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48 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2021 Feature Article by Cherie Litson LITSON1 CONSULTING Many people say that creating a PCB design is a mixture of both science and art. e science we understand; the art is not as obvious. Let's break it down a little. What is a PCB design, generally? Most of the time I just tell people, "It's that green, blue, or tan board in your electronic product with all the parts on it." To be a little more specific, it is a product of multiple pieces of science—mechanical, electrical, physics, and chemistry—combined in such a way as to support electronic compo- nents using conductive pads in order to create a device that will perform one or more elec- trical functions. ere's a lot of science in that mouthful. But where's the art? Well, what is art? One definition reads, "e expression or application of human creative skill and imagination producing works to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power." I don't know about you, but I get very emotional when a product works as planned, or when it doesn't. A product that doesn't perform as advertised becomes junk, not beautiful, even if the outside is pretty. Art is also a form of communication. It's the combination of materials, techniques, and images that communicate the inten- tions of the design. With PCBs this becomes very important on many levels. From the cre- ation of a schematic to the placement of the components and traces, we are communi- cating with all the disciplines of science and The Colorful World of PCB Design Figure 1: Many designers enjoy disassembling electronic devices. Here are a couple of examples of things I've taken apart.