I am making a [solution tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_tree "Issue tree - Wikipedia"). The basic rule of it is to consistently answer the "how" question. For example, to achieve "Goal" I need to achieve "Goal 2". But I add other node types into the basic solution tree: `Better goal`, `Supporting goal`, `Example`, and `Action`. I want the viewers to be able to distinguish them effectively.

Here is my current design:

[![enter image description here][1]][1]

My idea is that if the node is a regular goal, then it's better to have it dull, and have other types be more attractive. `Action` nodes are in red because they should attract more attention, also they are the closing nodes. `Example` nodes are in plain because they are least important. I also use dashed arrow to further emphasize this.

However, for `Better goal` and `Supporting goal`, I don't know to decorate them. With the current design I still find hard to distinguish them. Do you have any suggestion?

I use Graphviz to generate the graph. It provides quite a lot of [node shapes](https://graphviz.org/doc/info/shapes.html) and [arrow shapes](https://graphviz.org/doc/info/arrows.html) to choose. I can even use [basic HTML on lables](https://graphviz.org/doc/info/shapes.html#html "Node Shapes | Graphviz"). I have thought about using emoji in the label, but I wonder whether we can only do this with node decoration or not.

```c
digraph test{
fontname="Lato";

node [ shape=plaintext style="filled, rounded" fontname="Lato" margin=0.2 fillcolor="#c6cac3" ]
Goal -> "Goal 2" 

node [ shape=box, penwidth=1.5 fillcolor="#D1E4DD" ]
Goal -> "Better goal"

node [ shape=note fillcolor="#D1D1E4" ]
"Goal 2" -> "Supporting goal"

node [ shape=plain fillcolor=white ]
"Better goal" -> "Example"

node [ fillcolor="#E4D1D1" shape=polygon ]
Goal -> "Action"
"Better goal" ->"Action 2" 
"Supporting goal" -> "Action 3" 
}
```
[Try it online](http://magjac.com/graphviz-visual-editor/?dot=digraph%20test%7B%0Afontname%3D%22Lato%22%3B%0A%0Anode%20%5B%20shape%3Dplaintext%20style%3D%22filled%2C%20rounded%22%20fontname%3D%22Lato%22%20margin%3D0.2%20fillcolor%3D%22%23c6cac3%22%20%5D%0AGoal%20-%3E%20%22Goal%202%22%20%0A%0Anode%20%5B%20shape%3Dbox%2C%20penwidth%3D1.5%20fillcolor%3D%22%23D1E4DD%22%20%5D%0AGoal%20-%3E%20%22Better%20goal%22%0A%0Anode%20%5B%20shape%3Dnote%20fillcolor%3D%22%23D1D1E4%22%20%5D%0A%22Goal%202%22%20-%3E%20%22Supporting%20goal%22%0A%0Anode%20%5B%20shape%3Dplain%20fillcolor%3Dwhite%20%5D%0A%22Better%20goal%22%20-%3E%20%22Example%22%20%5B%20style%3Ddashed%5D%0A%0Anode%20%5B%20fillcolor%3D%22%23E4D1D1%22%20shape%3Dpolygon%20%5D%0AGoal%20-%3E%20%22Action%22%0A%22Better%20goal%22%20-%3E%22Action%202%22%20%0A%22Supporting%20goal%22%20-%3E%20%22Action%203%22%20%0A%7D) 

  [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/NQTmYm.png