Structural and Decorative Shapes
18 decorative shapes including funnels, speech bubbles, shields, ribbons, gears, and more give your architecture infographics visual depth and storytelling power.
Structural and decorative shapes go beyond data display. They provide the visual vocabulary for storytelling in architecture infographics: funnels to show pipelines, shields for security layers, gears for processing, and ribbons for labelling. Each shape has a dedicated configurator panel for fine-tuning its appearance.
Flow and Pipeline Shapes
Funnel
A multi-stage funnel showing progressive narrowing. Each stage has a configurable width fraction and fill colour. Use for data pipelines, sales funnels, or request filtering stages.
Chevron
A directional arrow shape with configurable tip angle and direction (right, left, up, down). Use for process flows, direction indicators, or step sequences. Chain multiple chevrons for pipeline visualisations.
Rounded Arrow
An arrow with rounded corners and optional double-headed mode. Configure direction, shaft width, head width, head length, and corner radius. Use for data flow, migration direction, or bidirectional communication.
Cylinder
A 3D cylinder commonly used to represent databases and storage. Configure the ellipse depth for the 3D perspective effect. A familiar metaphor for data stores in architecture diagrams.
Annotation and Callout Shapes
Decorative and Metaphor Shapes
| Shape | Key Controls | Architecture Use |
|---|---|---|
| Shield | Pointedness (0-1) | Security layers, protection mechanisms, trust boundaries |
| Ribbon | Fold depth, end style (pointed/rounded/flat) | Labels, banners, category headers, award indicators |
| Gear | Teeth count, inner radius ratio, tooth depth | Processing engines, automation, CI/CD pipelines |
| Spiral | Turn count, line width, direction (clockwise/counter-clockwise) | Iterative processes, agile sprints, recursive patterns |
| Wave | Top/bottom control points | Data streams, event flows, signal processing |
| Puzzle Piece | Tab toggles (top/right/bottom/left) | Integration points, modular systems, plug-in architecture |
Geometric Shapes
Custom Polygon
A shape with user-defined vertices in normalised 0-1 space. Add, remove, and drag vertices directly on the canvas. The shape scales naturally when resized without recalculating vertex positions.
Torus
A doughnut (ring) shape with configurable inner radius ratio (0.5-0.9). Use for lifecycle diagrams, ring topologies, or highlighting enclosed areas.
Cross
A plus/cross shape with configurable thickness (0.2-0.5 of total width). Use for addition indicators, medical/health contexts, or intersection markers.
Arrow Container
A container shape with optional left and right arrow points. Toggle arrow flags independently for directional containers. Use for process steps with implied flow direction.
Complete Structural Shape Reference
| Shape | Kind | Theme Category | Key Properties |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funnel | funnel | Fill + Stroke | stages[] (widthFraction, fillColor) |
| Speech Bubble | speech-bubble | Fill + Stroke | tailX, tailY, tailWidth, cornerRadius |
| Cylinder | cylinder | Fill + Stroke | ellipseDepth |
| Wave | wave | Fill + Stroke | topPoints[], bottomPoints[] |
| Bracket | bracket | Stroke Only | direction, midpoint, curvature |
| Chevron | chevron | Fill + Stroke | tipAngle, direction |
| Shield | shield | Fill + Stroke | pointedness |
| Ribbon | ribbon | Fill + Stroke | foldDepth, endStyle |
| Polygon | polygon | Fill + Stroke | vertices[] |
| Callout | callout | Fill + Stroke | pointerX/Y, targetX/Y, cornerRadius |
| Gear | gear | Fill + Stroke | teeth, innerRadiusRatio, toothDepth |
| Spiral | spiral | Stroke Only | turns, lineWidth, direction |
| Tab | tab | Fill + Stroke | tabWidth, tabHeight, tabPosition, cornerRadius |
| Puzzle Piece | puzzle-piece | Fill + Stroke | tabTop, tabRight, tabBottom, tabLeft |
| Torus | torus | Fill + Stroke | innerRadiusRatio |
| Cross | cross | Fill + Stroke | thickness |
| Rounded Arrow | rounded-arrow | Fill + Stroke | direction, doubleHeaded, cornerRadius, shaft/head sizes |
| Arrow Container | simpleContainer (arrow) | Fill + Stroke | arrowLeft, arrowRight toggles |