The diameter of the loop doesn't matter, by itself, but the circumference does and this depends on the diameter.
As you go around the circumference of a loop which is resonant, you would observe a standing wave pattern with alternate high and low voltage and current points.
This spacing of voltage and current points will vary with frequency.
It is the way that these are spaced that affects the radiation pattern.
In some directions, the resultant radiation will cancel due to the source radiations being out of phase with each other.
In other directions, the radiation will be in phase and the radiation will be enhanced.
There is an excellent antenna simulator called Eznec which is free to download in a demo version. It is great for learning about simple antennas and it produces results you could build if you wished.