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I can't think of any especially good software architecture diagrams, but we can find some relevant stuff by first breaking down what a software architecture diagram is.

I can't think of any especially good software architecture diagrams that haven't had the data they show heavily simplified and cut down, but we can find some relevant stuff by first breaking down what a software architecture diagram is.

Think of the signal-to-noise (sometimes called data-ink) ratio: the connections are visual guides, not data, so make them as subtle as possible without making them less easy to follow. Also think of figure-ground: the data should be the thing that is attended to in the foreground, the visual cues showing flow and category should be the background that people are aware of but not distracted by.

Think of the signal-to-noise ratio (sometimes called the data-ink ratio in the context of information graphics): the connections are visual guides, not data, so make them as subtle as possible without making them less easy to follow. Also think of figure-ground: the data should be the thing that is attended to in the foreground, the visual cues showing flow and category should be the background that people are aware of but not distracted by.

A lot of the work done by PopChartLab is relevant. They specialise in big posters showing lots of interconnected things, and they sometimes write up their process. Here's their writeup of a project where they really struggled with the amount of things they wanted to show. I personally don't much like the end result, but reading what they tried and what worked and what didn't could help.

Here's an example that makes neat use of placement on the page to show categories and order in flow. It doesn't need the blaring garish colour scheme (which is a reference to the subject matter, Apple's old rainbow coloured logo). Using the page x and y axis like this menas it can save the connecting lines for other types of information.

Axis Maps produce amazing typographic maps that have some of the best signal-noise ratios of any information graphics I've seen, by simply using their labels as the things the labels label. If you don't mind some extreme typography, this could probably be used to tame a flow chart that was getting out of control. Looks like painstaking work, but the results are awesome.

A lot of the work done by PopChartLab is relevant. They specialise in big posters showing lots of interconnected things, and they sometimes write up their process. Here's their writeup of a project where they really struggled with the amount of things they wanted to show. I personally don't much like the end result (they worked hard to tame the hairball, but the end result is still a hairball), but reading what they tried and what worked and what didn't could help.

Here's an example that makes neat use of placement on the page to show categories and order in flow. It doesn't need the blaring garish colour scheme (which is a reference to the subject matter, Apple's old rainbow coloured logo). Using the page x and y axis like this means it can save the connecting lines for other types of information.

Axis Maps produce amazing typographic maps that have some of the best signal-noise ratios of any information graphics I've seen, by simply using their labels as the things the labels label - then colour and a few subtle twists of typograohy and spacing to indicate category. 

If you don't mind some extreme typography, this could probably be used to tame a flow chart that was getting out of control. Looks like painstaking work, but the results are awesome.