Giving Node Types an Icon

Draw a small SVG icon in the corner of every node of a type, ArchiMate style.

An icon helps readers tell node types apart at a glance. It sits in the top-right corner of every node of the type and keeps the same size whatever the size of the node, so all icons on a diagram look alike.

Add an icon

1. Select the Node Type in the Model Navigator.
2. In the Properties panel, open the Display section and find Type icon.
3. Click Upload SVG… to choose a file, or Paste SVG, paste the SVG code and click Apply.

A preview shows the result. Remove icon takes it off again.

Icons that match your colours

In the SVG, use currentColor where you want the node's text colour and currentStroke for its border colour. Your icon then follows the type's styling and any rule that recolours a node.

Icon size per diagram

Select the diagram and set Type icon size (px) in its properties (8–64, default 16). Every icon on that diagram changes size. The nodes do not.

Different on one diagram

Right-click a node on the diagram and choose Display…. Under Type icon, choose Hide here to leave the icon off this diagram, or give this node its own icon. Other diagrams are not affected.

Where icons appear

Icons appear on the canvas, the Reader, published sites, SVG export and PDFs. Type boxes in the metamodel show them too.

Safe by design

Only SVG is accepted (no PNG or JPG), up to 64 KB. The SVG needs a viewBox (or a numeric width and height). Anything in an SVG that could run code or load content from elsewhere is removed, and Metapad tells you what it removed (Removed for safety: …).