The illustration is organized to reflect the conceptual or real-world organization of the information. Organization entails more than grouping and highlighting critical elements. Visual organization should reveal the process, hierarchy, or spatial organization of the elements depicted. Examples of processes that are commonly represented graphically include cause and effect, cycles, decision trees, and chronologies. Lines and arrows connecting words or pictures are good at revealing the direction and sequence of a process.
Several strategies are at work to indicate how energy flows through a biological ecosystem.
Arrows show the path of energy flow. The horizontal series of boxes reveal the hierarchy of the food chain. This adds to the concreteness of the illustration, which may aid retention. The arrangement of English vowel sounds in this illustration mirrors their positions of articulation within the mouth. The figure stands out from the background.