How to Easily Draw Neural Network Architecture Diagrams

Using the no-code diagrams.net tool to showcase your deep learning models with diagram visualizations

Image by Author

As we work with increasingly complex neural networks, the architecture can grow into something difficult to comprehend and digest.

And when we want to explain these architectures to technical and non-technical audiences, the usual model summary printout does not make it any easier to grasp.

Summary printouts are not the best way of presenting neural network structures | Image by author

Instead of explaining the model in words, diagram visualizations are way more effective in presenting and describing a neural network’s architecture.

We have probably written enough code for the rest of the year, so let’s take a look at a simple no-code tool for drawing custom architecture diagrams — diagrams.net (formerly known as draw.io).

Contents

(1) About diagrams.net
(2) Drawing your first diagram
(3) Saving your diagrams
(4) Examples

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

(1) About diagrams.net

diagrams.net (formerly known as draw.io) is a free drag-and-drop online diagramming tool that allows users to create flowcharts, generate network and entity-relationship (ER) diagrams, and even design database schema.

Several key strengths of diagrams.net include its ease of use and seamless integration with common platforms like GitHub, OneDrive, and Google Drive.

(2) Drawing your first diagram

(i) Navigating to the web app

Let’s first head over to the diagrams.net online editor tool.

When you arrive at the home page, a pop-up appears and asks you to select the target location for saving your diagrams. You can always choose ‘Decide later’ if you wish to do some experiments first.