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10 The PCB Design Magazine • July 2014 you love what you do. Not many people can say that. We need to find a way into these kids' busy brains. What's our hook, our 10-second eleva- tor spiel? PCB design suffers from an image problem. It has no image, and that's the problem. PCB design needs an icon. Something that repre- sents everything that design is about. Something we can show high school seniors and college students that would illustrate this career. What idea encapsulates a designer's job? It doesn't have to be that complicated. We just need something to get kids thinking about PCB design. Fabrication and assem- bly can be represented by the factory icon that we see in Skype and on the iPhone: a yellow building with a smokestack. Assembly also has the ro- bot. SMTA Atlanta has made the robot into a kind of icon. For the past couple of years, SMTA Atlanta has sponsored a robot competition to help get students interested in elec- tronics and electronics assembly, and it seems to work. The students build remote-controlled robots and they compete for a prize. The robots have to pick up an object, move from point A to point B, etc. Then, while we're walking the aisles of the show, they're ramming their robots into each other and showing off for the adults. But it's clear that some of them want to be like us when they grow up. They've built this robot, this cool thing that they can touch, something they can un- derstand, and along the way they learn about high-tech manufacturing. It's not a stretch to see these kids becoming involved in robotics, capital equipment, or some other aspect of elec- tronics assembly, especially when all these adult techies applaud for their favorite robots. The robot is a good path into a student's cluttered mind. It's a futuristic icon that kids can hang their sideways baseball caps on. But what is PCB design's icon? It's just tough to illustrate PCB design—ask anyone who has ever tried for days to come up with a cover for a PCB design magazine. Having been involved in all types of PCB mags, I have to say that design is by far the hardest segment to illustrate. Fabrication and assembly are much simpler. You have a variety of ideas to work with: a close-up of a PCB or PCBA, a panel of PCBs, capi- tal equipment, drills, lasers, squeegees, dispensing noz- zles, a thermometer reading 260°C for a lead-free assem- bly…the list goes on. Or you can just write something clever in green or copper- colored lettering. But design is such an ab- stract idea. There are a few obvious cover ideas: a giant key with a tagline of "Un- locking the Door to Signal Integrity." Then there's the twisting path heading into the horizon, labeled "The Long and Winding Road to HDI." After that, it's a struggle. Design is the most important part of the whole equation, in my humble opinion, but it's hard to wrap your mind around it. PCB design needs an icon, and it needs one now. What do you think it should be? What is our robot? What is our icon? Contact me with your ideas! PCBDESIgN Andy shaughnessy is manag- ing editor of The PCB Design Magazine. he has been cover- ing PCB design for 13 years. he can be reached by clicking here. the shaughnessy report They've built this robot, this cool thing that they can touch, something they can understand, and along the way they learn about high-tech manufacturing. It's not a stretch to see these kids becoming involved in robotics, capital equipment, or some other aspect of electronics assembly, especially when all these adult techies applaud for their favorite robots. " " HELP WANTED: PCB DESIgN NEEDS AN ICON continues