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Estimated reading time: 1 minute
December 8, 2021
When we first started planning the December 2021 issue of Design007 Magazine, we looked back over topics that we’ve covered for the past few years. We noticed that our contributors spend most of their time discussing the technical side of PCB design. That’s to be expected. When we discuss “best practices” for PCB design, we’re typically looking at it from a technical viewpoint. After all, this is a technical publication. And in PCB design, what is “design,” exactly? Perhaps we could quote Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who said in a 1964 case about obscenity, “I know it when I see it.”
The Shaughnessy Report: The Art of PCB Design—I Know It When I See It
But there is definitely an artistic angle to this job. PCB design requires the perfect mix of artistic and technical skills. PCB designers and design engineers are graphic artists, but unlike Renaissance sculptors, their masterpieces don’t just have to look nice—they also have to function. These PCBs may enable devices that help feed humanity, save lives, or carry us to other countries or planets.
At every PCB design competition, from the old Top Gun at PCB West to IPC’s design contest at IPC APEX EXPO next month, the entries will be judged, in part, on artistic layout. Form follows function, and the art of the design is dependent upon the requirements of each board.
In many ways, today’s PCBs represent the height of industrial art. As some of our contributors point out this month, an eye-pleasing, symmetrical layout is less likely to warp, twist, and turn into a “potato chip” during manufacturing. Plus, a beautiful PCB design will be much simpler for every stake-holder downstream to deal with. And if it’s an expensive board, rework and repair in the field will be much easier if everything on the board is placed in a logical fashion.
The PCB designer reminds me of an old-world painter whose palette contains an ever-changing set of paints. But while Renaissance painters needed only to please their rich patrons, the designers of today must serve a variety of masters: managers, downstream stakeholders, and customers. They must do so quickly, and without going over budget.
in the issue, we salute you—the Da Vincis of design, the Lombardos of layout, and the Picassos of the PCB!
Download your copy of the December 2021 issue of Design007 Magazine: "The Art and Science of PCB Design".
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