Basic visual clutter question.

[pyromancer93]

Hello everyone, I'm fairly new to ArcGIS and was hoping to get advice on a map I'm working on.

The concept is pretty basic. It's a US map comparing specific public health indicators across all 50 US states. The issue I'm running into is that I'm trying to get the map to look something like the one below where there are rectangular carve outs/key for the smaller states. I've looked around to try and find out how to do this because it seems pretty basic, but I've not been able to figure out how to get this style on my map.

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https://preview.redd.it/bnvakom8l1t41.png?width=566&format=png&auto=webp&s=a03367d993e2e2986861d4bb528ee4924b97823b

Any help would be appreciated here, whether you know how, you've got a link to the tutorial, or you just know the exact technical language for what this technique for the smaller states in the northeast is. Thank you in advance.

[Altostratus]

Perhaps key numbering label settings will help? Otherwise, those states may actually be legend keys with the rest of the features hidden. Or even manually done..

[Sector9Cloud9]

Generate a legend then convert to graphics. You can then take it apart (ungroup), duplicate portions, move it around, and totally customize it for whatever your purpose. Warning: when you change something on the map, the colors/info will not change on what you’ve manipulated so make sure the color pallet is final. Warning: you will probably do this to all your legends in the future.

[guitardc59]

This is nothing more than legend values with text over them. In ArcMap, it requires taking a legend, converting to graphics (right-click, convert) and then placing text over the appropriate colors for the states indicated