1. A method performed on a computer processor, said method comprising: determining a set of items, each of said items having at least one relationship with another one of said set of items; determining a root item from said set of items; constructing a relationship tree from said root item, said relationship tree being a hierarchical relationship tree; populating at least a portion of an initial distance matrix based on said relationship tree; populating a dissimilarity matrix comprising relationships not found in said relationship tree; determining an optimized weighting value derived from a maximum distance between a first two of said items and a minimum distance between a second two of said items; generating a second distance matrix by mathematically combining said dissimilarity matrix, said weighting value, and said initial distance matrix; laying out an image comprising at least some of said set of items and said relationships, based on said second distance matrix; and rendering said image.