How to draw a genogram and an ecomap

What a genogram and an ecomap are

A genogram is a picture of a family across about three generations. People are shapes, couples and children are lines, and the quality of a relationship is the style of a line. It grew out of Bowen family systems theory; McGoldrick and Gerson standardized the symbols in 1985, and the current standard is the one in McGoldrick, Gerson, and Petry's book.

An ecomap was proposed by Ann Hartman in a 1978 paper. The family sits in a large center circle, systems such as work, school, health care, religion, friends, and agencies sit around it, and lines connect the family to each system. The style of the line says what the connection is like; arrows say which way resources flow.

In case management both are often drawn together at intake. The genogram looks inside the family and the ecomap looks outside it, so they complement each other.

Reading genogram symbols

A male is a square and a female is a circle. The index person (IP, the client) has a double outline, and a deceased person has an X through the shape. Age goes inside the shape.

A couple is joined by a solid line below the two shapes. Divorce puts two slashes on that line, separation one slash, and cohabitation uses a dashed line. Children hang from a line dropped from the couple line. Adoption is dashed, foster care is dotted, twins branch from one point on the couple line, and identical twins get a bar between their two lines.

Relationship quality is drawn as a separate line directly between two people. Conflict is a zigzag, close is a double line, fused is a triple line, cut off is a line broken by two short bars, and distant is a dashed line. We could not check these bond symbols against the McGoldrick book itself; they come from genogram software guides that cite it, and the legend says so.

The legend in this tool uses those symbols as they are. Unknown sex is the standard question mark, drawn inside a diamond. A double outline on a shape marks the index person; a double line between two people means a close bond, which is a different thing.

Reading ecomap symbols

Hartman's original notation has three lines. A solid line is a strong connection, a dashed line is a tenuous or uncertain one, and a hatched line is a stressful, conflicted one. Arrows say where resources and energy flow: from the system to the family, from the family to the system, both ways, or not at all.

Using line thickness for intensity (high, medium, low) is a later extension that is common in practice. This tool lets you choose quality, intensity, and flow separately.

The eight default systems (work, school, health care, religion, friends, extended family, welfare agency, recreation) are the labels from Hartman's own figure, and the paper itself says to individualize them for each family. Rename or delete them and add what the case needs, such as neighbors or a mental health center.

What this tool does and does not do

It does three things: draw with standard symbols, let you drag shapes into place, and download as SVG, PNG, and JSON. JSON can be opened again later to keep working, and SVG keeps lines crisp when placed in a document. Printing is set up so only the diagram lands on one A4 page.

What it does not do is just as clear. There are no accounts, nothing is stored on a server, and nothing you draw is sent anywhere. The browser's security policy (CSP) blocks connections leaving this site, so the code could not send it even by mistake. The server receives only step names: page opened, drawing started, exported.

Keeping a draft on this device is off by default. When on, the draft stays in this browser's localStorage; do not turn it on on a shared computer. Turning it off deletes what was kept, and the Delete now button is always visible.

There is no automatic layout, no shared editing, no automatic generation alignment, and no undo. Shapes are moved by hand.

Confidentiality and this tool

Article 47 of Korea's Social Welfare Services Act forbids social welfare workers from disclosing secrets learned in their work. A genogram or ecomap is that secret itself, so where you draw it and where you keep it is part of confidentiality.

This tool answers that by not receiving anything. Our server holds no client information, so there is nothing to leak. The remaining risk is your device and the downloaded file, which your agency's records policy covers.

The title goes into the file name of a download. If you put a real name in the title, the file name carries it too, so an identifier that fits your agency's rules, such as a case number, is a better choice.

Where people get stuck

If you cannot attach a child, create the parents' couple line first. Child lines hang from a couple line, so for a single parent add a partner marked sex unknown, create one relationship, then attach the child.

If lines overlap, drag the shapes so each generation sits on its own row. Parents above and children below on one row is the standard layout.

If the PNG looks blurry, download the SVG instead. It stays sharp at any size and drops straight into word processors and slide decks.

If a JSON file will not open, you probably opened a genogram file in the ecomap screen or the other way around. The screen tells you which.