Colours and fonts
ISO19103 - Conceptual schema language - has one recommendation on font size in diagrams:
Recommendation 15: For the diagrams, readability concerns should be taken into account. Font size should be no smaller than 8 points after the diagram scale is taken into account (a 12 pt font at 90% is 12*0.9 = 10.8 pt).
This recommendation also relates to the best practice Less is more. The diagrams should be of a size that allows them to be printed with the recommended font size.
ISO requires the font Cambria in the standard documents. This requirement also considers figures. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you use that font in the UML model as well. Otherwise, ISO CS will change the font in the exported figures, which may lead to changes in the diagrams and possible deviations from the original UML model.
To set the default font in an EA project: Select Start - Preferences - Appearance:
Using different colours may be a way to communicate that some classes have been imported from other feature catalogues etc, but it is important to be aware that
colours are not a part of the model, they are only a graphical presentation. No model semantics can be stored in the colours.
Also, figures in ISO standards (the documents) shall not have colours. But colours can still be used in the diagrams, both for ISO models and other models. But the diagrams must be exported in black and white for use in ISO Standards and other documents with the same requirements. For example, for national specifications related to INSPIRE, one may use colours for INSPIRE classes. But always:
When using colours in diagrams: Provide a key (legend) for the colours.
ISO19160-1 - Addressing - Conceptual model - have requirements and recommendations for documenting profiles of the standard. These may also be applied to other models (chapter 7.5.2):
To distinguish between base classes and profile-specific classes, it is recommended that a transparent background be used for (base) classes from the address model, and a shaded fill colour background for the profile-specific classes.
It is currently not possible to give attributes of a class different colors, see http://www.sparxsystems.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1408114382/0#top and http://www.sparxsystems.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1408101010/0#top