagram — it doesn’t affect other diagrams where the same element appears, and it doesn’t change the metamodel default.

3. Change Border Colour and Width

In the same Appearance section:

1. Find the Border colour control and set a custom colour
2. Find the Border width control and adjust it

These overrides let you draw visual attention to specific elements — for example, giving all “at risk” systems a red border.

4. Change Edge Colours

Relationship edges can be styled too:

1. Click on an edge (relationship) on the Canvas to select it
2. In the Properties panel or right-click menu, find the colour control
3. Set a custom colour for the edge

5. Revert to Default

To remove a formatting override and return to the metamodel’s default appearance:

1. Select the element or edge
2. In the Appearance section, look for the revert or reset option on each overridden property
3. Click it to restore the default

This is useful when you’ve experimented with colours and want to go back to the standard notation.

6. Toggle Stereotypes

Stereotypes are labels that appear on elements showing their M2 type — for example, an Application Component might show a <<Application Component>> label.

To toggle stereotype visibility for the entire diagram:

1. Look at the diagram toolbar (above the Canvas)
2. Find the stereotypes toggle button
3. Click it to show or hide stereotypes

This is a diagram-level setting — it affects all elements on the current diagram. Hiding stereotypes gives a cleaner look when the element shapes and colours already make the types clear.

7. Related Elements Filter

When you’re working on a complex diagram with many elements, the related elements filter helps you focus.

1. Select an element on the Canvas — for example, FQ Orders
2. In the diagram toolbar, click the Related elements filter toggle
3. All elements that are not directly connected to your selection are dimmed

This makes it easy to see which elements have relationships with the selected one and which don’t. It’s especially useful on large diagrams where relationship lines cross and overlap.

Click the toggle again (or deselect) to restore full visibility.

What You’ve Learned

• How to override the default fill colour, border colour, and border width on diagram nodes
• How to change edge colours
• How to revert formatting to the metamodel default
• How to toggle stereotype visibility on a diagram
• How to use the related elements filter to focus on connected elements

Next Steps

• How to import a .farki package — Bring in metamodels and models from external files
• How to create a new project — Set up projects from scratch, from files, or from the Farketplace