6 Naming, Icons, and Colors

Labels and names are text strings that are associated with the elements of the model. They are an integral part of the standard i* notation. Non-conventional icons include such things as face and stick figures, artistic icons, and arrows. Coloring could include filling standard elements with certain colors, using specific colors to label parts or the entire model’s elements, or use colors to highlight the boundaries of Actors and their elements. Like naming and labeling, using colors and non-conventional icons sometimes can help modelers to convey certain information to the users of the model, but some of the questions that might arise are: what icons and colors should be standardized? In what context they can be used? And how to guarantee that using these non-conventional icons and additional colors are really useable by different types of stakeholders? Therefore, some general guidelines are provided in this section to help in bringing the benefit out of using names, labels, icons, and colors without jeopardizing the readability and usability of the models.



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