How to Draw a Directed Graph

Several recent tools for visualizing software and information engineering problems have used directed graphs as a basic model. This has generated considerable interest in algorithms for drawing directed graphs that are easy to understand and remember. This paper discusses a practical and general method for making drawings according to specific aestbetic criteria. Some recent algorithms for drawing directed graphs are instances of this general method. The aesthetic criteria can be viewed as goals of optimization problems. Each step of the general method aims to meet one of the criteria by solving these optimization problems. We survey the current state of knowledge of each of the optimization problems and indicate unsolved problems.